KAMPALA (Reuters) -Uganda’s parliament on Thursday took up a bill that would criminalise identifying as LGBTQ, with lawmakers saying the current ban on same-sex relations does not go far enough. Anti-LGBTQ sentiment is deeply entrenched in the highly conservative and religious East African nation, with same-sex relations punishable by up to life in prison. More …
Uganda considers bill to criminalise identifying as LGBTQ Read More »
TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisian President Kais Saied said late on Wednesday he will dissolve municipal councils months before they were due to be elected, further dismantling the systems of government developed after the 2011 revolution that brought democracy. “We will discuss a decree to dissolve municipalities and replace them by special councils,” he said in …
Tunisian president to dissolve municipal councils months before local elections Read More »
By Paul Lorgerie KIGONZE CAMP, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) – Marie Dzedza has lost hope of leaving a displaced people’s camp and returning to her village in the eastern Congolese province of Ituri, where rebel violence is surging while regional attention focuses on a conflict in a neighbouring territory. Five years ago, Dzedza lost …
In shadow of conflict nearby, rebel upsurge hits Congo’s Ituri Read More »
ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria’s electoral commission has postponed by a week Saturday’s elections to choose new governors, saying it needed more time to reconfigure electronic machines that are at the centre of last month’s disputed presidential vote. The elections to pick governors in 28 of the country’s 36 states will now be held on March …
Nigeria’s electoral agency postpones elections for governors Read More »
JUBA (Reuters) – South Sudan President Salva Kiir on Wednesday sacked the foreign minister, the president’s spokesperson said, less than a week after the dismissal of the ministers of defence and interior and he did not provide an explanation. Foreign minister Mayiik Ayii is a close ally of Kiir, and previously served as the minister …
South Sudan president dismisses foreign minister without explanation Read More »
TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisian civil society groups on Wednesday accused the interior minister of incitement after he said some journalists, activists, politicians, business people and union members were traitors. The organisations include Tunisia’s main labour union, the UGTT, and the Journalists Syndicate, as well as the Human Rights League, the transparency group iWatch and the …
By Dina Kartit (Reuters) – Violence and threats towards women still act as a deterrent to their involvement in politics, the U.N. gender equality organisation said, despite more women holding office. Data showed that the number of women in political leadership posts, both in government and in parliament, has improved overall, though, some regions such …
Threats towards women deter political involvement – UN Read More »
By Nyasha Chingono HARARE (Reuters) – As the sweltering morning sun beat down on them, about half a dozen young Zimbabwean women stacked green tobacco leaves into sheaves while another group, some with babies on their backs, loaded the harvested crop onto a tractor. In a largely male-dominated sector, Michelle Gwatimba, 36, who runs this …
Zimbabwe tobacco farmer offers lifeline to survivors of gender violence Read More »
By Cooper Inveen and Christian Akorlie ACCRA (Reuters) -International Monetary Fund staff will present Ghana’s request for a loan programme to its executive board by the end of the month, the country’s President Nana Akufo-Addo said on Wednesday during an annual state-of-the-nation address. The West African country, struggling with its worst economic crisis in a …
Ghana’s loan programme request to go to IMF board by end March – president Read More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain on Wednesday announced a package of sanctions against what they described as ‘global violators of women’s rights’ based in Iran, Syria, the Central African Republic and South Sudan. The asset freezes and travel bans were introduced on International Women’s Day, applying to four individuals, including military figures accused of overseeing rape. …
UK sanctions ‘global violators of women’s rights’ Read More »
