NAIROBI – Fifteen-year-old Nasra Aidarus is happy to be back in class after a four-month school closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic that hit Somalia. The seventh-grader at Daynile Primary and Secondary School was just settling into her new school when classes were canceled in March to limit the coronavirus spread. Her family came back […]
General
Somalia Names New PM, Revises Election Plan
Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed on Thursday appointed a political newcomer to become prime minister, nearly two months after the country’s parliament voted out former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire. Mohamed Hussein Roble’s appointment came hours after the president and five regional leaders reached agreement on a revised election model after days of talks in […]
UN Amplifies Ethiopian Migrant Detainees’ Cries for Help in Saudi Arabia
The prospect of paid work and better lives lured Teshome and Kadir from their native Ethiopia, their hopes pinned on Saudi Arabia. Instead, the two young men have spent at least five months idled and anguished, confined in one of the kingdom’s migrant detention centers. They fear they’ll never get out alive. “Our situation is […]
Compensation Disparity Riles Victims of 1998 US Embassy Bombings
WASHINGTON – Doreen Oport was on a tea break when she heard the blast. A 15-year employee of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi in 1998, she said she wasn’t fazed by the sound at first. She thought it was a tire bursting on a busy street. Moments later she felt the unmistakable force of a […]
UNHCR Urges Investigations After 10 Refugees Killed in Uganda Water Conflict
KAMPALA, UGANDA – The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) and Ugandan authorities are working to restore peace after clashes between locals and refugees in northern Uganda last week left about at least 10 refugees dead. The violence followed an argument between South Sudanese refugees and the host community at a shared water point. Rights activists […]
Rising Floodwaters Threaten Sudan’s Ancient Structures
KHARTOUM – Officials in Sudan warn that rising floodwaters could damage ancient structures including Sudan’s Royal City of Meroe if record-setting rains continue. Two weeks of heavy rain have caused record flooding of the Nile River, which has displaced tens of thousands of people and threatened archaeological sites. Floodwaters have already damaged the royal bathroom […]