Author: Amnewsworld

The rollout of the African Continental Free Trade Area is awaited by many, in particular by the border populations. The residents of Cabinda, in the north of Angola, find the Congolese city of Ponta Negra as their biggest business center, but complain about the customs tariffs at the Massabi border. José Somulama, a car spare parts dealer, explains how the exchange works. “These people who are closer to the border, the Kikakongo, bring bananas, banana bunches, they come to sell and bring maiaca (boiled manioc) and the Congolese also come to buy. Now, there are certain people that come from…

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed says the war in the northern Tigray region “will end and peace will prevail”. He made the remarks on Thursday when he inaugurated a talent development centre in Oromia regional state. “The situation in northern Ethiopia will come to an end, peace will prevail. We will not continue fighting forever. I believe that in a short period of time, we will stand with our Tigrayan brothers for peace and development,” Mr Abiy said as quoted by the bbc. He urged Ethiopians to work together for the country’s prosperity and not to be divided along ethnic…

At least 30 people were killed Thursday when police clashed with demonstrators in the Chadian capital during a banned protest against the ruling military, an AFP journalist saw. Hundreds of demonstrators turned out to mark the date when the military had initially promised to hand over power — a spell that has been extended for another two years. These clashes are taking place after the extension of the “transition” for two years, which was supposed to end on Thursday, October 20. But at the end of September, Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno was finally maintained as president until free and democratic…

A new clash between rival tribes in Sudan’s southern Blue Nile state left at least 15 people dead on Wednesday, according to tribal and medical sources. Last week, clashes in the village of Wad al-Mahi, east of the town of Roseires, between members of the Hausa tribe and rival tribes, claimed the lives of 13 people, according to the UN. “We have received 10 remains at the hospital in Wad al-Mahi,” a medical source said Wednesday. Another source at Roseires hospital said “five bodies and 10 wounded” had been transferred to the facility. The violence has resumed despite the deployment…

The 27-yeard Sudanese joined the protests which toppled longtime president al-Bashir in 2019. If her country still grapples with a conjunction of crises, the climate campaigner warns a bigger problem doesn’t receive the attention is deserves: climate change. “There has been a noticeable increase in temperature. Sudan has always been hot, but it has now become hotter. Moreover there are failed rainy seasons”, she says. Erractic weather patterns – harsh droughts, boiling temperatures then severe floods have affected thousands. Sudan is the world’s fifth most vulnerable country to the impacts of climate change, according to a 2020 ranking in the…

Traders in Ghana’s capital Accra close their stores and businesses in a three-day protest over the soaring cost of living, as the West African country battles the economic fallout from the Ukraine war. Ghana faces a high debt load and inflation at a historic high of 37 percent in September, while the local cedi currency has plummeted against the US dollar. “Prices and import duty have risen due to cedi depreciation and dollar appreciation. So, importers find it difficult to import items due to the hikes in duty and customers no longer come in ” expressed Kwaku Anokye, a merchant. Daily…

Nigeria witnessed one of the biggest demonstrations in its history in October 2020, when youths marched through the streets and major roads in the country in protest against brutalities by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, a unit of the Nigeria Police Force (now disbanded). They were, however, ended abruptly after some of the protesters were allegedly killed at the Lekki toll gate on October 20, 2020. Two years on after the incident, organizers and victims of the ENDSARS protests are calling for full implementation of the reports of the judicial panels of inquiry set up by the government to probe the…

Masked and helmeted Chinese and Nigerian workers hoist giant steel pipes over mounds of earth. Farther away, smoke billows from blowtorches. Camouflaged in the millet fields, heavily armed soldiers are on the lookout. In Gaya, in southwestern Niger, near Benin, the largest oil pipeline in Africa is taking shape. Nearly 2,000 km long – 1,250 km of which is in Niger – the pipeline is to link the oil wells of the Agadem field in the far east, the scene of deadly jihadist incursions, to the Beninese port of Sèmè, from where Nigerien crude will be evacuated for the first…

Tens of thousands of Catholic faithful gathered in Fatima, Portugal for the traditional pilgrimage. But this year, their prayers and thoughts are also with the Portuguese Catholic church which has been in the spotlight due to cases of alleged sexual abuse but also possible cover-up maneuvers. One of the clerics targeted has been Bishop José Ornelas, a senior official who has been named in investigations involving alleged cover-ups of sex abuse by priests. Earlier in the day Ornelas said his conscience was clear. The head of the Portuguese Bishops’ Conference denied any wrongdoing or improper conduct in the cases dating…

The UN General Assembly on Wednesday condemned Russia’s “illegal annexations” of Ukrainian territory after Moscow vetoed a similar text in the Security Council in late September. Twenty-six African countries voted in favor of the resolution rejecting Moscow’s controversial referenda in four Ukrainian regions. Nineteen others abstained. Mali, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, the Republic of Congo, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda, and Zimbabwe were among the African countries that abstained. Eritrea, which had previously voted to reject a UN resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, also abstained. Three of these countries hosted Russian diplomatic chief Sergei Lavrov during his tour…