The death toll following tropical storm Freddy has risen to at least 447 in hard-hit Malawi, where President Lazarus Chakwera has declared a two-week period of mourning and closed schools in affected areas through the end of the month. Another 282 people were still missing as of Saturday, according to…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Tropical storm Freddy continues to impact Malawi with flooding rains and mudslides that have claimed some 200 lives, although some improvement in storm conditions is forecast by Wednesday evening. “However, the threat of flooding remains high in some areas,” warned the country’s Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services in…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
At 32 days, Tropical Cyclone Freddy has now become the longest-lived tropical storm ever recorded, with impacts that still haven’t quit as it makes another pass at Madagascar and Mozambique following its long journey across the entire Indian Ocean. The storm’s winds measured 150 kilometers per hour at about 9:30…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Authorities in Mozambique say excessive rainfall from the remnants of Tropical Storm Freddy continue to threaten the southern African nation, with the National Institute of Meteorology (INAM) forecasting rains of 200 millimeters through Monday in the Gaza, Manica, Inhambane, and Sofala. The storm’s landfall on Friday followed two weeks of…
Officials in Mozambique are reporting a polio outbreak, the first in the country since 1992. The case was found in Tete province in the country’s northeast. It was found in a child who experienced paralysis that began in late March, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Tests taken from…
For the second time in as many weeks, people in Madagascar are bracing for a tropical storm that’s set to make landfall on Saturday. That landfall is expected between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. along the coast between Mahanoro and Mananjar. The 3 p.m. bulletin issued by Météo Madagascar said…
A new tool to map floods around the world, especially those that occur in the Global South, has been launched through a partnership between Google, MapBox, and other players working with a UN University group based in Canada. The World Flood Mapping Tool uses the Google Earth engine combined with…
With the COVID-19 pandemic has come a global spike in the demand for oxygen, and 25 countries – most of them on the African continent – are reporting a surge in demand they cannot meet. To that end, global health officials announced Thursday the creation of a new COVID-19 Oxygen Emergency…
Malawi has denied a report that its government will be sending troops to Mozambique to help fight Islamic militants in the Cabo Delgado region. The report, published by a local news outlet and shared widely on social media, follows a special summit meeting of the Southern African Development Community (SADC)…
This year’s Chatham House Prize, awarded by the London-based policy institute, goes to the constitutional court judges of Malawi who overturned the 2019 re-election of former president Peter Mutharika and called for new elections that put President Lazarus Chakwera in office instead. The honor is awarded to those who made…
Malawi MP Jean Sendeza hopes to repatriate the body of her daughter Noria as soon as possible, following a fatal shooting Friday in the United States. “The body is in the hands of police,” Sendeza told local media outlet Nyasa Times. The Malawi Congress Party (MCP) member, who serves as…
New President Lazarus Chakwera was sworn into office in Malawi on Sunday in a ceremony in Lilongwe. Chakwera, head of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and a coalition of political parties united under the Tonse Alliance, won last week’s election alongside vice president Saulos Chilima, a United Transformation Movement (UTM)…
Election officials in Malawi began counting the votes on Wednesday following a presidential election do-over mandated by the country’s top court, but they’re still gathering data from around the country and no official results have been released. That said, local media reports suggest opposition candidate Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi…
Malawi’s top court has thrown out the results of a May 2019 presidential election, one that saw President Peter Mutharika and his Democratic Progressive Party gain a disputed second term that was challenged immediately by the political opposition. The five judges have ordered a new election to be held within…
The United Nations addressed on Friday the global spread of unrest that has swept across nearly every continent, with both the UN Secretary General and the head of the UN human rights office in Geneva appealing for peaceful demonstrations and expressing concerns over violence. “Disquiet in peoples’ lives is leading…