Africa
Extradited to Equatorial Guinea: So, where is Mark Thatcher?
Published: 13 May 2007
Coup plotter faces life in Africa's most notorious jail
Published: 11 May 2007
Even by the standards of desolate prisons in the rawest parts of Africa, Black Beach has built up a grim reputation for systematic brutality and neglect. Torture is routine for inmates who are often denied medical treatment for their wounds. Food rations are so meagre that there is death from starvation. Few are allowed family visits.
Chinese envoy to put pressure on Sudan over Darfur
Published: 11 May 2007
China sought to head off criticisms over its policy towards Darfur by appointing a special envoy to the troubled Sudanese region.
Blair's departure: Blair's approach to Africa was simplistic and lacked understanding
Published: 11 May 2007
Most people who have a “passion for Africa” find it by living there, working with Africans, learning to dance and laugh and travel through its vast landscapes. It’s an addiction, inexplicable to those who have never been there, ineradicable for those that have. The French call it “fou d’Afrique”.
Rights group says EU must end rhetoric and act
Published: 11 May 2007
The European Union has been accused of delaying the tough action against Sudanthat was promised by leaders including Tony Blair and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel.
The opposition leader who claims no ambition to rule
Published: 09 May 2007
The new leader of South Africa's official opposition knows that the chances of a white person ever again leading this predominantly black country, still traumatised by apartheid, remain as remote as ever.
Rescue convoys reach Cameroon crash site of Kenya Airways jetliner
Published: 07 May 2007
The wreckage of a Kenya Airways jetliner missing for nearly two days was found yesterday in a dense mangrove forest outside Cameroon's commercial capital, aviation officials said. There was no information on survivors.
Five Britons among 114 feared dead in Cameroon plane crash
Published: 06 May 2007
Five Britons were among 114 people feared dead last night after a Kenya Airways plane crashed into dense African jungle.
British oil worker kidnapped in Nigeria as rebels step up campaign
Published: 06 May 2007
Gunmen seized a British oil worker from a rig off Nigeria yesterday. The attackers, who boarded the Trident 8 rig, left 23 other people aboard unharmed, said Guy Cantwell, a spokesman for Houston-based Transocean Inc. He said the man worked as a subcontractor for the Nigerian oil company ConOil.
Former Zambian president must pay back ill-gotten gains
Published: 05 May 2007
A former African president has been ordered to pay back millions of pounds in funds plundered by the state in a landmark court ruling.
Mayor of Mogadishu sworn in amid calls to disarm
Published: 05 May 2007
Mogadishu's new mayor used his swearing-in ceremony yesterday to make a call for residents to disarm, trying to build on a fragile peace carved out by clan dealmaking and a fierce military crackdown on Islamic insurgents.
Attacks on Darfur aid workers are rising
Published: 03 May 2007
One year on from a much-heralded peace deal for Darfur, aid agencies have been forced to roll back operations and are facing an unprecedented level of attacks on personnel, according to United Nations maps seen by The Independent.
Darfur: War without end
Published: 30 April 2007
Malians vote in model election for Africa
Published: 30 April 2007
It is one of the world's poorest countries and lies at the heart of a region often marred by vote rigging and polling day violence, but as Malians await the results of yesterday's election - their fourth free ballot in 15 years - the former French colony is quickly emerging as a democratic model for Africa.
Rebels free Chinese oil workers in Ethiopia
Published: 30 April 2007
Seven Chinese oil workers and two Africans were released yesterday by an Ethiopian rebel group that attacked a Chinese oil exploration facility last week.
Global Darfur Day: Women search for wood, men search for victims
Published: 29 April 2007
Life after death for Africa's child soldiers
Published: 27 April 2007
Ethiopia pledges to track down oil workers' killers
Published: 26 April 2007
Ethiopian soldiers are hunting for seven Chinese and Ethiopian workers taken hostage after the deadliest backlash against China's burgeoning interests in Africa left 74 people dead.
Darfur peacekeepers understaffed, underequipped and now under fire
Published: 25 April 2007
As the sound of a lone bugle playing "The Last Post" rang out, the body of Cdr Anthony Aalene Bozie, draped in the Ghanaian flag, was lifted on to the back of a pick-up truck and taken to the airport. Soldiers from Rwanda, Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana lined the route and saluted.
Officials: 74 dead in attack on Chinese oil field in Ethiopia
Published: 25 April 2007
Rebels stormed a Chinese-run oil field at dawn in eastern Ethiopia yesterday, killing 74 people, destroying the exploration facility and kidnapping seven Chinese workers in the first such attack against a foreign company in the Horn of Africa nation.
Opposition rejects Nigerian poll result
Published: 24 April 2007
Umaru Yar'Adua was declared the winner of Nigeria's presidential election yesterday, defeating his opponents - if the figures are to be believed - by a margin of four to one.
Somalia facing humanitarian crisis as hundreds of thousands flee capital
Published: 24 April 2007
There are no more hospital beds available in this bloodstained capital, and barely enough bandages to patch up the wounded. Even the bottles of medicine are running dry.
Nigerian poll mired in claims of vote-rigging, fraud and violence
Published: 23 April 2007
Calls for a rerun of Nigeria’s presidential election on Saturday grew yesterday in response to another poll marked by ballot rigging, fraud and violence. The crisis threatens to destabilise one of the Africa’s biggest and most important countries and casts doubts on the legitimacy of the next presidency due to begin on May 29th.
Somali death toll rises to 212
Published: 23 April 2007
Insurgents and Ethiopian troops backing Somali government forces fought gunbattles in Mogadishu yesterday, while a human rights group said at least 47 people died - some from fighting the previous day - and 71 were wounded.
Week's toll may hit 1,000 as bombs pound Somali capital
Published: 22 April 2007
Shells pounded Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, yesterday, killing at least 73 people to swell a death-toll already in the hundreds after battles pitting militias and Islamists against Somali and Ethiopian troops.
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