Voters in Mali went to the polls Sunday to elect members of the 147-seat National Assembly. The parliamentary election in the war-torn West African country, which should have taken place after President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita’s 2018 reelection, has been postponed several times since then out of security concerns. New members of the assembly are expected to emerge for the first time since 2013, when Rally for Mali, Keita’s party, gained a substantial majority. Some 200,000 […]
General
African Students Stuck in China: ‘Our Pleas Are Falling on Deaf Ears’
WASHINGTON – Michael Girma wants to go home. The 25-year-old student misses his sister and brother. He misses his mother, and his friends 5,000 miles away. Since late January, Girma has been trapped in Wuhan, China, the original epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak. Girma studies electrical engineering at Hubei University of Technology, along the Xunsi […]
Experts: African Economies Need Massive Support to Weather Coronavirus
A number of African economies are among the world’s fastest growing in recent years. However, analysts fear COVID-19, which was slow to arrive on the continent, will end that. The U.N. Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) estimates the coronavirus has already cost the region $29 billion and could more than halve its GDP, for reasons […]
Cameroonian Muslims Defy Coronavirus Prayer Restrictions
YAOUNDE, CAMEROON – Muslims in Cameroon have defied and are protesting government restrictions on prayer attendance at mosques, imposed to reduce the spread of COVID-19, which has so far been confirmed in 92 people in less than a month. The Muslims say the government order defies God’s teachings. Hundreds of Muslim faithful attended their Friday […]
Tanzanian President Criticized for Refusing to Close Places of Worship
DAR ES SALAAM – Opposition leaders in Tanzania are criticizing the government’s response to the coronavirus, after President John Magufuli said he would never close down places of worship. While Tanzania has been taking the same measures against coronavirus as other African nations — closing schools, quarantining foreign arrivals, and banning public events — Magufuli’s government […]
South Africa Begins Nationwide Coronavirus Lockdown
South Africans on Friday began the first day of a three-week nationwide lockdown aimed at stemming the tide of coronavirus cases, now topping 900 in South Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa urged troops on Thursday to be a “force of kindness,” saying people are terrified of the virus and the soldiers should not do anything to […]