Africa (except North Africa)

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) — Madagascar is bracing for a new cyclone even as the Indian Ocean island recovers from a tropical storm that wreaked devastation last month.

Cyclone Batsirai is forecast to hit the island’s east coast on Saturday with heavy winds and rains, according to Madagascar’s Department of Meteorology.

The storm has already blown by the islands of Mauritius and Reunion, killing at least person in Mauritius and causing widespread power cuts.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — After learning that a friend tested positive for COVID-19, Thembi Ndlovu went to a health clinic in Zimbabwe’s capital in search of a free coronavirus test. But there were none left that day, leaving the 34-year-old hairdresser unsure if she needed to take precautions to protect clients.

“I wish we could just walk into a pharmacy and buy a cheap self-testing kit like we do with pregnancy or HIV,” she said as she left the clinic in a working-class township of Harare. “It would be much easier.”

BENI, Democratic Republic of Congo, Feb 2 (Reuters) - At least 60 people were killed in a militia attack early on Wednesday at a displaced persons' camp in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the head of a local humanitarian group and a camp resident.

Both sources told Reuters that the CODECO militia was responsible for the killings at about 0200 GMT at the Savo camp near Bule in Ituri province.

Ituri army spokesman Jules Ngongo confirmed the attack by CODECO and gave a provisional toll of about 20 dead.

MAPUTO, Feb 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A suspected Tanzanian jihadist leader has been killed in Mozambique, two weeks after another militant leader from the East African country was captured by military forces.

Tuahil Muhidim is accused of leading jihadist operations to occupy Mocimboa da Praia on the northern coast of Cabo Delgado province in 2020.

The death was announced on Sunday by police chief Bernardino Rafael during a military parade in Magoma, about 11km from Naquitungue, where Muhidim was killed together with one of his partners on Saturday.

NAIROBI, Feb 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Two murder fugitives who were arrested by Kenyan detectives last Wednesday have been extradited to face trial in the United Kingdom.

Mohamud Siyad Abdihakim and Monteiro Tariq Kennedy Mangal, both British nationals, were arrested by Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations -Transnational Organized Crime Unit, in collaboration with the UK authorities.

An international arrest warrant had been issued against them for the brutal murder of a 16-year-old boy identified as Alex Smith, from Wembley, in northwest London.

NAIROBI, Feb 1 (NNN-KBC) — Kenya and Portugal have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen collaboration in the health sector in the wake of sustained efforts by Kenya to advance the Universal Health Coverage agenda.

A meeting between Health CS Mutahi Kagwe and the head of mission at the Portuguese Embassy Luisa Maria Fragoso resolved to form a technical working team to explore areas of possible collaboration in the field of medicine.

OUAGADOUGOU, Feb 1 (Reuters) - The last time rebellious soldiers attempted to overthrow Burkina Faso's government in 2015, Marcel Tankoano was among thousands of protesters who took to the streets to oust the junta. Within days, loyalist forces had restored the president to power.

Last week, Tankoano was on the streets again, this time celebrating the military coup that toppled the country's elected president, Roch Kabore.

MANDERA, Kenya, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- At least nine commuters were killed in a roadside blast along a highway in northeast Kenya early Monday.

Regional police chief George Seda confirmed the incident, saying the blast happened when a minibus ran over an improvised explosive device set on the road along Arabia-Mandera highway, about 8 km from Mandera county.

"Witnesses have seen five bodies and we are on the ground now," he said, adding that four people died of severe injuries in hospital.

30 Jan 2022; MEMO: A Somali court yesterday ruled that millions of dollars confiscated from an Emirati civilian plane in 2018 will not be returned, local media outlets reported.

According to reports, the Banadir Regional Court instructed the Central Bank not to release $9.6 million found in three unmarked bags aboard a Royal Jet plane that arrived at Mogadishu airport in April 2018.

KAMPALA, Jan 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A tourist from Saudi Arabia was trampled to death by an elephant in a national park in Uganda after he got out of the car he was travelling in, a wildlife official said.

The deceased was passing through the Murchison Falls National Park to Arua city with colleagues when they stopped to relieve themselves, Uganda wildlife authority spokesman Bashir Hangi said in a statement.

A herd of elephants charged at them and the deceased, Ayman Sayed Elshahany, who had moved further away from the vehicle, was unable to return.