Africa News Tonight - VOA Africa

Namibians returned to vote today in 36 re-opened polling stations, two days after the country’s election was marred by technical problems. U.S. President Joe Biden visits Angola next week, after his administration has forged close economic ties with the oil-rich southern African country. Celebrations are under way to mark the 25th anniversary of the East African Community in Arusha, Tanzania, as partner states work to eliminate barriers to cross-border trade and enhance regional economic growth.

Africa News Tonight is a lively news magazine show featuring VOA correspondent reports, interviews with African officials, opposition leaders, NGOs and human rights activists. News feature stories look at science and technology, environmental issues, humanitarian topics, and the African diaspora.

UNICEF is warning of multiple disease outbreaks in Africa. UNICEF Child Protection Specialist Yann Grandin in Nairobi tells VOA’s Carol Van Dam that this year, 17 out of 21 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa are facing public health emergencies including outbreaks of cholera, mpox and viral haemorrhagic fever, which are threatening the safety of children.

Africa News Tonight is a lively news magazine show featuring VOA correspondent reports, interviews with African officials, opposition leaders, NGOs and human rights activists. News feature stories look at science and technology, environmental issues, humanitarian topics, and the African diaspora.

Some experts say China’s scaling back of financial support for infrastructure construction in Africa opens the door for the United States and Western Europe to fill the void, if they want. The Rapid Support Forces, the paramilitary group battling for power in Sudan’s civil war, took a step toward forming a breakaway government on Tuesday when it hosted a lavish political event in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Fourteen-year-old Gesma fled Sudan's Darfur region after armed militias killed her parents and brother, leaving her to care for her younger siblings in a Chad refugee camp.

Some regional analysts say the African Union summit in Addis Ababa merely served to strengthen the group’s reputation for failing resolve conflicts. Conflicts are raging across Africa, from Sudan to the Sahel, from Mozambique to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, with the AU not playing a meaningful role in ending any of them. Darren Taylor has more.

The head of Uganda’s People's Defense Forces recently said he will attack the town of Bunia in neighboring eastern Democratic Republic of Congo unless “all forces” there surrender their arms. Meanwhile, the United Nations has decried what it calls “summary executions” of children by the rebel group M23 in eastern DRC. Our reporter in Goma, Sabiti Djaffar Al Katanty, fills us in on the latest and begins by telling VOA's Carol Van Dam Uganda has sent additional UPDF troops to eastern DRC over the past few days.

The United Nations has decried what it calls “summary executions” of children by the rebel group M23 in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Human rights activists, lawyers and medical practitioners in East Africa are calling on the Ugandan government to release opposition leader Kizza Besigye, who has spent the past three months in military detention. European leaders held a crisis meeting in Paris to discuss Ukrainian and European security after recent diplomatic steps by Washington have raised doubts over the U.S. commitment to the transatlantic defense alliance.

Namibians returned to vote today in 36 re-opened polling stations, two days after the country’s election was marred by technical problems. U.S. President Joe Biden visits Angola next week, after his administration has forged close economic ties with the oil-rich southern African country. Celebrations are under way to mark the 25th anniversary of the East African Community in Arusha, Tanzania, as partner states work to eliminate barriers to cross-border trade and enhance regional economic growth.

Africa News Tonight is a lively news magazine show featuring VOA correspondent reports, interviews with African officials, opposition leaders, NGOs and human rights activists. News feature stories look at science and technology, environmental issues, humanitarian topics, and the African diaspora.

A delegation from the National Episcopal Conference of Congo and the Church of Christ in Congo, two of the largest church organizations in the country, went to Goma to talk to the M23 rebels controlling the city. Cervical cancer is one of highly preventable and doctors in Namibia are advocating greater access to health care and the HPV vaccine to reduce the prevalence of the disease. U.S. Democratic lawmakers are concerned President Donald Trump’s freeze of foreign assistance might damage national security, but Republicans say a review of U.S. Agency for International Development programs is necessary to combat waste and fraud.

Africa News Tonight is a lively news magazine show featuring VOA correspondent reports, interviews with African officials, opposition leaders, NGOs and human rights activists. News feature stories look at science and technology, environmental issues, humanitarian topics, and the African diaspora.

Sudanese refugees who have made it to Chad speak of burying infants who died of hunger in Darfur’s Zamzam displacement camp and say that people are dying in frequent Rapid Support Forces shelling of the camp. Zimbabwe’s traditional stores are struggling as customers flock to informal vendors to buy cheaper products amid a struggling economy, forcing the government to ensure it does not lose critical tax revenue from informal businesses. Conservationists in Kenya are using an artificial intelligence-powered application to monitor forest degradation and launch reforestation projects.

Namibians returned to vote today in 36 re-opened polling stations, two days after the country’s election was marred by technical problems. U.S. President Joe Biden visits Angola next week, after his administration has forged close economic ties with the oil-rich southern African country. Celebrations are under way to mark the 25th anniversary of the East African Community in Arusha, Tanzania, as partner states work to eliminate barriers to cross-border trade and enhance regional economic growth.

At a special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, members called for an independent fact-finding mission to investigate serious human rights violations and abuses committed in the provinces of North and South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Aid groups say sexual violence is a constant threat for women inside Sudan’s embattled region of Darfur, but refugees VOA spoke with also say it’s a problem for those who have fled the region. African governments gear up for what is to come following the 90-day pause in U.S. foreign aid as they worry about the potential effects.

Africa News Tonight is a lively news magazine show featuring VOA correspondent reports, interviews with African officials, opposition leaders, NGOs and human rights activists. News feature stories look at science and technology, environmental issues, humanitarian topics, and the African diaspora.

Africa News Tonight is a lively news magazine show featuring VOA correspondent reports, interviews with African officials, opposition leaders, NGOs and human rights activists. News feature stories look at science and technology, environmental issues, humanitarian topics, and the African diaspora.

Africa News Tonight is a lively news magazine show featuring VOA correspondent reports, interviews with African officials, opposition leaders, NGOs and human rights activists. News feature stories look at science and technology, environmental issues, humanitarian topics, and the African diaspora.

The fall of Goma has rattled Africa, causing international condemnation and fears of a humanitarian crisis. Residents say eastern DRC’s largest city is cautiously coming back to life after days of intense fighting. The Congolese Red Cross and ICRC said at least 700 people were killed in the battle over Goma. Zihindula Mulegwa, attorney and former spokesman for former DRC President Joseph Kabila tells VOA's Paul Ndiho the rebels have vow to march to Kinshasa.

South Africa’s government and citizens say they’re shocked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s move to cut all aid to the country. Trump said in a post on X that South Africa is doing “terrible things,” including confiscating land, which he describes as a “human rights violation.” As Darren Taylor reports, the Pretoria government says it hasn’t seized any land.