Africa Business

Ghana’s Supreme Court on Wednesday paved the way for a contested bill severely curtailing LGBTQ rights to become law after rejecting two bids to overturn it.Lawmakers approved the Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill in February, drawing international condemnation despite gaining wide public support in the conservative West African country.The proposed anti-LGBTQ legislation is considered …

Ghana’s Supreme Court paves way for anti-LGBTQ law Read More »

The haggard faces in the wreckage-and-water-strewn corridors betrayed the nerves and exhaustion of those soldiering on at the main hospital on the French archipelago of Mayotte, ravaged by a deadly cyclone last weekend.”It’s chaos,” summed up medical and administrative assistant Anrifia Ali Hamadi.”The roof is collapsing. We’re not very safe. Even I don’t feel safe …

Mayotte hospital on life support after cyclone Read More »

French authorities Wednesday searched for survivors and raced to supply aid as they sought to work out the full scale of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Chido on the Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte.French President Emmanuel Macron will be in Mayotte on Thursday, his office announced, as officials warned of a death toll reaching hundreds …

France counts cyclone cost as aid reaches Mayotte Read More »

The district of La Vigie on the French overseas territory of Mayotte was until last week a bustling hub of life. Now it no longer exists.All that remains after Cyclone Chido rammed into Mayotte at the weekend, leaving devastation unprecedented in the last century in its wake, are ravaged hills, piles of tangled sheet metal …

Devastated Mayotte battles to recover from cyclone ‘steamroller’ Read More »

French authorities Wednesday searched for survivors and raced to supply aid as they sought to assess the full scale of devastation wrought by Cyclone Chido on the Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte, after the French overseas territory emerged from a first night under curfew. French President Emmanuel Macron “will be in Mayotte on Thursday”, his office …

France assesses scale of Mayotte ‘disaster’ as aid arrives Read More »

From his humble Windhoek workshop, Namibia’s leading fashion designer is keeping alive the love for the Herero people’s traditional dress with horned headgear, a full-length skirt and a link to German colonisers accused of genocide.McBright Kavari’s sewing room is piled high with seemingly ordinary fabric that he transforms with labour and skill into elegant and …

Floor-length and horns: Namibia’s Herero dress endures Read More »

Somalia took the ambitious step of banning single-use plastic bags this year, but in a country with many economic challenges, it has proved hard to implement. It follows similar plastic bans in other east African countries including Kenya and Tanzania.But brightly-coloured polythene still dominates in the markets and shops of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu.Long bedevilled by conflict, …

Somalia struggles to rid itself of plastic despite ban Read More »

Shouting “Boycott!”, women in T-shirts emblazoned with the red cross logo of a Chadian opposition coalition urged shoppers in the capital’s markets to snub this month’s parliamentary and local elections.”Don’t take part in this masquerade!” the campaigners for the Political Actors’ Consultation Group (GCAP) called out ahead of the December 29 polls, the first since 2011 …

Vote or boycott? Rival campaigns hit Chad’s streets ahead of polls Read More »

The dusty concrete floor, worn gloves and battered punching bags at Ghana’s Attoh Quarshie “Home of the Sweet Science” gym might not look like much.But the modest boxing club is one of a network of gyms teaching the noble art in just one small Accra district that has become known internationally as an epicentre for …

Hitting hard in Ghana’s boxing hotspot Read More »

Rescuers searched desperately for survivors as they sought to assess the full scale of devastation wrought by Cyclone Chido on the French overseas territory of Mayotte, which emerged on Wednesday from a first night spent under curfew. French President Emmanuel Macron “will be in Mayotte on Thursday”, his office announced late on Tuesday, as authorities anticipate …

Mayotte reels from cyclone devastation, France’s Macron to arrive Thursday Read More »