Thousands of people lost in crossing the Central Mediterranean have not been identified. New figures from the UN migration agency, IOM, show that the remains of more than two thirds of those whose deaths have been recorded have never been recovered. The IOM’s Missing Migrants Project database has recorded more than 15,000 deaths on the sea route between North Africa …

For the first time in history, over 70 million people worldwide have been displaced, according to a report just released by the UN refugee agency. Where do these people come from – and where are they going? We summed up all you need to know about the latest UNHCR report. Every year, the UN refugee agency UNHCR releases a report …

The Egbe Omo Oduduwa Salzburg (Yoruba Community in Salzburg), Austria, celebrated the Nigeria Cultural Festival in grand style at the weekend.  The event, tagged Yoruba Carnival, was marked in collaboration with the entire Nigerian Community in Austria. The event was attended by guests from the United Kingdom, France and Germany, among others. The members of Yoruba associations in Munich and …

The African Courier is published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe. With too many negative representations of Africa entrenched …

The city of Berlin on Tuesday called for a five-year freeze on rents in the German capital beginning in 2020. Housing costs in the city have doubled over the past decade. The city’s proposed freeze would “protect against rent increases for 1.5 million apartments,” according to city officials. The move was announced after a city council meeting held Tuesday. Urban …

The EU has welcomed 32,700 refugees from Africa and the Middle East through its resettlement program, the EU Commissioner for Refugees, Dimitris Avramopoulos, has announced. The program was launched in September 2017 to assist refugees in need of special protection, as well as to prevent the need for a dangerous trip across the Mediterranean Sea. Avramopoulos told the Funke Media …

Out of frustration and anger that he was not issued his passport ostensibly after many visits to Nigeria’s embassy in London, a Nigerian left in rage and vented his anger on seven cars belonging to diplomats and visitors. A Nigerian went on a rage on Monday at the Nigerian High Commission in London because of his inability to obtain his …

The Nigerian community in Bremen is still in a state of shock many days after a Nigerian killed his 41-year-old girlfriend in the northern German city. On the day of the tragic incident, which occurred on 7 June, the 42-year-old man called the emergency to report that he had just attacked his girlfriend, also a Nigerian, in their apartment with …

They wave of violence among Black youth in the British capital continued to claim lives when Eniola Aluko, 19, was on Friday shot dead at Plumstead, London. According to UK’s Metropolitan Police, the young Nigerian, who is from Thamesmead, died after sustaining gunshot wounds to the neck and chest. Metropolitan Police said they were called to the scene, a car …

As a global trade war rages, Africa fears contagion from lower commodity prices, according to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) latest report, Economic Insight: Africa Q2 2019. The accountancy body provides GDP growth forecasts for various regions including East Africa, which is the region in Africa that was estimated to have experienced the most rapid …

The historic African Continental Free Trade Area agreement went into force on 30 May 2019. Creating the regionally integrated Africa of our dreams, will require political will, policy changes, and private and public sector partnerships, argues Dr Victor Oladokun, Director of Communication, African Development Bank. In 2018, the fictional country of Wakanda in the blockbuster movie Black Panther, was ranked …

Italian authorities have arrested four people on suspicion of human trafficking and aiding prostitution. The arrests also led to the dismantling of the group that was allegedly operating in Nigeria, Libya and Italy. Police in the southern Italian city of Palermo have arrested four people, including a Nigerian woman and an Italian citizen. It is suspected that they were running …

The Federal Parliament has passed two laws to regulate immigration from non-EU countries into Germany. One of the laws provides more opportunities for people to come to Germany to work and receive training while another amends the regulations affecting asylum-seekers. In a major step to modernise and liberalise its immigration system, the German parliament (Bundestag) passed into law a bill …

The European Union on Thursday announced plans to tie the issuing of visas to the willingness of third countries to take back their nationals whose asylum applications have been rejected by member states of the bloc.

TAP Air Portugal will begin offering flights to Banjul through its hub in Lisbon on 26 October. According to a press statement released on Wednesday, the Gambian capital city is one of the new routes to be introduced by the Portuguese airline. TAP Air Portugal will leave Lisbon on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 20.55 hrs and land at …

Outhere Records, a Munich-based label, has announced the release of a new album by artists from Kenya’s tech city Nairobi. “#NuNairobi – Kenya’s music hub is more than a music compilation,” Outhere Records said in a press release. “It is also a map and a website that introduces some of the most important bands and musicians that helped to reshape …

Seven years after the introduction of the EU Blue Card, Germany has awarded 104,000 such residence permits to highly-skilled non-EU immigrants. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees said in Nuremberg on Tuesday that about 27,000 visas were issued in 2018, a 25.4% jump over 2017, and more than any previous year. 11,738 of the Cards issued in 2018 were …

The leader of the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Andrea Nahles, resigned under pressure on Sunday after the poor result of her party in the EU elections. The SPD scored 15.8% of the popular vote, an 11.4-percentage-point drop from 2014’s EU elections, finishing behind its coalition partners, the Chancellor Angela Merkel-led CDU/CSU (28.9%), and the Greens (20.5%). It’s …

Arise Africa is a one-day program, first held on 1 May 2017, where Africans unite with Germans in a gathering to rededicate themselves to the teaching of Jesus Christ and to take up the task of spreading His word in Germany. The event, whose theme two years ago was ‘Be a blessing for the land’, was organised by Pastor Frank …

Leader of the German Social Democrats (SPD), Andrea Nahles, resigned on Sunday after the poor result for her party in the EU elections, where the SPD came third behind Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU and the Greens. Nahles became the SPD’s first female leader in April 2018 when she replaced former EU Parliament president, Martin Schulz. Merkel has pledged the coalition …