Reuters Africa Top

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) – Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Togo have carried out a joint military operation to counter increased attacks by Islamist insurgent groups in parts of West Africa, Burkinabe Security Minister Maxime Kone said on Tuesday. Over 5,700 troops were deployed in the borderlands between Burkina Faso and the other three countries under …

Four West African states mount operation against Islamist insurgents Read More »

By Tim Cocks JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – On Friday Nov. 19, Raquel Viana, Head of Science at one of South Africa’s biggest private testing labs, sequenced the genes on eight coronavirus samples – and got the shock of her life. The samples, tested in the Lancet laboratory, all bore a large number of mutations, especially on …

How South African scientists spotted the Omicron COVID variant Read More »

BENI, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) – Ugandan troops crossed into Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday afternoon as part of a coordinated operation with Congo’s army against an Islamist militia blamed for a recent string of bombings in Kampala, three witnesses said. Spokespeople of the governments of Uganda and Congo were not immediately available …

Ugandan troops enter Congo to fight Islamist militia – three witnesses Read More »

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The African Union on Tuesday hailed a deal paving the way for South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare to package and sell Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine but said it should be expanded to include drug substance production by Aspen. “We today have taken a major step forward,” said Strive Masiyiwa, an African Union …

African Union calls for Aspen-J&J deal to include substance production Read More »

MASERU (Reuters) – Lesotho’s former prime minister, Thomas Thabane, was charged on Tuesday over the murder of his estranged wife in a case that has shocked the southern African highland kingdom. His current wife, Maesaiah Thabane, who has also been charged over the murder, sat beside him as the charges against them were read out …

Lesotho ex-PM Thomas Thabane charged over murder of estranged wife Read More »

By Wendell Roelf CAPE TOWN (Reuters) -The docking of the Europa passenger liner in Cape Town on Tuesday was meant to be a ribbon-cutting celebration marking the official start of the cruise ship season in South Africa’s top tourist hub, the first since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. But international travel curbs on southern Africa, where …

No cruise ship cheer for Cape Town tourism amid Omicron alarm Read More »

By Michele Kambas NICOSIA (Reuters) -Pope Francis visits Cyprus this week to lend his support to a conflict-riven island now on the front line of a new migratory route for people fleeing their countries for Europe. In central Nicosia, nothing tells the story of an influx in arrivals more than the small courtyard area outside …

With migrants in mind, Pope Francis visits divided Cyprus Read More »

RIGA (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised South Africa on Tuesday for detecting a new coronavirus variant and making it known to the world, adding that Washington was working to close the vaccination gap between poor and rich countries. (Reporting by Humerya Pamuk, Writing by Gabriela Baczynska, editing by Andrew Heavens)