From driving trucks and fixing cars to encouraging girls living with disabilities to find their place in society, women in Zimbabwe refuse to be defined by their gender or circumstances, even though the global COVID-19 pandemic hits them hardest and imposes extra burdens. . There are very few female truck drivers in Zimbabwe, but Molly Manatse does not like being singled out for her gender. "It has always been known as a male job, but do not say I am a female driver. We are just drivers, we do the same…

Crowds of Libyan parliamentarians from both sides of the divided country arrived in the coastal city of Sirte, as Libya's divided parliament is scheduled to meet for a vote of confidence in the new caretaker government under Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah on Monday. The Riksdag has been divided - like most state institutions - since shortly after it was elected in 2014, when Libya broke between warring factions in the east and west. It is meeting this week to discuss confidence in a government…

The Ivory Coast's ruling party and the main opposition both claimed victory on Sunday in the West African nation's legislative elections, with the official results yet to be announced. "We have achieved our goal of securing about 60 percent of the seats," said Adama Bictogo, number two in the ruling RHDP party. Early trends from local election commissions "clearly show that our party will win by a comfortable majority," he added. Earlier on Sunday, the center-right of the opposition party, the Ivory…

A series of explosions at a military barrack in Equatorial Guinea killed at least 20 people and injured hundreds more, state television reported. In a statement on national television, the president said the explosions were caused by negligence related to the use of dynamite at the base. TVGE said at least five explosions caused at least 20 deaths and injured more than 400 others. The Ministry of Health tweeted that its health workers are treating the injured at the scene of the tragedy and in medical…

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) launched a $ 12 million humanitarian appeal late Thursday to improve deteriorating health and safety conditions for women and girls in northeastern Mozambique. In a statement, the UN authority said it was urgent to provide life-saving sexual and reproductive health services to 330,000 women, girls and young people affected by the humanitarian crisis in the province of Cabo Delgado, as well as by the secondary effects of the coronavirus pandemic . An armed…

A new preliminary study - based on a small sample - has suggested that people previously infected with the COVID-19 variant identified in South Africa may have better immunity to other coronavirus mutations, experts said on Wednesday. The results, from a not yet peer-reviewed research by the team of South African researchers who discovered the 501Y.V2 variant, raise hopes that vaccines modeled on the strain can protect against future mutations. Only 4% of a sample of 55 patients who had 501Y.V2 failed…

The advance team for a UN observer mission has arrived in Libya, which after a decade of conflict and chaos plans to hold elections in December, informed sources said on Wednesday. The group of about ten UN employees flew into the capital Tripoli on Tuesday to monitor a ceasefire between the country's two rival armed factions. The unarmed observer team also has the task of verifying the departure of thousands of mercenaries and foreign fighters who have been deployed in the oil-rich North African…

Four media workers recently arrested in Ethiopia's conflict-torn Tigray region were released on Wednesday, a translator working for the Agence France-Presse (AFP), which was part of the group held, reported. "All journalists and translators have been released without charge," Abebe Gebrehiwot Yihdego, deputy head of Tigray's interim administration, told Reuters. The BBC confirmed the release of its reporter Girmay Gebru, of the broadcaster's Tigrinya language service, in a tweet. "They released us…

Several people are feared dead due to a plane crash in southern Sudan, the head of Juba International Airport said in a statement late Tuesday, according to the Anadolu Agency. Meanwhile, South Sudan News Now, a local newspaper, reported that the plane crashed in Jonglei State's Uror County several minutes after leaving for Juba from Pieri's runway, north of the capital, with all eight passengers and two pilots on board. killed. The plane crashed on the outskirts of the Pieri Payam region at 5pm local…

Nearly 4 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have arrived in the Nigerian capital Abuja, the third and largest delivery to date to an African country through the global COVAX initiative, which was created to ensure that low- and middle-income countries have access to vaccines. The COVAX program sent 3.94 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, from Mumbai to Abuja, according to a joint statement from UNICEF, working in collaboration with the World Health…