Africa

2 days agoKhanyisile NgcoboBBC NewsReporting fromJohannesburgEnoch Godongwana has suffered a major blow after the coalition deadlocked over his budgetSouth Africa’s Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has been forced to postpone the unveiling of the national budget following sharp disagreements within the coalition government.
Coalition partners derailed his budget after opposing his plan to raise value-added-tax (VAT), which would have seen the prices of goods go up at a time when South Africans are hard-hit by the cost-of-living crisis.
Godongwana is a member of the African National Congress (ANC), which was forced to enter into a coalition after losing its parliamentary majority in elections last year.
His failure to table the budget sent shockwaves in South Africa, as it has never happened since the end of white-minority rule in 1994.
The currency plummeted against the US dollar, as markets reacted negatively to the news.
The Democratic Alliance (DA), which is the second-biggest p..

14 hours agoTess de la Mare & Audrey DiasBBC News, BristolAbdullahi Abdi said the achievement had made all his “difficulties and sacrifices” worthwhileA Somali refugee who earned a degree while juggling shifts as an Uber driver wants others in his position to know “nothing is impossible”.
Abdullahi Abdi, 46, graduated with a 2:1 in social policy from the University of Bristol last summer, more than 15 years after arriving in the UK.
He said he had been inspired by his late brother – the first in his family to attend university – who was killed in a terrorist attack in Somalia shortly after graduating.
“Even if things aren’t heading in the right direction or no matter what the barrier is, there’s always a way,” said Mr Abdi.
Mr Abdi has worked as a taxi driver, a carer and in a warehouse since arriving in EnglandIn addition to taxi driving, Mr Abdi has worked in a warehouse and as a carer, which prompted him to study for a social policy degree.
“There weren’t that many options available..

After fleeing conflict, over 100 athletes from across Africa attend trials in Kenya in the hope of becoming part of the Refugee Olympic Team.

2 days agoLydia Mugambe is a United Nations judgeA United Nations judge told police officers a young woman who she allegedly tricked into coming to the UK to work for her as a slave was “excited about the pound”, a trial has heard.
Lydia Mugambe, who denies four charges, is accused of taking “advantage of her status” over her alleged victim in the “most egregious way”.
On Tuesday, jurors at Oxford Crown Court were shown body-worn footage of police officers attending Ms Mugambe’s address in Oxfordshire in 2023.
The alleged victim told the officers that Ms Mugambe would not let her leave the house until she paid her money for her travel to the UK.
The woman, who was found packing in a bedroom, said she had arrived in the country in July 2022 on a work visa and she did not want to stay at Ms Mugambe’s house.
Meanwhile, the defendant was downstairs telling an officer that the woman was “acting funny”, the court heard.
Ms Mugambe, who is also a High Court judge in Uganda, said the woman did..

19 February 2025Khanyisile NgcoboBBC News, JohannesburgThe execution-style killing of an openly gay imam, Muhsin Hendricks, in South Africa has left people in the LGBTQ+ community fearful for their safety – but also determined to forge ahead with the campaign to end their marginalisation in religious circles.
Reverend Toni Kruger-Ayebazibwe, an openly gay Christian cleric, told the BBC that Hendricks was a “gentle spirit” who brought light into any room he occupied.
“The gap Muhsin leaves is massive,” she said, adding that she knew for a fact that there were “a large number of queer Muslims around the world who are grief stricken”.
The 57-year-old was shot dead in what appeared to be a hit on Saturday in the small coastal city of Gqeberha.
Initial reports that Cape Town-based Hendricks had been in Gqeberha to perform the wedding ceremony of a gay couple have been dismissed as untrue by his Al-Gurbaah Foundation.
“He was visiting Gqeberha to officiate the marriages of two interfaith..

18 February 2025Orla GuerinBBC News, GomaHeshima winces in pain as he tries to shift his weight, sweat beading on his face. The slight 13-year-old sits on a bed in a tent in the grounds of an overcrowded hospital in Goma city in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Heshima’s left leg is a bandaged stump, his stomach is streaked with burn marks, and both of his parents have been killed.
A relative, Tantine, tells us who is to blame: M23 rebels – backed by Rwanda and battling the Congolese army, known as the FARDC. The rebels now control the two largest cities in this mineral-rich area, which borders Rwanda.
“It was a Sunday,” she says. “There was fighting between them and the FARDC. They dropped the bomb, and I lost six members of my family.”
The M23 portray themselves as freedom fighters, bringing peace and order to a failed state, and a failed leader in Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi.
The rebel group, mainly comprised of ethnic Tutsis, has been on the march since..

2 days agoNatasha BootyBBC NewsThe allegations came as the RSF plans to announce plans to form a rival government in SudanMore than 200 unarmed civilians have been killed in a cluster of villages in Sudan over three days by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that is involved in a brutal conflict with the military, a local rights group has said.
The Emergency Lawyers network said the attacks happened in al-Kadaris and al-Khelwat towards the north of White Nile state – areas where the military had no presence.
RSF fighters were guilty of “executions, kidnappings, enforced disappearances and property looting”, the network added.
The RSF, which was allied to the military before the civil war broke out in April 2023, has not commented on the allegations.
The two had come to power together in a coup – but fell out over an internationally backed plan to move towards civilian rule.
Some senior RSF leaders are currently in Kenya where they are expected to announce plans to form their o..

2 days agoYasine MohabuthBBC News, Port LouisThe former prime minister, Pravind Jugnauth, spent a night in detentionMauritius’ former Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth has been released on bail following his dramatic arrest on Saturday on money laundering charges.
He had been detained along with three others after the anti-corruption agency said it had seized suitcases of cash and luxury watches in raids on 10 locations, including Jugnauth’s home.
The former prime minister’s lawyer said he denied the charges against him.
Jugnauth’s arrest came 100 days after his landslide defeat in elections, with his successor Navin Ramgoolam vowing to root out corruption. But few Mauritians expected the Financial Crimes Commission (FCC) to move so quickly, or to arrest the former prime minister on such serious charges.
Some people took to the streets of the capital, Port Louis, to celebrate by lighting firecrackers, while a handful of his supporters turned up outside court on Monday to show their so..

1 day agoDamian ZaneBBC NewsMuhsin Hendricks, who came out as gay in 1996, once said that his need to be authentic “was greater than the fear to die”Police in South Africa are “hot on the heels” of the suspects behind the killing of Muhsin Hendricks, dubbed the world’s first openly gay imam, Deputy Justice Minister Andries Nel has said.
The 57-year-old was in a car when he was shot dead in broad daylight in the coastal city of Gqeberha on Saturday.
CCTV footage of the incident shows a hooded figure running out of a pick-up truck that was blocking Hendricks’ vehicle and then firing shots through the window.
The imam was well known for his work in creating a safe haven for gay and other marginalised Muslims and his killing shocked the LGBTQ+ community and beyond.
An investigation is under way but Nel told the Newzroom Afrika TV channel that it was too early to say whether it was a hate crime.
Without giving further details, Nel said he was told by Deputy Police Minister Polly Boshielo th..

2 days agoBasillioh RukangaBBC NewsKizza Besigye has been in detention since NovemberDetained Ugandan opposition politician Kizza Besigye, on hunger strike for a week, has been returned to prison after being in a clinic overnight, his allies have said.
The 68-year-old was rushed to a private medical facility in a prison ambulance as his his health was deteriorating, his lawyer Erias Lukwago wrote earlier on Facebook.
Besigye was charged in a military court with illegal possession of a firearm, threatening national security, as well as treason, which carries the death sentence. He denies the accusations.
The news about his health came hours after a cabinet minister said he had seen Besigye in jail. He urged him to resume eating and pledged to drop his military trial.
Another leading opposition politician, Bobi Wine, along with human rights activists, went to the prison on Monday to visit Besigye.
But Bobi Wine said that prison officers refused to let them see him as he was very weak.
“T..