Africa (except North Africa)

KANO (Nigeria), May 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 150 people were feared drowned in northwest Nigeria on Wednesday after an overloaded boat ferrying passengers to a market sank in the Niger River, local officials said.

The boat was travelling between central Niger state and Wara in northwest Kebbi state when it sank, National Inland Waterways Authority local manager Yusuf Birma told reporters.

“The boat capacity was not up to the 180 passengers it carried,” Birma said.

Kigali, May 27 (AP-PTI) French President Emmanuel Macron made a key visit to Rwanda on Thursday as his country tries to mend relations with the central African country 27 years after the genocide.

Macron arrived in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, early Thursday and is due to hold talks with Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali’s transitional president and prime minister will be released from detention gradually after resigning in the presence of international arbitrators who are in the West African nation to mediate the political crisis, the adviser to the military authority who detained the two leaders said late Wednesday.

The resignation by the leader of an 18-month civilian transitional government risks plunging the troubled nation into further instability.

PRETORIA, May 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — South African athletes due to participate in this year’s Tokyo Olympics will receive COVID-19 shots during a vaccination rollout that has so far prioritised the elderly and frontline workers, the country’s medicine authority said.

Tokyo is due to host the Games from July 23 to Aug 8 after they were postponed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

KINSHASA, May 25 (NNN-IRIN) – The death toll linked to the eruption of Mount Nyiragongo volcano, on Saturday, in the north-eastern province of North Kivu, of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has risen to 32, and is likely to further rise, the DRC authorities said yesterday.

Among the victims, nine were burned to death, when lava hit their homes, and five died from inhaling smoke or toxic gas, when walking across the cooling lava, said Joseph Makundi, head of civil protection of the province.

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali’s transitional president and prime minister remain detained Tuesday after being taken by force to the military headquarters hours after a government reshuffle left out two members of the junta that had seized power in a coup nine months ago.

Goma (Congo), May 24 (AP-PTI) Torrents of lava poured into villages after dark in eastern Congo with little warning, leaving at least 15 people dead amid the chaos and destroying more than 500 homes, officials and survivors have said.

The eruption of Mount Nyiragongo on Saturday night sent about 5,000 people fleeing from the city of Goma across the nearby border into Rwanda, while another 25,000 others sought refuge to the northwest in Sake, the UN children's agency said Sunday.

CAPE TOWN, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Figures show that South Africa's Western Cape Province, which hosts the legislative capital Cape Town, is moving toward the third wave of COVID-19, a provincial official said on Sunday.

KAMPALA, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Landslides triggered by heavy downpour on Sunday killed three people and left a child injured in the western Ugandan district of Kasese, a humanitarian relief agency said here.

Irene Nakasiita, spokesperson for the Uganda Red Cross Society said in a statement that two children were killed and another injured after a landslide partially destroyed a family house at Katulu village. The injured child has been referred to Kilembe Hospital.

GOMA, Congo (AP) — Congo’s Mount Nyiragongo erupted for the first time in nearly two decades Saturday, turning the night sky a fiery red and sending lava onto a major highway as panicked residents tried to flee Goma, a city of nearly 2 million.

There was no immediate word on any casualties, but witnesses said that lava already had engulfed one highway that connects Goma with the city of Beni in North Kivu province.