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Africa News
Benin opposition win legislature seats
Provisional results from Sunday’s parliamentary poll in Benin show the opposition has returned to parliament after a four year absence. The electoral commission said the opposition had won 28 seats with allies of President Patrice Talon securing 81. Final results are expected later this week. Benin’s opposition was effectively barred from running in the 2019 legislative elections with most of Mr Talon’s opponents jailed or exiled.
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Man linked to Malawi migrant mass grave given bail
The High Court in Malawi has released the stepson of former President Peter Mutharika on bail two months after he was arrested and charged with aggravated human trafficking and murder.
Tadikila Mafubza has been linked to the deaths of 30 men, believed to be Ethiopian migrants, whose bodies were found in a mass grave in October last year.
He denies the charges.
The court on Wednesday ordered Mr Mafubza to pay two million kwacha ($2,000; £1,600), provide two blood related sureties each bonded at $5,000 in assets, and to surrender his passport and all travel documents to the police.
Mr Mafubza was not present in court when the ruling was made.
He was also ordered not to contact any witnesses related to the case and report to national police headquarters every Tuesday fortnightly.
The discovered bodies were found in an unmarked grave in a government forest in the northern district of Mzimba. A post-mortem found that they had died of suffocation.
Police arrested Mr Mafubza because they allege his car was used to transport the 30 men. A man said to have been the driver was also detained.
Malawi is grappling with the problem of organised syndicates trafficking men, women and children to South Africa, the US and Europe.
China-funded Africa CDC building inaugurated
The China-funded and headquarters for the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has been inaugurated in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.
The newly appointed Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who’s visiting Ethiopia as part of a week-long tour of the continent, was joined by the chairperson of African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, at the opening of the $80m (£65m) headquarters, which also built and equipped by China.
The project - which Mr Qin said was a testament to the growing relations between his country and Africa - is seen as the latest example of China’s increasing investment on the continent.
Beijing accelerated its involvement to tackle health crises after the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014.
The $80m complex will also be equipped by ChinaImage caption: The $80m complex will also be equipped by China
Four years later, it announced its plan to build the Africa CDC headquarters.
The agency led the continent’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
UN condemns killing of South Sudan aid workers
The UN has condemned the killing of three aid workers in two separate attacks in South Sudan.
The killings are “completely unacceptable and must stop,” the acting UN Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan, Peter van der Auweraert said in a statement.
Two aid workers were shot and killed while on duty at a humanitarian facility, when armed men attacked Rumameer village in Abyei, a border oil-rich area being contested by South Sudan and Sudan.
Several civilians were also killed, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said in a press release on Wednesday.
In a similar incident, an aid worker was killed by unknown individuals while he guarded humanitarian commodities in Duk County in Jonglei state in the east of the country over the weekend.
Humanitarian supplies were looted during the incident, Ocha added.
South Sudan continues to be one of the most dangerous places for aid workers. Nine aid workers were killed while on duty in 2022 alone, compared to five in 2021.
Since the conflict began in 2013, 141 humanitarians, predominantly South Sudanese, have lost their lives while providing humanitarian assistance to the people, according to Ocha.
Ivory Coast’s ex- ‘street general’ plots presidential run
Aformer militia leader who was acquitted of crimes against humanity in Ivory Coast says he will be president of the country one day.
In his first press conference since returning from exile in November, Charles Blé Goudé said he would run in the 2025 election.
Known for his charisma and fiery rhetoric he was nicknamed the “street general”.
Mr Goudé was transferred to the International Criminal Court nine years ago and acquitted in 2019 along with the former president Laurent Gbagbo.
Both men were charged with crimes against humanity committed during violence which erupted in Ivory Coast after disputed elections in 2010.
Zimbabwe head teacher splits opinion over students haircuts
Avideo of a Zimbabwean head teacher cutting students’ hair because they had styles that were against the school rules has divided opinion.
Headteacher Masimba Mupavaenda said George Stark High School did not tolerate “stylish haircuts.”
“Learners have a tendency of coming to school unprepared... there are some who have stylish hair, some have tints and all sorts of hairstyles which do not promote good learning,” Mr Mupavaenda said.
The just over two-minute long video shows him running a pair of scissors across the students’ hair.
Critics commenting on Twitter said his actions were an “abuse”, “colonial”, “ignorant”, “humiliating” and offensive”.
But one supporter applauded Mr Mupavaenda saying it was necessary to instil discipline.
“Rules are there to be followed. The parents know the rules and so do the students. You either tow the line or face the music. Well done for implementing what we already know,” another said.
Married Zimbabwe cricket coaches die three weeks apart
Cricket in Zimbabwe is mourning the death of two married national team coaches who passed away within weeks of each other.
The couple are survived by two children.
Sinikiwe Mpofu, assistant coach to the women’s national team, passed away “suddenly” on 7 January, being pronounced dead on arrival at a medical facility after collapsing at her home in Masvingo.
A post-mortem to determine the cause of the 37-year-old’s death is to be carried out.
The former international, who was nicknamed “Sneeze”, was married to Zimbabwe’s men’s fielding coach, Shepherd Makunura, who died on 15 December after a long battle with illness, aged 46.
Mpofu was a talented all-rounder who was part of the history-making team that played the Lady Chevrons’ first-ever international in December 2006.
“Sinikiwe’s departure has left us shattered,” said national women’s team captain Mary-Anne Musonda.
“This is the least we expected just after burying her husband.
“There was always joy and laughter with her and she was an inspiration to many.”
Sinikiwe Mpofu played in Zimbabwe’s women’s team’s first ever international match in 2006
A statement from Zimbabwe Cricket described her post-playing career as “an integral part of Zimbabwe Cricket’s game development structures” at both provincial international status and recently finishing just one win away from qualifying for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
As head coach she guided Mountaineers Women to victory in the inaugural Fifty50 Challenge - Zimbabwe’s provincial one-day championship for women - in the 2020/21 season.
“Death has robbed us of a genuinely warm individual,” said Zimbabwe Cricket’s managing Director, Givemore Makoni.
“More importantly [she was] a loving mother...one of the pioneers of women’s cricket in Zimbabwe who went on to excel as a coach at provincial and national levels.
“With her sudden passing coming just a few weeks after the death of her loving husband, who was also a part of our national team coaching setup, this is particularly a difficult and painful time for their young children, families, friends and the entire cricket fraternity.”
Makunura and Mpofu were both products of the programme to develop black players and coaches, and they had looked set to serve the game in Zimbabwe for many more years.
