The annual season of African music and culture in Germany is in full swing. Here are the Top Festivals you don’t want to miss before summer ends: ———————————- Afrika-Festival Stuttgart 12 – 14 July / Stuttgart, Erwin-Schöttle Platz   Music, Fashion Show, Workshop, Film, Market, Culinary Pleasures etc, On stage we show you what Africa has to offer in music, …

Democratic Republic of Congo’s electoral commission on Thursday declared opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi the surprise winner of last month’s chaotic presidential election. In a pre-dawn announcement, the election commission named Tshisekedi, son of the country’s late veteran opposition leader (Etienne Tshisekedi), as provisional winner of the bitterly-contested December 30 vote. Election chief Corneille Nangaa declared Tshisekedi the winner with 38.57 …

The African Union (AU) will unveil a unique African passport in February, lifting travel barriers and fulfilling an important part of the organization’s cherished pan-African ambitions – free movement of its peoples. AU Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat is confident that the African passport move will succeed. He said that details about implementation will be announced at the 32nd summit …

Malta allowed the 49 migrants stranded on two humanitarian rescue ships since last month to disembark at its port on Wednesday. The Sea-Watch 3 ship, which is run by a German humanitarian group, picked up 32 people from a boat off the coast of Libya on December 22. Another German-run organisation, Sea-Eye, rescued 17 others a couple of days later …

British historian, broadcaster and film-maker David Olusoga has been appointed by the University of Manchester as a Professor of Public History, the institution announced on Tuesday. Olusoga, who co-presented the BBC’s landmark series Civilisations in 2018, is one of the UK’s foremost historians whose main subject areas are empire, race and slavery. Olusoga was born in Nigeria to a Nigerian …

It’s a double win for Egypt on Tuesday, which had made headlines earlier in the day for securing the hosting rights for the Africa Nations Cup 2019, as its star forward Mohamed Salah was voted the African Footballer of the Year for the second successive year. Salah beat fellow nominees, Liverpool team mate Sadio Mane and Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang …

Organisers of the Africa Fashion Week Amsterdam (AFWA) have opened the casting call for the 2018 event, which will be held on 21 January. Casting calls are similar to job interviews. Runway model castings are normally held in a space that allows each model to walk prior to being chosen for a fashion show. It also involves a short interview …

The Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) in Gambia started hearing testimonies from witnesses on Monday, as it set about investigating rights violations committed by the regime of Yahya Jammeh. Modelled on South Africa’s investigation into its apartheid era, the commission will hold hearings into Jammeh’s 22-year era of oppression which ended in 2016 after he was forced from power. …

The Rwandan government has begun enforcing a ban on cosmetics products used for lightening or “bleaching” skin. The creams are being removed from shelves across the country as the government cracks down on the sale of the harmful cosmetic product. Many observers however fear that the ban in Rwanda may encourage women to buy unregulated products which could put their …

With the traditional words “I swear to uphold the obligations of my office” which he has become familiar with over the past 13 years, Collins Nweke, a Nigerian-born Belgian politician swore an Oath of Office for a third term on Tuesday 2 January 2019 at the Ostend City Council Belgium. Having made history as the first non-Belgian-born person to occupy …

Nigeria will vote on 16 February in the country’s fifth presidential election since the restoration of democracy in 1999. Olalekan Waheed Adigun, the author of the fast-selling book Witnessing The Change, analyses the factors that will decide the crucial election, mainly a battle between  incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari of the ruling APC and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of the main …

After 17 days in the Mediterranean Sea and battered by winter storms, the two NGO rescue boats stranded close to Malta’s shores with 49 rescued migrants on board are still waiting for permission to berth at a European port. One of the ships has received supplies and support. International voices to resolve the humanitarian crisis are getting louder. Benjamin Bathke …

Various new or tweaked Swiss laws, governing a range of issues from foreigners to online shopping, entered into force on 1 January. One of them affects the Foreigner’s law. Foreigners living in Switzerland now have to meet certain criteria of good behaviour, for example respect for public security and order and constitutional values, before their residence permits are granted or …

Gabon’s government has announced that a group of soldiers who seized the national radio station in an apparent coup attempt early on Monday have been arrested. The “situation is under control”, government spokesman Guy-Bertrand Mapangou told Radio France Internationale (RFI), just hours after the soldiers announced they were “restoring democracy” in a message on state radio. Four of the five …

The newly inaugurated international terminal at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, has officially been opened for operations as Asky Airlines began operations at the terminal on Sunday (6 January). Asky Airlines’ B737-700 aircraft with flight number ET-AVP, which landed at the airport at 3:30 pm from Lomé in Togo, had 91 persons on board comprising 85 passengers and six …

As I write this article, 49 migrants, mostly Africans, are stranded at sea. They had been rescued in the Mediterranean by the humanitarian organisation Sea Watch about two weeks ago but no European country is ready to allow the migrants to disembark at its port. Last year, about 112,000 migrants found their way irregularly through the Mediterranean to Europe while …

The Israeli government has issued a notice for thousands of African migrants to leave the country or face imprisonment. Rights group kick against controversial plan. Israel will force tens of thousands of African migrants to leave over the next three months, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Wednesday. Speaking at a cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said that the Israeli government will …

German prosecutors have charged a man arrested on New Year’s day with attempted murder after he rammed his car into crowds of revellers in two separate attacks, police said on Wednesday. The 50-year-old German was detained after he drove his Mercedes into people celebrating the New Year in the western cities of Bottrop and Essen in a suspected hate crime …

The year 2018 saw a new record in Spain for migrant arrivals by sea, at more than 57,000 – representing around half of all undocumented migrants making the Mediterranean crossing last year. According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), 113,145 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea last year. According to UNHCR, a total of 119,575 refugees and migrants …

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer is calling for harsher deportation laws after asylum-seekers attacked pedestrians in Bavaria. So far, who gets deported – and who makes that call –  is a complex matter. Carla Bleiker reports. Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has said he would send proposals to the government aimed at changing German deportation laws in an effort to …