East Africa

The beginning of the month of Ramadan is this Tuesday, April 13 in Uganda. Social distances and restrictions related to Covid-19 must be respected in mosques. Believers are preparing for the celebration without a large gathering especially at the Kibuli Mosque. as reported from Kampala, Lucie MouillaudInside the prayer room,…

In Somalia, the lower house of parliament voted on Monday, April 12, to extend the term of the outgoing president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, known as "Farmajo" by two years. This vote is intended to block the political crisis that the country entered into on February 8, when the president's term had expired and the presidential election could not be held. Since then, negotiations with the opposition, which no longer recognized its legitimacy, had yielded nothing. In the middle of the afternoon, with a show of hands,…

MOGADISHU, Somalia - For the next two years, Somalis will have to work with President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, whose term of office expired on February 8, 2021, but has since managed to persuade MPs to give him two more years. According to the interim constitution, a head of state in Somalia must serve four years before seeking re-election using the condition decided by the election committee or the management forum. Farmajo was first elected in 2017, followed by Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. In a choreographed…

On Sunday, Uganda, Tanzania and the French oil companies Total and Chinese CNOOC signed several agreements that pave the way for the construction of the pipeline that will transport Ugandan crude oil to a Tanzanian port. A controversial mega-project. With a length of 1443 km, it will be the longest heated crude oil pipeline in the world. He will travel black gold mined from Lake Albert in Uganda at the Tanzanian port of Tanga before being exported, in particular to total group places or to China. The construction of…

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Even with the deepening political crisis in Somalia, United States envoy to Somalia Donald Yamamoto met the leaders of Jubaland and Northeastern State on Sunday as he tried to remove the current dead end that threatens both the country's security and stability. After President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has been ousted, the country is struggling against time to get new leaders in place, but the political class has failed to agree on certain important issues, leading to the current stalemate. Last…

A boat carrying 60 migrants capsized off the coast of Djibouti in eastern Africa, causing 34 migrants to drown, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Monday, during what was the second migratory drowning incident that occurred over a two-week period. Survivors reported that the boat capsized in the rough sea around 4 o'clock (afternoon GMT) after leaving Yemen with about 60 passengers on board, an IOM official in Djibouti told Agence France-Presse (AFP) and asked not to be named.…

Two months before the legislative and municipal elections in Ethiopia, tensions are not diminishing. In March, clashes between Amhara and Oromo, the country's two main ethnic groups, left more than 300 dead, according to figures from a federal official. The violence affected two areas from the Amhara region North Shewa and the north of the country. It is the attack on an imam in front of a mosque in Oromo's special zone that would have triggered these gatherings between communities, according to a local official, Endale…

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The political crisis in Somalia could degenerate into a serious security threat following the recent involvement of the police in the fierce struggle for power control and now lead to the innocent dismissal of Mogadishu police chief Sadak John. In a statement from the state media, General Abdi Hassan Mohamed Hijar, the country's police chief, fired Sadak moments after the latter "suspended" parliamentary session scheduled for Monday, which is slated to tackle the "national election" crisis. General…

MOGADISHU, Somalia - In one of the unprecedented moves, Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble on Sunday swapped his cabinet amid a continuing stalemate that has unleashed uncertainty in Somalia's political landscape in recent months. The Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Duran Farah, swapped positions with the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, Mohamed Salat, but strangely enough, no reason has been given for the changes of President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo's outgoing government. But sources have told…

MOGADISHU, Somalia | Somalia's lower house is coming together again today in the midst of an ongoing stalemate with the national election debate as one of the topics in the order paper, as the international community continues to put pressure on the country's leadership. For the fifth time, the international community called on all stakeholders to find an urgent solution to the current stalemate, arguing that it would be appropriate for political leadership to find a solution for the sake of stability and peace in the…