Africa (except North Africa)

WINDHOEK, June 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Namibia’s Ministry of Agriculture said it had detected an outbreak of red locusts in central regions of the southern African country and had sent pest control teams to the affected areas.

The large grasshopper species, which is marked by bright red wings, is common to sub-Saharan Africa and breeds abundantly under drought conditions followed by rain and rapid vegetation growth.

ABUJA, June 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The World Health Organization (WHO) has certified Nigeria and Cameroon to be free of polio, a crippling disease that usually affects children under five.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are now the only countries with cases of the wild polio virus.

The UN health agency is expected to formally present Nigeria with a certificate and also declare Africa free of the wild polio virus.

Nigeria’s head of primary health care agency Dr Faisal Shuaib described the achievement as a “proud moment for us and indeed all Nigerians”.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Seven suspects accused of taking 2.3 billion rand ($132.43 million) from VBS Mutual bank in 2018 said they would plead not guilty to 47 counts of fraud, theft, corruption and racketering when they appeared in a South African court on Thursday.

The National Prosecuting Authority has called it probably the biggest bank robbery in South Africa’s history.

An eighth suspect did not appear because he was under COVID-19 quarantine.

BUJUMBURA, June 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Burundi’s newly-elected president Evariste Ndayishimiye will be sworn in on Thursday, the foreign ministry announced, in a ceremony fast-tracked by the sudden death of the incumbent, Pierre Nkurunziza.

Nkurunziza died on June 8 aged 55, of what authorities said was heart failure.

His death came less than two weeks after his wife had been flown to a Nairobi hospital for treatment.

KINSHASA, June 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Gold production in Democratic Republic of Congo continues to be systematically under reported while tonnes of the precious metal is smuggled into global supply chains through its eastern neighbours, a United Nations report has found.

The countries along Congo’s eastern border have long been conduits for gold worth billions of dollars mined using rudimentary means by so-called “artisanal” miners.

JUBA, June 16 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Tuesday launched a funding appeal worth 390 million U.S. dollars to boost response to COVID-19 pandemic in South Sudan.

Alain Noudehou, humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan, said the latest funding appeal will help provide assistance to 7.4 million people by the end of the year, up from 5.4 million who are in need of emergency aid.

14 June 2020; AFP: Plunging oil prices and collapsing state revenues have seen Nigerian authorities vow an end to a controversial fuel subsidy scheme long criticised as a graft-ridden drain on public finances.

But there are major doubts that Africa's most populous country is finally ready to wean itself off a system that has helped some in high places syphon billions from government coffers.

BAMAKO (Reuters) - Two peacekeepers with United Nations (UN) forces in Mali were killed on Saturday in an attack on their convoy in the north of the west African nation, the U.N. mission in Mali said on Sunday.

The logistics convoy was on a halt on the Tessalit - Gao road when unidentified armed individuals attacked it, and killed two peacekeepers, Mahamat Saleh Annadif, U.N. mission chief in Mali, said in a statement.

ABUJA, June 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Nigerian governors have declared a state of emergency over rape and violence against women and children in the country.

This follows a spike in cases of gender-based violence during the recent lockdown imposed in some states to limit the spread of coronavirus.

In a statement, the 36 governors strongly condemned all forms of violence against women and children, and said they were “committed to ensuring that offenders face the maximum weight of the law”.

GENEVA, June 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — African countries called on the UN Human Rights Council to urgently debate racism and police brutality amid the unrest in the US and beyond over George Floyd’s death.

In a letter written on behalf of 54 African countries, Burkina Faso’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva asked the UN’s top rights body for an “urgent debate” on “racially inspired human rights violations, police brutality against people of African descent and the violence against the peaceful protests that call for these injustices to stop.”