Suspected militants from Islamist group Boko Haram killed at least 16 people and wounded seven early on Sunday in a grenade attack on a camp for displaced people in northern Cameroon, a local official said. The assailants threw a grenade into a group of sleeping people inside the camp in the village of Nguetchewe, district […]

South Africa on Saturday surpassed 500,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, representing more than 50% of all reported coronavirus infections in Africa’s 54 countries. Health Minister Zwelini Mkhize announced 10,107 new cases Saturday night, bringing the country’s cumulative total to 503,290, including 8,153 deaths. South Africa, with a population of about 58 million, has the fifth-highest number […]

Botswana has put its capital, Gaborone, back into a two-week lockdown starting Friday, closing schools and restricting movements, after confirmed local COVID-19 transmissions doubled this week. Botswana’s health minister, Dr. Lemogang Kwape, said a return to lockdown was needed after the capital saw what he called a “worrying rise” in local cases of COVID-19. “I […]

The United Nations World Food Program is appealing for an additional $250 million in emergency aid to help millions of Zimbabweans at risk of starvation.  The WFP says the COVID-19 pandemic is worsening an already severe hunger crisis in the southern African nation. Hopely farm about 20 kilometers north of Harare’s central business district is […]

The World Health Organization on Thursday warned Africa against easing coronavirus restrictions as the number of infections on the continent has doubled in the past month. WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said at a virtual news conference, “We are concerned that … we will see an increase in cases as we have seen […]

The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) says an airstrike that was intended to target al-Shabab fighters in Somalia earlier this year killed one civilian and wounded three others, in a rare admission by the Command. The findings were part of AFRICOM’s second quarterly report on civilian casualties and marks only the third time in AFRICOM’s history […]

GENEVA – The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees is warning that unlawful and arbitrary incarceration of refugees and asylum seekers is putting them and the general public at heightened risk of COVID-19. The U.N. refugee agency is calling for their urgent and immediate release. Some countries are reportedly using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse […]

GENEVA – The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees is warning that unlawful and arbitrary incarceration of refugees and asylum seekers is putting them and the general public at heightened risk of COVID-19. The U.N. refugee agency is calling for their urgent and immediate release. Some countries are reportedly using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse […]