Hospital patients in Africa who are critically ill with Covid-19 are far more likely to die than in other parts of the world, a study suggests. A shortage of critical care resources was a key problem, it says. This includes both a lack of specialised staff and equipment such as blood oxygen monitors. The researchers hope their work will help...
April 28, 2026
Ethiopia Urged to Reverse Decision to Expel Bloomberg Reporter
By Gordon Bell Ethiopia deported Simon Marks, a journalist who had been reporting for Bloomberg News and other media organizations about developments in Africa’s second-most populous nation including a civil war in the northern Tigray region. Marks, an Irish citizen who had been reporting from the country for two years, was taken to the airport in the capital, Addis Ababa, on...
After President’s Failed Power Grab, Somalia’s Governors Gather to Sort Out Election Differences
by Morgan Artyukhina Somalia’s federal system, established after decades of civil war, gives its five states considerable power, including the ability to unilaterally veto any federal measure. The decentralized system gives states wide autonomy but creates problems when national consensus is required, such as deciding how to select a new federal government. After a bid by Acting Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi...
Ethiopia says Eritrean troops killed civilians in Tigray
Ethiopia on Friday for the first time accused troops from neighbouring Eritrea of killing 110 civilians in a massacre in the war-hit Tigray region. The attorney general’s office sharply contradicted law enforcement officials who claimed earlier this month that the “great majority” of those killed in the city of Axum were fighters, not civilians. The killings in Axum in late...
Rights groups urge Qatar to reveal location of arrested Kenyan migrant worker
By KENNEDY SENELWA Human rights organisations have urged Qatari authorities to disclose the whereabouts of a Kenyan citizen, Mr Malcolm Bidali, who was arrested by the Gulf nation’s security service. The groups, in a joint statement, say Mr Bidali disappeared on May 4, 2021, when he was taken for questioning. The rights group are the Qatar-Migrant-Rights, FairSquare, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Business & Human Rights Resource...
Ethiopia convicts 3 troops of rape, charges 28 for killings
JOHANNESBURG (AP) – Ethiopia´s military prosecutors have convicted three soldiers of rape and pressed charges against 28 others suspected of killing civilians in the ongoing conflict in the northern Tigray region, the attorney general´s office announced Friday. In addition, 25 other soldiers are charged with rape and other forms of sexual violence, the statement said. The six-month-old Tigray conflict is...
The Worst Offenders in the Eyes of Allah
BY: MANSOOR ALAM The Quran says: أَلْقِيَا فِي جَهَنَّمَ كُلَّ كَفَّارٍ عَنِيدٍ ﴿﴾ مَّنَّاعٍ لِّلْخَيْرِ مُعْتَدٍ مُّرِيبٍ (50:24-25) – [Whereupon God will command:] “Cast, cast into hell every [such] stubborn enemy of the truth, [every] withholder of good [and] sinful aggressor [and] fomenter of distrust [between man and man – everyone] [Asad] Who are the leading offenders against the Quran; and...
Joint Communique on the Situation in Somalia (AU, EU, IGAD and UN)
Joint Communique 1) The African Union (AU), the European Union (EU), the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and the United Nations (UN) continue to follow very closely the situation in Somalia. In this regard, a further virtual meeting was held on 18 May 2021, with the participation of Dr. Workneh Gebeyehu, Executive Secretary of IGAD; H.E. Amb. Bankole Adeoye, AU...
Bomb blast in Somali capital kills local official, bodyguards
MOGADISHU, Somalia –A local official in the Somali capital and his two bodyguards were killed on Friday by an improvised explosive device (IED) attack on the outskirts of Mogadishu, an official said. Abdirahman Ahmed Garyare, the commissioner of the Garasbaley neighborhood, and his bodyguards were slain by a landmine explosion shortly after Friday prayers, Abdifatah Hassan, a police official in...
Somali leaders converge in Mogadishu to discuss elections
By Abdulkadir Khalif The National Consultative Forum, comprising the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) and the Federal Member States (FMS), was initially scheduled for Thursday by Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble. It was, however, pushed to Saturday after some leaders failed to arrive on time. President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo on April 27 assigned Roble the task of leading talks on the...