Gambia Restricts Dangerous Use of Beauty Products
Gambian lawmakers voted to uphold a ban on skin-lightening products after a debate in parliament. Skin-lightening or bleaching agents, especially unauthorised ones, may cause multiple health risks such as scarring, blistering, nerve and bone damage. It is also controversial as many argue phenomenon is a toxic legacy of colonialism. Adama Barrow’s government sought to lift […]
Burkina Faso’s Growing Humanitarian Crisis
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) calls Burkina Faso the world’s fastest-growing displacement and protection crisis, with more than 1 million internally displaced people (IDPs) and counting. Among the displaced are an estimated 140,000 disabled people who struggle with discrimination, exploitation, and accessing aid. Disabled internally displaced people suffer disproportionately in Burkina Faso’s […]
Mentoring Liberia’s Next Generation of Fearless Women
Nobel Peace laureate Leymah Gbowee, who helped end Liberia’s civil war, and Etweda ‘Sugars’ Cooper, who secured Gbowee’s place at the head of the women’s movement, are still each others’ champions. While Gbowee owes much to Sugars for installing her at the helm of WIPNET and her subsequent mentorship and loyalty, this is but one […]
Hunters Take Advantage of Sudan’s Transitional State
Sudanese conservationists have accused trophy hunters of exploiting the country’s political transition to hunt the country’s unprotected rare animals. Photographs posted online of westerners posing with the body of a rare Nubian ibex angered Sudanese wildlife campaigners this week. They called for Facebook to remove the pages of tour groups promoting such hunts. While wildlife […]
The Deadliest Massacre in Niger by Suspected Militants
The death toll from co-ordinated raids on three villages in Niger by suspected jihadists on Sunday has risen to 137. “By systematically targeting civilians, these armed bandits are reaching a new level of horror and savagery,” the government said. Earlier a security source blamed militants linked to the Islamic State (IS) group for the attacks […]
Will Tanzania’s New President Stay on Course or Shift?
The sudden death of Tanzania’s President John Pombe Magufuli has thrown the East African nation into a period of political uncertainty. Vice-president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, has been sworn in as his successor, making her Tanzania’s first woman president. The transition is all the more challenging given the major rupture – both political and economic – […]
Abiy Ahmed Admits Atrocities in Tigray
Ethiopia’s leader on Tuesday said atrocities have been reported in Tigray, his first public acknowledgment of possible war crimes in the country’s northern region where fighting persists as government troops hunt down its fugitive leaders. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed also admitted, after repeated denials by authorities, that troops from neighboring Eritrea have gone into Tigray, […]
