Africa (except North Africa)

COTONOU, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Health Minister of Benin Benjamin Hounkpatin said Saturday his country plans to launch a nationwide immunization campaign against COVID-19 in the coming week with AstraZeneca vaccines, the national radio reported.

"It is now time to go for immunization," he said.

On March 10, Benin received 144,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. However, the country had delayed its immunization campaign because of concerns over side effects.

NAIROBI, Mar 20 (NNN-KBC) – African ministers of environment, urged countries in the continent, to prepare for increased cases of medical waste dumping, on the shores off their countries, as a result of the generation of plastics and medical waste from the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ministers called upon African countries, to increase vigilance to protect the continent from illegal dumping of medical and hazardous waste, especially during the ongoing health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

DAR ES SALAAM, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Samia Suluhu Hassan was on Friday sworn in as Tanzanian president, becoming the country's first female president.

The swearing-in ceremony took place at the State House in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, following the death of President John Magufuli on Wednesday.

After the ceremony, Hassan received a 21-gun-salute and inspected a guard of honor mounted by the Tanzania People's Defense Forces.

17 Mar 2021; MEMO: Ethiopia's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Dina Mufti, reaffirmed his country's willingness to resume the Renaissance Dam negotiations with Sudan and Egypt at any time under the auspices of the African Union (AU) only.

On Tuesday, Al-Jazeera TV reported Mufti as saying that Ethiopia had not received any official proposal from the quartet.

ABUJA, March 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Gunmen on motorbikes stormed a primary school in the northwestern Nigerian state of Kaduna and kidnapped three teachers but no children, a state official said after the fifth school abduction in three months.

It was the first attack on an elementary school in a wave of such attacks in which more than 700 people have been abducted since December.

KINSHASA, March 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The DR Congo will postpone its vaccination campaign using the AstraZeneca jab, following other countries taking similar precautionary measures, the government said.

The Democratic Republic of Congo had received 1.7 million doses of the vaccine against Covid-19 made by Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and was due to start its campaign on March 15.

“As a precautionary measure, we decided to postpone the date for the launch of vaccination in the DRC,” Health Minister Eteni Longondo said in a statement.

BANGUI (Reuters) - Central African Republic voted at heavily guarded polling stations in a second round of parliamentary elections on Sunday after rebel violence marred December’s polls.

Voting started smoothly with just slight delays across the capital Bangui, the electoral body said. Small lines of residents could be seen waiting to vote as large numbers of police and gendarmes stood by.

“So far in Bangui it’s going well,” National Elections Authority spokesman Théophile Momokoama said by phone.

LAGOS, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday issued a stern warning to "terrorists and bandits" targeting schools, saying the country will not allow the destruction of the school system.

The president gave the warning in a statement released by his spokesperson Garba Shehu in Abuja, reacting to the gunmen attack on the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization in the Afaka area of the northwest state of Kaduna on Thursday night.

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen have attacked a school in northwestern Nigeria and kidnapped 39 students just weeks after a similar mass abduction in the region, authorities said Friday.

The latest kidnapping took place late Thursday night at the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, in the Igabi local government area of Kaduna state, police said.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — In countries with historic ties to Britain, allegations by Prince Harry and Meghan that an unnamed member of the royal family had “concerns” over the color of their unborn baby’s skin have raised a thorny question: Do those nations really want to be so closely connected to Britain and its royal family anymore?