Africa (except North Africa)

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The United Nations says Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region faces a “very critical malnutrition situation” as vast rural areas where many people fled during three months of fighting remain out of reach of aid.

The U.N. humanitarian agency also said in a new report that Ethiopian defense forces continue to occupy a hospital in the town of Abi Adi, “preventing up to 500,000 people from accessing health services” in a region where the health system has largely collapsed under looting and artillery fire.

BAMAKO, Feb 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Mali’s government has created a body to open talks with Islamist militants whose insurgency has made vast portions of the country ungovernable, the interim prime minister said on Friday, in the face of objections by France.

A year ago ousted former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said his government was prepared to negotiate with al Qaeda-linked militants.

National talks in the aftermath of the August coup that overthrew Keita endorsed that policy.

Ethiopia called on Friday on the Sudanese authorities to avoid "aggression and provocation" and to commit to a "peaceful settlement" regarding the border dispute.

This came in a statement issued by the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry a few days after Addis Ababa announced its acceptance of mediation to settle the border dispute with Khartoum.

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Gunfire and rockets exploded on Friday in Mogadishu as Somali government forces clashed with opposition supporters angered by delayed elections, fighting that could split the military along clan lines and strengthen the al Qaida-linked insurgency.

Johannesburg, Feb 17 (AP-PTI) South Africa is preparing to give its first COVID-19 vaccinations shots of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine still being tested to health care workers this week, the health minister said Tuesday.

The first batch of 80,000 doses of the J&J vaccine, which has not been authorised for general use in South Africa or anywhere else in the world, is expected to arrive in the country imminently and will be administered to health care professionals across the country, Zweli Mkhize told parliament.

KINSHASA, Feb 16 (NNN-TELESUR) — The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Humanitarian Action Minister Steve Mbikayi informed that 60 people died after a boat sank in the Congo River on Sunday night.

“The boat was sailing at night with an excess of passengers, which is forbidden by authorities,” Mbikayi explained as he urged punishing those responsible for the accident and demanded justice for the victims. 

The Congolese government “will demand sanctions and bring those responsible to justice to answer for their actions,” Mbikayi added.

KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — As the terrorism trial for Paul Rusesabagina, whose story inspired the film “Hotel Rwanda,” is set to start on Wednesday, his family says the critic of longtime Rwandan President Paul Kagame has no chance at a fair trial and might die from poor health behind bars.

ELANDSDOORN, South Africa (AP) — After testing thousands of people for coronavirus, South African nurse Asnath Masango says she can’t wait to get vaccinated.

“So many people, I test them and within days they have passed away,” said Masango. “I want protection.”

C.J. Umunnakwe, a virologist running a lab that has performed more than 40,000 virus tests, says he “wholeheartedly believes in vaccinations. Vaccines save lives.” He plans to talk to those who may be skeptical.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma did not show up on Monday at an inquiry into corruption during his time in office, despite the country’s top court ordering him to appear.

The inquiry led by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo is probing allegations of high-level graft during Zuma’s scandal-plagued nine years in power from 2009 to 2018.

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigerian police beat and arrested demonstrators on Saturday as a small group protested over the reopening of the site where activists denouncing police brutality were shot last year in the commercial capital, Lagos, Reuters witnesses said.

Rights group Amnesty International and witnesses have said soldiers opened fire on protesters on Oct. 20, killing at least 12 people at a toll gate in the city’s affluent Lekki district and another area. The military has denied shooting live rounds and the police have denied involvement.