‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero Paul Rusesabagina freed from prison

In this file photo taken on October 02, 2020 “Hotel Rwanda” hero Paul Rusesabagina (C) in the pink inmate’s uniform arriving at Nyarugenge Court of Justice in Kigali, Rwanda, surrounded by guards of Rwanda Correctional Service.

Polio emergency declared in Burundi.

By Faith Barbara Namagembe at 2331 EAT on Tuesday 21st March 2023. Burundi has declared a national public health emergency after polio was detected in a 4-year-old and two other children who had been in contact with the child. The polio outbreak is Burundi’s first in more than 30 years. The landlocked African country is…

Ethiopia, Eritrea say US allegations ‘inflammatory’, ‘defamatory’.

Updated by Faith Barbara Namagembe at 2134 EAT on Tuesday 21st March 2023. Ethiopia’s government has accused the United States of taking a “partisan” approach by alleging that its forces, and Eritrean troops, had committed war crimes during the two-year conflict in Tigray. “The US statement is inflammatory,” the foreign ministry said in a statement…

South African police, soldiers deploy over opposition-led protests.

Updated by Faith Barbara Namagembe at 0913 EAT on Tuesday 21st March 2023. Police and soldiers deployed across South Africa today Monday as the country braced for protests after a left-wing party called for a “national shutdown”, sparking fears of a repeat of the unrest that turned deadly two years ago. There was a heavy…

Cyclone Freddy death toll in southeast Africa surpasses 500.

Updated by Faith Barbara Namagembe at 1810 EAT on Sunday 19th March 2023. The death toll in southeast Africa due to the exceptionally long -lasting Tropical Cyclone Freddy has risen to 522, according to authorities in Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar. Disaster management authorities in Malawi, which has been hit the hardest by the cyclone, reported on Saturday…

Corruption probe clears S.African president of theft.

Updated by Faith Barbara Namagembe at 1050 EAT on Thursday 16th March 2023. A corruption watchdog group said in a preliminary report that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was not involved in a cover-up concerning the theft of a large amount of cash he had stuffed into a sofa at his farmhouse. Allegations of a…

Blinken to Ethiopia & Niger; VP Harris to Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will visit Addis Ababa on March 14 and 15 to hold talks with the Ethiopian government and leaders of the Tigrayan forces to discuss the fragile peace process that has ended the two-year conflict which claimed thousands of lives. The trip, which also includes a stopover in Niger, is one…

South Sudan’s president calls on refugees to return home

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has urged the country’s more than 2 million refugees to return home in his first meeting with displaced people since civil war erupted almost a decade ago. Kiir’s appeal on Wednesday came as the country prepares to hold its first elections since gaining independence in 2011. South Sudan’s elections are…

Burkina Faso buries exhumed remains of murdered ex-leader Sankara

Burkina Faso’s former President Thomas Sankara, was reburied Thursday, eight years after his body was exhumed as part of an investigation. Sankara’s body, and those of the 12 people who died with him, were reburied at the site of his assassination, which has since become a memorial for Sankara featuring a life-size statue of the…

Kabaka Chwa’s Grandson Daniel Saava Ssemwanga passes on at 78

By E K Benj – Updated at 7:30 EAT on Thursday 16th February 2023 WAKISO – Daniel Saava Ssemwanga Hanington, grandson of Kabaka Daudi Chwa on Tuesday night passed on at Le Memorial hospital along Kigo road. His body is lying at Mengo Hospital awaiting a postmortem report. According to unconfirmed sources, Daniel could have…