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Hundreds of flights cancelled in Berlin Airports’ strike

Hundreds of flights have been cancelled at Berlins’s two airports, causing further misery for passengers already hit by industrial action last week. Ground staff downed tools once more on Monday in a dispute over pay. Initially a one-day walkout, it has now been extended to Wednesday morning. A spokesman for Berlin airports said that almost all flights were cancelled on …

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Gambia seeks extradition of ex-leader Yahya Jammeh’s aide from Switzerland

Gambia has applied to Switzerland for the extradition of former Interior Minister Ousman Sonko. This came as the new government intensifies its efforts in ensuring justice for victims and families of those tortured and even killed during the rule of former President Yahya Jammeh. “I have authorized and invoked International Criminal Repatriation Cooperation processes regarding those out of the jurisdiction …

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Germany’s upper house says Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria not safe for refugees

The German parliament’s upper chamber has rejected a law that would have allowed quicker deportations to Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. The decision deals a blow to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s refugee strategy, reports Jefferson Chase. In the end, the vote wasn’t even close. Led by federal states with left-leaning governing coalitions, a wide majority of the Bundesrat shot down a law …

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Gambia to probe ex-president Jammeh’s wealth

Gambia’s government will launch an investigation into the finances of former President Yahya Jammeh, Justice Minister Aboubacarr Tambadou told Reuters on Friday. Tambadou said the investigation would include his personal use of a charity bank account. The government of President Adama Barrow, who beat Jammeh in the December 2016 election before Jammeh fled into exile, had accused Jammeh of siphoning …

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Berlin flights cancelled due to strike

Most flights at Berlin’s Tegel and Schönefeld airports will be cancelled on Friday as ground handling staff strike in support of a pay claim. Ground staff will walk off the job from 04:00 on Friday until 05:00 on Saturday, the Verdi union said after a ballot of members voted 98.6 percent for industrial action. Lufthansa said it has cancelled all …

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International airlines boycott Kaduna Airport as Abuja Airport closes

Abuja’s Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport officially closed yesterday for a six-week repair. The closure will last six weeks to allow for a comprehensive maintenance of the airport runway, according to the Nigerian government. The decision to shut the airport and divert Abuja-bound flights to Kaduna, an airport used primarily for domestic flights about 160 km to the north, was taken …

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South African advocate for Apartheid victims wins German award

This year’s Anne Klein Women’s Award from Germany’s Heinrich Böll Foundation goes to South African Nomarussia Bonase, who fights for Apartheid victims still waiting for compensation. DW journalist Thuso Khumalo has met her. Nomarussia Bonase, aged 50, celebrated winning the Anne Klein Women’s Award by singing and dancing with her family and supporters, both young and old, on the street …

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No excuse for poverty in Ghana after 60 years of independence, says President Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said that Ghana no longer has an excuse to remain an underdeveloped country after 60 years of independence from colonial rule. In a nine-page independence anniversary speech delivered in Accra on Monday, he pointed out that after successfully fighting off colonial rule in order to take charge of its own destiny, “we have run out …

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Félicité wins top award at Africa’s top film festival

Félicité, a story about a nightclub singer in Kinshasa who has to desperately find funds to pay for her son’s treatment after a road accident, won the top prize at Africa’s top film festival at the weekend. The film won the Étalon de Yennenga (Golden Yennenga Stallion) award at the 25th edition of the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of …

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African bankers scrutinize German minister’s ‘Marshall Plan with Africa’

  German Development Minister Gerd Müller has been canvassing support for his ‘Marshall Plan with Africa’ at the African Development Bank in Ivorian capital city of Abidjan. Some bankers thought his discussion paper lacked detail, reports Adrian Kriesch. In the modern premises of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in the Ivorian commercial hub of Abidjan, around twenty board members are …

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Nigeria advises citizens to avoid US trips as Trump issues new travel order

Nigeria is advising its citizens against all but essential travel to the United States because of the lack of clarity on new immigration rules, the government said on Monday (6 March). A special adviser to the president on foreign affairs, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said in a statement that Nigerians “without any compelling or essential reasons” should consider delaying. “In the last …

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My view of how Africans are treated in Germany, by Bob Hooda

  The United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent undertook its first official visit to Germany from 20 to 27 February to study the human rights situation of Black people in the country. The human rights investigators met members of the Black community in five cities across Germany.Bob Hooda, an engineer originally from Tanzania who was …

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Air France launches three weekly flights to Accra

Air France now offers three weekly flights on the Accra-Paris route. The flights, departing from Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, are operated on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. “These three weekly flights will strengthen Air France’s presence in Africa as well as the Air France-KLM Group’s presence, as KLM already flies daily from Amsterdam to Accra,” Frédéric Gagey, Chairman and CEO of …

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Tunisia to receive German aid for taking back its deported citizens

Germany and Tunisia have made a deal on immigration and development aid. Under the agreement reached after talks between Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Beji Essebsi in the Tunisian capital, the North African country will take back its citizens whose asylum applications have been turned down by Germany. Berlin will reward Tunis with generous development aid. “We have agreed with …

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Black people in Germany tell United Nations their pains

The United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent undertook its first official visit to Germany from 20 to 27 February to study the human rights situation of Black people in the country. They met representatives of the Federal and State Governments, Members of Parliament (Bundestag), representatives of national and state-level human rights institutions, and civil society …

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