South Africa will begin vaccinating frontline health care workers with an unapproved coronavirus vaccine by the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical company next week to see if it provides protection from the variant sweeping the country. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said Wednesday South Africa dropped plans to use the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for now because of concerns it may not be effective
Ugandan authorities restored access to the internet Wednesday, a month after blocking it ahead of the January 14 elections. The government said the disruption was needed for security, while critics say it was intended to cut off communication among opponents of President Yoweri Museveni. “Internet and social media services have been fully restored,” Ugandan Minister for Information and Communications Technology
The head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali on Wednesday condemned attacks on his force that left at least 20 members injured. A U.N. statement said an unknown group opened fire on a temporary base near Kerena village in central Mali. Mahamat Saleh Annadif, head of the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), called it a “cowardly attack
The U.N. refugee agency reported Friday that violence surrounding last month’s election in Central African Republic has sent tens of thousands of people fleeing for their lives to neighboring countries and to safer areas within CAR. More than 30,000 refugees are estimated to have fled to neighboring Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Republic of Congo since December
In Cameroon, one week ahead of the African Nations Soccer Championship, officials have deployed troops to protect players from across Africa as separatists vow to stop the games in restive English-speaking regions. The government is assuring football fans from across Africa that the games will be safe and that measures have also been taken to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Prominent Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Chin’ono appeared in court Saturday after police arrested him for “peddling falsehoods.” Media monitor groups fear Chin’ono’s arrest — his third in six months — may be part of efforts by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government to stifle freedom of expression on social media. Chin’ono arrived Saturday at the Harare Magistrate’s Court in full personal protective equipment (PPE),