Freddy, now the longest tropical storm, returns to Madagascar

Freddy, now the longest tropical storm, returns to Madagascar

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 Fagan

Laureen is the editor of Africa Times

UNGA and African youth: ‘Climate change is real for us’

African heads of state aren’t the only ones heading to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. Young climate activists from across the continent, along with their global peers, are again calling for action on climate change through various events aligned with UNGA. The Youth4Climate initiative, along with other…

Africa’s oldest dinosaur found in Zimbabwe

An international team of paleontologists led by Virginia Tech has discovered the oldest dinosaur known to Africa, found with its skeleton nearly intact in northern Zimbabwe. The sauropodomorph — a long-necked dinosaur — was named Mbiresaurus raathi, according to a paper published last week in the journal Nature. Its skeleton…

AfDB chief agrees to help struggling Zimbabwe resolve debt

With Zimbabwe’s inflation rate running rampant, President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe completed a two-day round of talks on Tuesday that focused on the country’s debt-laden economy. Mnangagwa met with Akinwumi Adesina, head of the African Development Bank (AfDB), to discuss ways to resolve some US$13 billion in debt. “Zimbabwe did…

Mozambique joins Malawi in new polio case reports

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…

Madagascar braces for intense cyclone Batsirai

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…

South Africa mourns loss of Mthembu to COVID

South Africa is the latest nation to bid farewell to one of its high-level ministers because of COVID, as President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Thursday the death of longtime African National Congress member Jackson Mthembu. The 62-year-old Mthembu, above, an ANC national executive committee member with a legacy of anti-apartheid and…

Mozambique braces for Tropical Storm Chalane landfall

Mozambique is bracing for another tropical storm, one that’s expected to make an imminent landfall on Wednesday in or around Beira, a coastal city that bore the brunt of Cyclone Idai in 2019. Tropical Storm Chalane is not expected to have the same catastrophic impacts as Idai, but it continued…

Malawi denies making any troop commitment in Mozambique

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)…

Global calls for action on Cabo Delgado grow louder

World leaders are speaking out against the violence in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province, which has escalated since a first attack in October 2017 made clear that Islamic extremists were active in a region where foreign energy investments have helped to make it a target. President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe said…

African leaders wish Trump well following COVID diagnosis

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo Addo was among the world leaders quick to send encouragement to United States President Donald Trump following the news that Trump and his wife, Melania, tested positive for the coronavirus. “My wife Rebecca and I send best wishes,” said Akufo Addo, who was exposed to the…

New locust outbreak adds to southern Africa’s woes

Another locust outbreak is threatening southern Africa, this time with the potential to affect some 7 million people in four more countries. Botswana has seen smallholder farmers lose entire crops, with the growing region of Pandamatenga and its key sorghum crops at risk as the country seeks to step up…