Category: Africa News

JOHANNESBURG, (IRIN) – Several Southern African countries are dealing with the effects of flooding following heavy rains over much of the region in the past week. In South Africa’s northern Limpopo Province, floodwaters claimed 10 lives and left hundreds stranded after the Limpopo River burst its banks. By 22 January, the rain had subsided, but…

MANZINI: A Swaziland court recently sentenced a South African man to 85 years in prison for high treason and terrorism over a botched bomb attack against King Mswati III, but will effectively jail him for a total of 26 years. High Court Judge, Bheki Maphalala last month found Amos Mbedzi guilty of planning to plant…

HARARE, (IRIN) – After three years in the making, Zimbabwe’s proposed 150-page draft constitution was deemed unacceptable by President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party and rejected by civil society. It was endorsed by ZANU-PF’s political opponents. The adoption of the new constitution is a critical step towards holding free and fair elections after the 2009 formation…

PHNOM PENH, 13 July 2012 (IRIN) – Cambodia has begun nationwide surveillance for a severe form of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD), a common viral illness that usually affects infants and children younger than 5 years old and is rarely life-threatening, health officials confirmed on 13 July. Since April more than 50 children have…

CAIRO — Islamist Mohammed Morsi became Egypt’s first freely elected president on Saturday June 30, 2012 launching his four-year term with a potentially dangerous quest to wrest back from the military the full authority of his office. The outcome of the impending battle between Egypt’s first civilian president and its powerful generals will redraw the…

By MIKE CORDER | Associated Press LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Former Liberian President Charles Taylor was sentenced to 50 years imprisonment Wednesday for arming and supporting murderous rebels in Sierra Leone in return for “blood diamonds,” a landmark sentence activists hope will send a clear message to despots around the world that they will be…