South Africa’s highest court has legalised the private use of marijuana, upholding a lower court’s ruling that found the criminalisation of cannabis was unconstitutional. In delivering the Constitutional Court’s unanimous verdict, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo on Tuesday declared the law banning marijuana use in private by adults “is unconstitutional and therefore invalid”. “It will not be a criminal offence …

The number of migrant arrivals to Italy has dropped significantly, while the number of migrants arriving in Spain have doubled, making it now the top port for migrant arrivals, followed by Greece. Migrant reception centres on Greece’s Aegean Islands are experiencing alarming rates of overcrowding, at a nearly record-breaking rate of 20,000 migrants. Brussels is pushing the Greek government to …

Rwandan Stories of Change held an international conference at the University of St Andrews on the 6th of July 2018. We brought together scholars from across the Humanities and Social Sciences to explore how Rwanda has changed since the genocide of 1994. Chijioke Kizito Onah, Masters Student of Anglophone Literatures, Cultures and Media, Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany, recently attended …

The refrain at the Stakeholders’ Roundtable Dialogue on Migration, organised by the Migration Enlightenment Project Nigeria (MEPN), last weekend was an appeal to Nigerian youths to acquire vocational skills. Addressing the event, a series of consultation with civil society on issues deriving from irregular migration, Engr. Deremi Elebute called on youths to realize that the nation’s job market had changed …

Germany replaced the United States as the country with the best global image in a survey of 50 countries, according to the 2017 Anholt-GfK Nation Brands Index. Simon Anholt, founder of the Index, talks about Germany’s image – and the responsibility that it creates. Germany was ranked number 1 in the most recent Nation Brands Index (NBI). What were the reasons …

Agreement reinstates rebel leader Riek Machar as vice-president, formally ending five years of bloody civil war. South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir signed a peace deal with main rebel leader Riek Machar on Wednesday, formally ending a five-year war that killed tens of thousands. The deal, mediated by Sudan and signed in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, reinstated Machar in his …

More than 100 people, including 20 children, died in early September when their rubber boats were wrecked off the coast of Libya, according to the aid agency Doctors Without Borders. Only two bodies have been recovered thus far. Sertan Sanderson/InfoMigrants reports on the latest tragedy in the Mediterranean. According to Doctors Without Borders (known by the French initials MSF), hundreds …

Amnesty International has spoken out against Moroccan authorities’ treatment of thousands of sub-Saharan migrants and refugees, saying that its ”relentless crackdown” is ”cruel and unlawful”. Amnesty International released a statement on Friday excoriating Moroccan authorities’ treatment of sub-Saharan migrants and refugees. ”The Moroccan authorities’ large-scale crackdown on thousands of sub-Saharan migrants, asylum seekers and refugees without due process is cruel …

The Migration Enlightenment Project Nigeria (MEPN) has warned would-be migrants to avoid irregular routes as the security situation in Libya worsens and death rates in the Mediterranean soar. In a statement released Tuesday in Lagos and jointly signed by the co-directors of the initiative, Kenneth Gbandi and Femi Awoniyi, the MEPN pointed to the declaration of a state of emergency …

The risk of death at sea for people crossing the Mediterranean continues to increase as the EU and member states attempt to stamp out refugee flows from Libya. A report by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) out on Monday (3 September) says that while the number of arrivals from Libya has dropped, the proportion of people lost at sea has …

Leading international money transfer company WorldRemit has launched a new digital service within Africa, making it easier to send and receive money across the continent. The new digital service will reduce the cost of sending money across borders. The prohibitive charges that individuals and businesses pay to transfer money within Africa are recognised as a major obstacle to the growing …

Professor Pius Adesanmi, director of the Institute of African Studies at Carleton University in Canada, will participate at a public discussion on African literature in Berlin on 26 September. The event, organised by the literary agency InterKontinental, will take place in Literaturhaus Berlin. Adesanmi is well known for his often satiric writings, focusing on the absurd in the Nigerian social …

The family of former United Nations Secretary General have published a tribute to the man hailed as a reformer at the global diplomacy outfit.  It is published on the website of the Kofi Annan Foundation and produced here below. On 18 August, the world lost a leader and a statesman: Kofi Atta Annan. And we lost a brother, a husband, a …

African leaders are in the Chinese city of Beijing for a high-level summit hosted by the Chinese government. The Forum for Africa-China Cooperation (FOCAC)  Summit is a meeting between the two partners and is largely premised on ways to increase diplomatic, economic and bilateral ties. It officially kicks off on September 3 through to September 4. This year’s edition is themed …

Almost 20,000 people have marched through Berlin and Hamburg demanding that Germany take in more migrants stranded at sea. Sunday’s marches were organized in response to the violent anti-migrant protests in Chemnitz. Up to 16,000 people marched through the northern German city of Hamburg on Sunday, urging officials to open up the city’s ports to stranded migrant rescue ships in …

Protests by some residents in a Paris neighbourhood resulted in the postponement of the opening of a migrant reception centre for hundreds of migrants in the French capital. The Paris prefecture has postponed the opening of a migrant reception centre for hundreds of migrants in Paris in the arrondissement of Montmartre, after residents staged a protest. Residents said they were …

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday warned Nigerians who continue to migrate from the country through illegal routes, despite the inherent dangers, that they are on their own. He said such people make the uncertain trips at their own risk. Buhari said this during a joint press conference he had with the visiting German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, at the Presidential Villa, …

Namibia marked the return by Germany of the remains of indigenous men and women killed during the colonial era, with a traditional ceremony in Windhoek’s Parliament Gardens on Friday. The personal apology by the German official who travelled to Windhoek for the ceremony falls far short of what the Herero and Nama demand. But the descendants of the victims appeared …

The European Union announced on Friday it would recommend abolishing the twice-yearly clock change amid an unprecedented appeal from European citizens who called it disruptive and even harmful to health. European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said “summer time should be year round” with his commissioners pledging to act on the move during their annual retreat to a lakeside hotel in …

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door policy has seen over a million migrants enter Germany in the past three years. But the vast majority have been unable to find work. Current figures show that just over a quarter of these new arrivals feature on a payroll. Meanwhile, for those who are employed, migration policy has become stricter. Several companies are now calling …