AfricaNews

While the Harare City council is busy engaging in running battles with city vendors, Health Minister has called for authorities to devise ways to formalize the vending sector so as to boost government coffers for efficient health service delivery. Due to the fact that there is donor fatigue, the government alone is not capable of financing the operations…

The Nigerian Nobel Prize winner for literature said heads of states who are trying to cling to power suffer the same fate as the dictators who were swept away by the Arab spring. Nigerian's Wole Soyinka cited the example of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, describing both of them as "irremovable octogenarian" who…

Following a deadlock during Monday's African Union elections, with a tie between former wife to South African president Jacob Zuma, Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and current and outgoing chairperson, Jean Ping of Gabon, the caucus agreed to meet in Malawi in June for a decider.

Attended strictly by the heads of states and government…

Hundreds of anti-government protesters Tuesday gathered in the central Dakar, Senegal to show their dissatisfaction over the incumbent president Abdoulaye Wade's candidacy after two civilians were killed by paramilitary police in a similar demonstration in Podor situated in the northern part of the country.

The angry demonstrator gathered, holding…

Zimbabwe's annual headline inflation still compared favourably with economies in the region, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono said on Tuesday, adding that the projected stabilisation of international oil prices this year might also help in lessening price pressures.

But Gono expressed worries over the state of the balance of payments,…

The Sudanese national team has sealed a historic win over the Stallions of Burkina Faso. For the first time since 1970, the Sudanese proceeded to the quarter-finals stage of the AFCON. The all-locally-based players that constitute the Sudanese squad beat Burkina Faso 2-1 in their last Group B match to pick up four points that has propelled them to the…

Opposition and civil society groups in Senegal have vowed to increase their fight against incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade's presidential bid. The pronouncement came after the constitutional Council rejected an appeal filed by the opposition.

Senegal's highest court also rejected opposition appeal and confirming President Wade's bid…

The 39 members of the Solidarity for African Women's Rights Coalition based in 18 African countries have vehemently condemned the stripping of women wearing trousers and short skirts by male vendors in three major cities in Malawi - Lilongwe, Mzuzu and Blantyre.

A statement from the coalition read: “Women’s rights in Malawi are guaranteed…

Kenya launched the second phase of its national deworming programme at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2012, aiming to treat 5 million children annually for the next five years.

The programme is supported by Deworm the World, a cost-effective initiative treating school children for parasitic worms, which stunt development and impair education.…

President Yayi Boni of Benin Republic has been elected chairperson of the African Union in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. President Yayi Boni elected Sunday at the 18th Ordinary Summit of the African Union (AU) took over the post from Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. He is expected to lead the continental body for a period…

Clashes have erupted in Senegal's capital Dakar and several other city cities ; after the Constitutional Council said President Abdoulaye Wade could run for a third term in next month's poll. A police officer has made his untimely death during clashes with civil society and opposition suppers in the central Dakar

Angered by the decision,…

All eyes are on the 18th African Union (AU) Summit that is currently underway in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia until the 30th of January 2012. While the theme of the Summit is "Boosting Intra-African Trade", the election of the AU Commission Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson on 29 January will also take centre stage.

This year, one of the most anticipated…

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has pulled out of the race for the presidency of the African Union's Assembly. Gambia's foreign minister Momodou Tangara informed AU officials that president Yahya Jammeh has decided to with withdraw from the race for the AU presidency after a closed-door meeting of foreign minister from the Economic Community…

Nigerian police said people speaking a Chadian language were among the attackers who waged bombing and shooting sprees in Kano last Friday, killing a total of 185 people according to the first official tally. "The extremists are said to be speaking accented Hausa language, Kanuri and Chad languages," the state police command said in its first…

Kenyan Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Uhuru Kenyatta has resigned on Thursday together with the Secretary to the Cabinet and head of the Public Service Ambassador Francis Muthaura. The two alongside Eldoret Member of Parliament William Ruto and radio journalist Joshua Sang were on Monday ordered to stand for trial by the International…

Malawi is losing $28 million (about MK4.6 billion) worth of fisheries resources each year due to unsustainable fishing in natural bodies, an estimate which represents 0.8 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to the Ministry of Finance and Development's Economic valuation of Sustainable Natural Resource Use report in Malawi.

The report,…

Nigeria's president Goodluck Jonathan has appointed the assistant inspector general of police Mohammed Dikko Abubakar as acting inspector general, replacing Hafiz Ringim who was forced out Wednesday in the wake of heightening insecurity in the West African country.

Ringim turned in his resignation a month early, 10 days after the main suspect…

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Somalia, Ambassador Augustine P. Mahiga has moved the office of the SRSG back to Mogadishu after an absence of 17 years. Ambassador Mahiga, who was welcomed at the airport by Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, Somali Officials and foreign diplomats, said he was delighted that the UN Political…

Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said is worried with Malawi's poor human rights status. Speaking in the capital Lilongwe after completing his visit to the country, Sharma said this is the main important area for any Commonwealth member state and has to be pursued with equality on both social and political agendas.

“The main…

Lesotho's economy is inextricably linked to that of its giant neighbour, South Africa. As South Africa's economic difficulties threaten to drag Lesotho down the drain, the tiny landlocked kingdom is now looking at other avenues to stay afloat. For decades the mountain kingdom of Lesotho has relied heavily on South Africa to advance - until…