Diaspora news

Afghan women earned the right to vote more than a century ago. Today, under Taliban rule, they are practically erased from public life and even banned from singing.  These were just some of the chilling observations and testimony from Afghan women, together with supporters from around the world, who convened at UN Headquarters on Monday to discuss inclusion and women’s ...

A fuel tanker collided head-on with another truck in Nigeria on Sunday causing an explosion that killed more than 50 people, the country’s emergency response agency said. The fuel tanker was also carrying cattle in the Agaie area in north-central Niger state and at least 50 of them were burned alive, Abdullahi Baba-Arab, director-general of the Niger State Emergency Management ...

At least six people died after a boat capsized off Senegal over the weekend, a spokesperson for the West African country’s armed forces said on Monday. The boat – a narrow, wooden fishing vessel known as a pirogue – was carrying around 100 migrants from the town of Mbour and it overturned after only 4 km (2.5 miles) of navigation, ...

The conflict in Sudan has led to a horrifying surge in violence against children, a new UN report has revealed, underscoring the need for urgent and tangible protection measures. The report on Children and Armed Conflict in Sudan, released on Tuesday, documented a staggering 2,168 grave violations against 1,913 children in 2022 and 2023 – a significant increase compared to ...

Five senior UN officials have welcomed the decision by The Gambia to uphold its ban on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), calling it a critical win for women’s and girls’ rights.  Parliamentarians in the West African country voted last Monday to reject a bill that sought to overturn a 2015 law against the harmful practice, which involves cutting or removing some ...

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has unveiled a new coalition government, after his ruling African National Congress (ANC) party lost its parliamentary majority in May’s elections. He said “the government of national unity… is unprecedented in the history of our democracy”. The ANC will have 20 out of 32 cabinet posts, while the pro-market Democratic Alliance (DA) – until now ...

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa was sworn in for his second mandate on Wednesday after a tedious last month election. Ramaphosa received a 21_gun salute, military fly-bys and a parade of honor by the servicemen. Ramaphosa secured his position after garnering majority votes among members of parliament allied to the African National Congress ANC, the Democratic Alliance and other parties ...

A Swiss court on Wednesday convicted a former government minister from Gambia of crimes against humanity under ex-dictator Yahya Jammeh and jailed him for 20 years, in a historic verdict using universal jurisdiction in Europe. The Federal Criminal Court found Ousman Sonko guilty on several counts of intentional homicide, torture and false imprisonment. Sonko, who was dismissed as Gambia’s interior ...

Leaders from the West African regional bloc, Ecowas, have climbed down on their initial announcement that they were visiting Togo “due to the seriousness of the controversial constitutional reforms that the government planned to introduce”. Those words were part of a press release that was published on X on Monday then deleted on Tuesday. It was replaced by a new ...

Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency has recovered $28.88 million after launching an investigation into alleged fraud at a government ministry responsible for tackling poverty, a spokesperson said. Betta Edu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, was suspended in January less than six months after her appointment by President Bola Tinubu, who came to power last year on a promise to revive growth ...