ABUJA, Feb 11 (NNN-XINHUA) – At least 19 fleeing Boko Haram militants were killed in an encounter with the Nigerian military in the northeastern state of Borno, according to security sources.
Five gun trucks belonging to the Boko Haram group were also destroyed during the gunfight in Rann, a town in the Kala Balge local government area of Borno, on Tuesday, said sources who preferred to be anonymous.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa is considering giving a COVID-19 vaccine that is still in the testing phase to health workers, after suspending the rollout of another shot that preliminary data indicated may be only minimally effective against the mutated form of the virus dominating the country.
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - An alliance of Somali opposition parties proposed the creation of a national council of lawmakers, opposition leaders and civil society to govern the war-ravaged Horn of Africa nation after the president’s term expired on Monday with no clear plan for succession.
The power vacuum and divisions between political leaders was a boost to the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgency, a Somali security analyst warned, citing a spate of recent attacks in a relatively peaceful part of the country.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa has suspended plans to inoculate its front-line health care workers with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine after a small clinical trial suggested that it isn’t effective in preventing mild to moderate illness from the variant dominant in the country.
South Africa received its first 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine last week and was expected to begin giving jabs to health care workers in mid-February. The disappointing early results indicate that an inoculation drive using the AstraZeneca vaccine may not be useful.
ACCRA, Feb 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ghana and the United Kingdom (UK) has finalised an agreement that will provide duty-free and quota-free access for Ghana to the UK market and preferential tariff reductions for UK exporters.
Ghana’s Trade Minister Alan Kyerematen in a tweet said “I am pleased that we have finalised a new Interim Ghana-UK Trade Partnership Agreement providing duty-free & quota-free access for Ghana to the UK market & preferential tariff reductions for UK exporters.
“This reaffirms our longstanding trade & economic relationship.
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali leaders have failed to end a stalemate over the selection of a new president scheduled for next week, government officials said on Saturday, raising the risk of more political turmoil.
President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed flew back to the capital Mogadishu without a deal on the staffing of regional electoral commissions, Osman Dube, the information minister, said late on Friday.
06 Feb 2021; MEMO: Somalia has declared a state of emergency on Thursday over a new generation of desert locust swarms that have caused major damage to farmlands.
On its official Twitter account, Somali state television announced that the country's Ministry of Agriculture had declared a state of emergency due to the desert locust invasion.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — More than 350 former Peace Corps volunteers and a trio of former U.S. ambassadors have written to U.S. congressmen urging them to condemn the violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, warning that “as the fighting ostensibly winds down, we are quite sure that the war will continue on a much more pernicious level.”
The letter seen by The Associated Press also asks lawmakers to press for humanitarian aid to all parts of Tigray, urge the United Nations to investigate and advocate for media access to the region “to document human rights abuses.”
KAMPALA, Feb 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least 32 people were confirmed dead and five others seriously injured after a grisly accident involving five vehicles along Fort Portal-Kasese highway on Tuesday night.
The 9pm accident occurred at Kihogo along Hima–Rugendabara road, according to eye witness accounts. The section of the highway is still under re-construction.
Irene Nakasita, the Uganda Red Cross Society Public Relations Officer, said 32 bodies were recovered and five survivors referred to Kilembe Hospital in Kasese District in western Uganda.
BANGUI, Feb 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR) has displaced more than 200,000 people since violence erupted over a December election result, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said.
Nearly half of those fleeing crossed into the Democratic Republic of Congo, the agency said.
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