Africa (except North Africa)

KINSHASA, March 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have confirmed the first case of coronavirus in the country in the capital, Kinsasha.

The patient is a Belgian citizen who has been in the country for several days, Health Minister Eteni Longondo said.

“We are tracking people who came into contact with him so that they too can be placed in quarantine, and tested,” Longondo said.

DR Congo has been screening passengers arriving at the main airport in Kinshasa.

TULU FARA (Ethiopia), March 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Hundreds gathered on Sunday at the site where Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed last March, killing all 157 on board, for a ceremony symbolising the country’s emergence from a year-long period of mourning.

The crash of the Nairobi-bound Boeing 737 MAX six minutes after takeoff on March 10, 2019, triggered the global grounding of the MAX and the worst crisis in Boeing’s history.

The traditional ceremony of the Oromo ethnic group – Ethiopia’s largest – involved prayers, songs and offerings to the dead.

KIGALI, March 6 (Xinhua) -- At least 53 people were killed and 84 others injured in different parts of Rwanda due to disasters triggered by heavy rains since January this year, Ministry of Emergency Management said on Friday.

The ministry said in its disaster update that 858 houses, 196 hectares of crops, 23 roads, 17 bridges and eight churches, among others, were destroyed.

The update cited lightning, floods and rainstorms as the major causes of deaths.

KIGALI, March 7 (NNN-Xinhua) — At least 53 people were killed and 84 others injured in different parts of Rwanda due to disasters triggered by heavy rains since January this year, Ministry of Emergency Management said.

The ministry said in its disaster update that 858 houses, 196 hectares of crops, 23 roads, 17 bridges and eight churches, among others, were destroyed.

The update cited lightning, floods and rainstorms as the major causes of deaths.

LUSAKA (Reuters) - More than 50 people in Zambia have been killed in mob violence in response to a spate of poision spray attacks, President Edgar Lungu said on Friday, blaming church leaders for encouraging some of the reprisals.

The chemical attacks began in December and were initially confined to the mineral-rich copperbelt but have since spread to the capital Lusaka.

Some 26 people have been arrested under suspicion of being behind the incidents, but police have still to pinpoint the motive or exact number of victims.

MOGADISHU, March 6 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — The presidents of Somalia and Kenya have in a phone conversation agree to ease recent tensions following a heightened diplomatic row, that informed Kenya warning Somalia against threatening its territorial integrity and sovereignty.

According to Somalia’s presidential communication team, president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo and his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta spoke on Thursday morning and agreed to work together to improve border security.

CONAKRY, March 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Guinean football is in mourning following a terrible road accident involving second-tier team Club Sportif Etoile de Guinee.

The accident claimed the lives of eight players with 17 others seriously injured.

Etoile were leaving for the city of Kankan for a league fixture against newly-promoted Karfamoriah there on account of the first day of the second-tier season.

The tragic accident happened on Timbo-Mamou stretch about 250 kilometres from the capital Conakry.

LUSAKA, March 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States will give Zambia a new one year bilateral grant of $389 million for AIDS relief starting in October after Congressional approval, Zambia’s ministry of health said in a statement.

The grant under the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) follows a meeting on Zambia which was held last week in Johannesburg, South Africa.

“The meeting reviewed key policies, strategies and activities to be undertaken towards the goal of achieving epidemic control of HIV,” the statement said.

Cape Town, March 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — South African police forcibly removed hundreds of migrants who had been squatting for four months on a busy Cape Town square popular with tourists.

The eviction ended months of tension between the city and the migrants who had camped on the pavements of Greenmarket Square since last year following a spate of xenophobic attacks.

Cape Town had sought an injunction after around 700 foreign nationals, mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi occupied the sidewalks.

BISSAU, March 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — One of the two men who had been declared president of Guinea Bissau has resigned – after just one full day in office.

Despite not being in the December ballot Cipriano Cassamá was appointed by parliament, the majority of whose deputies have refused to acknowledge the election victory of the former opposition leader, Umaro Sissoco Embalol.

Embalol was sworn in as head of state at a luxury hotel on Thursday after the electoral commission had declared him the winner of December’s presidential vote.