By Guyson Nanagayi – Lagos – AFP- More than two million people, or about half the population of Nigeria’s Jigawa state, have been displaced after authorities had to open flood gates on two rivers, a government official said on Friday. The flooding was caused after authorities opened flood gates of the Challawa and Tiga dams in neighbouring Kano state to avoid overflowing following heavy rains. The flooding began suddenly when the gates on the Challawa and Tiga dams were opened, a spokesman for the Jigawa governor said. “We have about two million people affected,” Umar Kyari spokesperson of Jigawa state... Continue Reading
By Guyson Nanagayi – Kampala – (AFP)- Ugandan authorities on Thursday released two suspects Sheikh Zamir Naufal and Ugandan Dithan Peter Ntale detained on suspicion of involvement in the July 11 Kampala attacks that killed 76 people watching the World Cup final. The release comes after the prosecution entered a “nolle prosequi”, a Latin legal phrase that amounts to “do not prosecute”and Chief Magistrate Deo Ssejjemba ordered the immediate release of Pakistani national Sheikh Zamir Naufal and Ugandan Dithan Peter Ntale “Proceedings against the two accused persons are hereby dismissed as per the prayers and pleadings by the prosecution. You... Continue Reading
By Guyson Nanagayi – LUSAKA (AFP) – Zambian government is planning to close two camps for refugees from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo over the next month which holds over 40,000 people , UN refugee agency said Thursday. Kala camp in north Zambia is scheduled to close on Tuesday while the nearby Mwange camp would be closed by the end of October, the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement. “A total of 40,000 Congolese refugees have been repatriated from Zambia since 2007,” UNHCR official Phillipe Creppy said. “UNHCR and other partners feel the milestone has been... Continue Reading
By Guyson Nanagayi Bujumbura – AFP- At least Fourteen bodies, some of them mutilated with machetes, have been discovered in a river west of Burundi’s capital, a local official said on Wednesday. “Since last week, we have found 14 bodies in this area, some of them with their limbs bound and others with machete wounds,” local administrator Julien Nimbona said. “Fear has engulfed the region and residents fear a resumption of violence.” In the latest discovery on Tuesday, four bodies were found floating on River Rusizi where it empties on Lake Tanganyika in the north of Burundi, he added. “We... Continue Reading
By Kemo Cham – Mali president, Amadou Toumani Touré, tasked the people of Mali to collectively devise a way towards national reconciliation as means to national development. President Touray made this call as part of his speech on the occasion of Mali’s Fiftieth Anniversary of Independence. Today, September 22, 2010, Malians join about 17 other African countries which gained independence, mainly from France, in celebrating 50 years of self rule. Amid an impressive line up of events, Malians are celebrating in remembrance of a “solemn day”, (22 September, 1960) when “those with courage and determination, opposed, with all their might,... Continue Reading
