Africa
Zambia health minister denies corruption charges
Zambian Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya on Thursday pleaded not guilty to corruption charges on the first day of a trial for allegedly using ill-gotten gains to acquire property and assets. Chilufya, 47, was arrested last month and charged with four counts of possession of property “suspected of being proceeds of crime”. “I understand the charges and I plead not guilty,” Chilufya told judge Lameck Mwale at the magistrate court in Zambia’s capital Lusaka. Graft investigators homed in on the minister in May after the minister allegedly amassed a sudden fortune. According to court documents, Chilufya bought around $215,000-worth of shares in a lakeside lodge in 2017. He is also accused of using $165,000 to purchase a guest house and $52,000 for a boat. The trial is set to resume on August 4....
Rasheedat Ajibade hails CAF for introducing Women’s Champions League
Super Falcons and Norwegian Toppserien forward Rasheedat Ajibade has applauded the decision of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to introduce Women’s CAF Champions League. Speaking in a chat, Ajibade said CAF women’s champions league will encourage female football development in the continent and also benefit women clubs more as they would have something to play at the end of every league season. “I must tell tell you that it is a very good development. I personally applauded CAF for the initiative to introduce Champions League for Women. “It will help in increasing numbers of female participation in football and strengthened female club management. ” It will also bring out healthy competition among clubs and also attract foreign players both within and outside Africa. “Also the ...
UBA Group appoints deputy managing directors
The United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), a pan-African financial services group, on Tuesday announced the appointments of Mr Ayoku Liadi and Oliver Alawuba as Deputy Managing Directors. The bank in a statement in Lagos, said the Deputy Managing Directors would be in charge of UBA’s Nigeria and Africa businesses, respectively. The Group Chairman, Mr Tony Elumelu, said in the statement that the appointments were a representation of the groups’ strategic recognition now representing in excess of 40 per cent of the Group revenue. “In 2005, we set out our pan-African vision. Fifteen years later, we are present in 20 African countries, serving over 20 million clients, leveraging our service culture and technology platform, to provide an integrated and seamless customer offering across the continent...
Apple Music Launches Africa Rising Artist Showcase with Debut Cover Star Omah Lay
The new program, designed to elevate the careers of African artists, will also include a companion playlist. Over the last couple of years, Africa has become an increasingly important force on the global music scene, leading labels, publishers and streaming services to extend their reach on the long-neglected continent. In late April, Apple Music announced an expansion of its platform in two dozen African countries, and now the streaming service has unveiled a new initiative to identify and showcase rising talent on the continent. Named Africa Rising, the artist program and companion playlist will feature an African artist chosen by Apple Music’s editorial team every two months, using the full weight of the platform to elevate their careers in Africa and around the world. The first artist ...
CAF cancels 2020 AWCON, keeps mum on qualifiers
Getty Images Apparently not ready to risk the lives of players, officials and other stakeholders during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, the Executive Committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Tuesday cancelled the 2020 African Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON). This was one of the many crucial decisions taken by the Executive Committee headed by CAF President, Ahmad Ahmad during a video-conference Executive Meeting held Tuesday, June 30, 2020. The Committee which also discussed the future of competitions and other related issues following the disruption of football activities across the world including Africa by the COVID-19 pandemic opted to cancel the 2020 AWCON. “Due to challenging conditions, the 2020 edition of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations has been cancelled”,...
Victor Osimhen voted best African player in Ligue 1
Victor Osimhen has picked up the award for the best African Player in Ligue 1 for the year 2020. The award which is named after the late Cameroonian midfielder Marc-Vivien-Foe is organised by Radio France International and France 24. Osimhen beat his international team-mate Moses Simon and eight other African star to the prestigious award. Algerian Islam Slimani (Monaco) and Morrocan Yunis Abdelhamid (Stade de Reims) came second and third respectively. Osimhen, who was also voted Lille player of the season scored 18 goals and recorded six assists in 38 appearances across all competitions during the campaign. Six players from the club have won the award in the past. Ivory Coast forward Gervinho won it in 2010 and 2011, Vincent Enyeama picked up the prize in 2014, while Sofiane Boufal was th...
Victor Osimhen voted best African player in Ligue 1
Victor Osimhen has picked up the award for the best African Player in Ligue 1 for the year 2020. The award which is named after the late Cameroonian midfielder Marc-Vivien-Foe is organised by Radio France International and France 24. Osimhen beat his international team-mate Moses Simon and eight other African star to the prestigious award. Algerian Islam Slimani (Monaco) and Morrocan Yunis Abdelhamid (Stade de Reims) came second and third respectively. Osimhen, who was also voted Lille player of the season scored 18 goals and recorded six assists in 38 appearances across all competitions during the campaign. Six players from the club have won the award in the past. Ivory Coast forward Gervinho won it in 2010 and 2011, Vincent Enyeama picked up the prize in 2014, while Sofiane Boufal was th...
Angola mulling arrest warrant for Isabel dos Santos – prosecution
Angola’s attorney general said on Thursday that he did not rule out issuing an international arrest warrant against billionaire businesswoman Isabel dos Santos, suspected of corruption in her native country and Portugal. “We are working in cooperation with the Portuguese authorities. And if the need arises… to get to that point, we will see how to proceed,” Helder Pitta Gros said in response to questions at a press conference in the capital Luanda. “These are procedural issues, (and) as you can imagine I cannot say more about a process that is under way. We are working on it,” he said. Dos Santos, 47, described by Forbes as the wealthiest woman in Africa, is accused of diverting billions of dollars from state companies during her father Jose Eduardo dos Santos’s near four-decade rule of th...
Former South African president withdraws from US rights talk
South Africa’s last apartheid president, F.W. de Klerk, has withdrawn from a U.S. seminar about minority rights because he did not want to embarrass himself or his hosts in the current charged racial climate, his foundation said on Sunday. De Klerk, who was the head of South Africa’s white minority government until 1994, was scheduled to speak on July 1 at an American Bar Association (ABA) virtual event on issues such as minority rights, racism and the rule of law. But his participation unleashed a barrage of criticism from South African opposition parties and activists who called on ABA to cancel De Klerk’s attendance given his role in the apartheid-era security apparatus. “The allegation that De Klerk was involved in gross violations of human rights is baseless,” the F.W. de Klerk founda...
Egypt’s army ‘rational’ among strongest in region – president
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said on Saturday that the Egyptian army is one of strongest in the region but it is “a rational army,” the Egyptian presidency said. Sisi’s remarks came during his inspection visit to the air forces combat units in the Western Military Zone, accompanied by the defense minister and the chief of staff, said Egyptian presidential spokesman Bassam Rady in a statement. The Egyptian president said that the Egyptian army “protects rather than threatens,” stressing that it is able to protect the country’s national security inside and outside the Egyptian borders, according to the statement. Egypt‘s Western Military Zone includes the borders with neighboring war-torn Libya, which has been mired in a civil war since late 2014. Get more stories like this on Twi...
Uganda grapples with refugee crisis amid coronavirus pandemic
As the world marks World Refugee Day on Saturday, thousands of Congolese are stranded at the Ugandan border seeking to enter the East African country after deadly tribal clashes back home. Uganda, according to government officials, has agreed to open its border entry point in the north western part of the country for three days starting from Monday to allow in an estimated 5,000 Congolese from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Uganda had closed all its border entry points to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. “We have received a letter from the Minister for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees under the Office of the Prime Minister to host the refugees in our district,” Andrew Kajoingi, resident district commissioner for Zombo, told Xinhua by telephone on Friday. “We ...
Ethiopia dam reservoir filling as talks with Egypt, Sudan stall
The reservoir behind the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is filling, its water minister said on Wednesday, a day after talks with Sudan and Egypt on the giant Blue Nile hydroelectric project stalled. Sudan and Egypt both fear the $4 billion dam could lead to water shortages in their own nations. “The construction of the dam and the filling of the water go hand in hand,” Ethiopian Water Minister Seleshi Bekele said in televised comments, a transcript of which was provided to Reuters by his office. “The filling of the dam doesn’t need to wait until the completion of the dam.” The water level had increased from 525 metres to 560 metres, he said. The comments by Seleshi did not address whether Ethiopia had closed the gates of the dam. The area has also seen recent heavy rainfall. “My understan...