Samia Suluhu Hassan became Tanzania's president last month following the death of John MagufuliImage caption: Samia Suluhu Hassan became Tanzania's president last month following the death of John Magufuli
Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan has pardoned more than 5,000 prisoners to celebrate Union Day.
President Samia urged the released inmates to put into practice the lessons they learnt in prison and lead responsible lives when re-joining their communities.
Union Day marks the coming together of Tanganyika and Zanzibar to form the Republic of Tanzania on 26 of April 1964.
Pardoning prisoners on Union Day is an annual tradition.
Last year, the late President John Magufuli pardoned 3,973 prisoners in order to ease congestion in prisons.
About 35,000 prisoners are reported to be in the country’s jails.
Hopes of transforming Mozambique's economy under threat
Catherine Byaruhanga
BBC News
The authorities in Mozambique
will breathe a huge sigh of relief that Total has not pulled out completely
but this latest development is a sobering warning of how a key investment could
be delayed or lost.
It comes weeks after the company
resumed exploration activities after the government said its forces were in
control of Palma, close to its Afungi site. The guarantee didn't last - only
hours later the militants overran the town.
As well as Total's LNG project
in Cabo Delgado, there is another operated by the US' ExxonMobil estimated to
be worth $60bn (£43bn).
The fields could earn the southern African country some $100bn
over the next 25 years - that's six times the country's current budget, and perhaps
enough to transform its economy.
President Filipe Nyusi is under
pressure to prove that he can secure the interests of international investors,
keep Mozambicans safe, and reassure jittery neighbours that he can end the
insurgency.
Algerian
authorities said they have arrested a group of separatists plotting attacks and
criminal activities in several regions of the country.
The
Ministry of Defence said in a statement that "security investigations helped
dismantle a group of criminals who are members of the Mak separatist
organisation".
The Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie (Mak) is an ethnic Berber organisation
seeking to split the Berber Kabylie region away from Algeria.
Nur PhotoCopyright: Nur Photo
The Berber Kabylie region sits in the north among the Atlas mountainsImage caption: The Berber Kabylie region sits in the north among the Atlas mountains
Investigators uncovered and seized weapons and explosives and said "the group members intended to use in their planned attacks" during the anti-government protests of the Hirak movement.
The statement added that several members of Mak have "received military training abroad financed by foreign countries" without naming a specific country.
It is not the first time the Algerian authorities have said that the anti-government protests have been infiltrated.
In January 2020 the Ministry of Defence announced the arrest of a suicide bomber planning to blow himself in a rally in the capital, Algiers.
The legislative elections are on 12 June but the Hirak movement has already called for their boycott.
Albert Pahimi Padacké once again takes up the post he'd held previously until it was scrapped in 2018Image caption: Albert Pahimi Padacké once again takes up the post he'd held previously until it was scrapped in 2018
Chad's new ruling military council has named as interim prime minister the runner-up in this month's presidential election.
The appointment of Albert Pahimi Padacké follows last week's battlefield death of President Idriss Déby.
Mr Padacké served as prime minister under Mr Déby until the post was abolished in 2018.
An opposition leader, Yacine Abderamane, has refused to accept Mr Padacké's nomination saying the transitional military council has no right to make such an appointment.
Mr Déby was killed the day after he won the presidential election.
He was fighting rebels who swept into Chad from their bases in Libya.
An
Italian priest has been shot and injured by unknown gunmen, Catholic church authorities have said.
Fr Christian Carlassare was attacked at his house on Sunday night.
“He is currently receiving treatment at a
hospital in Rumbek [central South Sudan]. The armed men targeted him, they knocked his door and
started shooting at the door until they broke it,” Fr. Andrea Osman, a Diocesan
priest who also survived the incident told the Nairobi-based Association for
Catholic Information in Africa.
“They
shot him three bullets, two on one leg and the other one on another leg. He is now in stable condition as doctors have
controlled the heavy bleeding,” Fr. Andrea added.
Fr Andrea said arrangements were underway to airlift the Bishop-elect to Nairobi
for further treatment.
The motive of the incident remains unclear.
In
November 2018 a Kenyan priest, Fr Victor Luke Odhiambo was
shot dead by people who attacked his Jesuit community in the Lakes area.
Opposition forces occupy key parts of Mogadishu
Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service
ReutersCopyright: Reuters
Somali military troops supporting opposition leaders set barricades seen on Mogadishu's streets on MondayImage caption: Somali military troops supporting opposition leaders set barricades seen on Mogadishu's streets on Monday
Forces loyal to the opposition in Somalia are occupying key parts of the capital, Mogadishu, following Sunday's eruption of fighting with soldiers supporting President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo.
These include a junction about half a kilometre from the presidential palace.
Civilians have been fleeing the areas affected by the violence.
Some schools and universities have been shut.
Clan elders are trying to negotiate a peaceful settlement between powerful opposition leaders and Mr Farmajo, whose mandate has been extended by two years, despite expiring in February.
SA and Kenya telecom firms bid for Ethiopian market
Kalkidan Yibeltal
BBC News, Addis Ababa
Giant telecom operators from the UK, South Africa, Kenya and Japan
are bidding to enter Ethiopia’s untapped telecom market.
The country's finance ministry announced on Monday that it received two
bids - from South Africa's MTN group and a consortium that includes Kenya's Safaricom - as it works to open the telecom market to international operators.
The consortium also includes Vodafone and CDC companies from the UK, South Africa's Vodacom and Japanese firm Sumitomo.
The ministry also posted the announcement on Twitter:
South Sudan’s health ministry has
rejected the advice from the World Health Organization (WHO) not to destroy the
expired Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine.
The country's Covid-19 Incident Manager Richard Laku has said the government will not use the 60,000 vaccines and will destroy them.
The WHO has asked governments to wait for its guidance noting that vaccines could be used up to 36 months after manufacture.
Dr Laku said the position of the government is that “these doses of vaccine
will not be used, but there is an option to destroy them.”
WHO’s Country Preparedness and International Health Regulation Officer Wamala Joseph Francis said there was a standard practice for the organisation to reach out to manufacturers for guidance.
“When such a situation happens for a precious
product like this Covid vaccine, we usually reach out to the manufacturer and
share the batches – so that the manufacturer can run additional
tests and determine for how long the vaccine will remain stable – so that will
determine the period of extending the expiry date,” Dr Francis said.
Somalia 'calm after heavy fighting'
BBC Monitoring
The world through its media
ReutersCopyright: Reuters
The Somali capital, Mogadishu, is calm on Monday morning after heavy fighting between pro-opposition armed loyalist and the government security forces, privately-owned Radio Risala has reported.
"The situation in the areas where the fighting occurred is today calm and people were seen walking to their work places and some came out to assess the situation," Radio Risala's website said.
Heavy clashes between opposition loyalists and government security forces erupted on Sunday.
30 Nigerian soldiers killed in attack - reports
Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service
Military sources in Nigeria say more than 30 soldiers have been killed in an Islamist attack on their convoy in the north-eastern state of Borno.
The insurgents are then reported to have overrun an army base, burning military vehicles.
Several other attacks have been reported in Nigeria over the past two days, with dozens of civilians killed.
There is growing concern over what many Nigerians say is the government's inability to deal with deteriorating security.
UNHCR chief says Kenya won't close refugee camps
Yves Bucyana
BBC Swahili
BBCCopyright: BBC
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has been in Rwanda to assess the refugee situationImage caption: UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has been in Rwanda to assess the refugee situation
The government of Kenya is not closing down Dadaab and
Kakuma refugee camps but it wants a solution, the head of the UN's refugee agency has said.
UNHCR's Filippo Grandi is visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi, to assess the problems that refugees are currently facing in the region.
Last month, Kenya gave a 14-day ultimatum for UNHCR to close Dadaab and
Kakuma camps, citing national security concerns, and the interior ministry said
“there was no room for further negotiations”.
In Rwanda on Sunday, Mr Grandi told journalists that they
“have had very good discussion with the government of Kenya”.
“The government of Kenya is not closing down those camps,
the government of Kenya wants to have a solution, they want to see what’s the
way forward,” Mr Grandi said.
The UN refugee agency have submitted to Kenya plans for the
future of the two camps, he also revealed.
“I think the government of Kenya will continue to provide
hospitality... but understandably they want to have a strategy for the future and
the discussions continue.”
In April, Kenya’s High Court temporarily
blocked the closure of the two refugee camps that host more than 400,000
people.
Malawi to destroy expired AstraZeneca vaccines
Peter Jegwa
Lilongwe, Malawi
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
If the temperature of vaccines fluctuate then they can lose their potencyImage caption: If the temperature of vaccines fluctuate then they can lose their potency
Malawi has
said it will go ahead and destroy more than 16,000 doses of expired
Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines despite the World Health Organization (WHO) advising against
it.
In early
March, Malawi received 360,000 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines but found out the vaccines were due to expire before they
were all administered.
The WHO said that the vaccines can be used up to 36 months after
manufacture and advised African countries to keep hold of them and wait for
further guidance.
But Malawi’s
Ministry of Health spokesperson, Joshua Malango, has told the BBC that Malawi will go
ahead and destroy 16,440 doses of the vaccines because news of extension of
shelf life was shared with Malawi after the vaccine had already expired and
taken out of the so-called cold chain system which ensures the temperature of the vaccine doesn't fluctuate and then lose its potency.
“For us, the
vaccine doses were effectively already destroyed the moment we
removed them from the cold chain system after the expiry date... the
incineration will just be a formality,” Mr Malango said.
He further
said the other reason for destroying the expired vaccines is that most people
were hesitant to get vaccines they thought had expired so destroying them will
restore people’s confidence.
Why are Covid vaccines going to waste?
Alan Kasujja
BBC Africa Daily podcast
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
In the fight against Covid-19, every vaccine counts.
And yet, both Malawi and South Sudan say they may destroy as
many as 70,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab. They say the vaccines may
have passed their expiry date.
“The Ministry of Health is still in communication to reach
an amicable resolution,” says South Sudan’s UK Ambassador Agnes Oswaha. “There
is no decision made yet to dispose of the vaccines."
But some say this impasse may affect public confidence on
the vaccine.
“In terms of perception, in terms of communication, I don’t
think that it will be useful,” says Yap Boum, regional representative for
Africa for Epicentre, the research arm of Doctors Without Borders.
So, why exactly are so many vaccines at risk of going to
waste? What exactly went wrong?
Subscribe to the
show on BBC Sounds or wherever
you get your podcasts.
South Africa to resume Johnson & Johnson jabs
South Africa will resume its Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine rollout on Wednesday following recommendations from its cabinet and the health regulatory authority.
“It has since been established there is a one-in-a-million chance of getting the clot after the vaccine, and that it appears that women between the ages of 18 and 48 years old are particularly at risk.
"With such a low probability of developing a clot, all the regulators across the world have recommended the continued use of Johnson and Johnson," Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a statement on Monday announcing the resumption.
The authorities will however work "to ensure that there is intensified pre-vaccination assessment and post vaccination monitoring when the rollout is resumed", he said.
The number of vaccination sites will also be expanded across the country once the vaccination resumes.
The country suspended its Johnson and Johnson vaccination programme two weeks ago over concerns that the jab could cause blood clots.
Ugandans cheer on Daniel Kaluuya after Oscar win
Ugandans online have cheered British actor Daniel Kaluuya, who is of Ugandan origin, after he won an Oscar.
Mr Kaluuya won Best Supporting Actor for his role in Judas and the Black Messiah.
In his speech he thanked all his fans from London and Kampala.
His Ugandan mother, who was in the audience, was also credited for her contribution in his career.
Mr Kaluuya's final words of how incredible it was that his parents had sex and had him made his mother and sister blush: