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UN Secretary General António Guterres declares open the first World Solidarity Summit on Refugees on Thursday in Uganda’s capital, Kampala. Among the heads of state and about 500 dignitaries attending include Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Guinean President and Chairman of the African Union, Alpha Condé, Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, Gabonese President Ali Bongo, Zambian President Edgar Lungu and Ethiopian Prime …

Many migrants who arrive in Germany find it difficult to navigate the country’s bureaucracy and start living a normal life. But a new organization is helping migrants find a friend who can help them settle in the country, reports Manasi Gopalakrishnan. Bassel Wali (above right) first heard about ‘Start with a Friend’ from another refugee. The 23-year-old, who withstood the …

The United Nations has praised Germany as a “humanitarian frontrunner” in the resettling of refugees, but German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel warns that the country can’t face the challenges alone. The United Nations’ refugee agency on Tuesday honoured Germany for being a “humanitarian frontrunner” in helping to tackle the world’s refugee crisis as it marked World Refugee Day. The day …

Conflict or persecution forced a record 65.6 million people worldwide to flee their homes by the end of 2016. That equates to one person displaced every three seconds.  The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) released the figure on Monday (June 19), the eve of World Refugee Day. Syria and Afghanistan remain the biggest sources of refugees, with 5.5 million and 2.5 …

As many as 126 migrants are feared dead after their boat sank off the coast of Libya last week, the UN’s migration office said on Monday. If confirmed, the deaths will bring the number of migrants killed in the Mediterranean to nearly 2,000 this year. According to four survivors who were brought to the Sicilian port of Palermo after being …

Muslims held a peace march in Cologne on Saturday in protest at the number of deadly Islamic extremist attacks that have hit Europe in recent years. The protesters marched under the slogan “Not with us.” “I am from a Muslim family and I don’t want people to say in our name who is a believer and who is not. And …

Since the beginning of May this year, social networks across Africa and its Diaspora have been saturated with photos and videos showing horrified people demonstrating the presence of plastic in food items, like rice and eggs. Yet most of these videos don’t have a grain of truth (or plastic) in them. Alexandre Capron, a French journalist and member of the …

Kenyans will go to the polls on 8 August and the country is expectedly already agog with election campaign rallies. Joseph Wandera writes on the factors that will determine the outcome of the general election. After accepting his nomination as the presidential candidate of the main opposition coalition recently, Raila Odinga likened himself to Joshua, the Biblical figure who led …

Ghana’s President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo recently paid a 3-day visit to Germany to attend the G20 Africa Partnership Conference. He also met the Ghanaian community in the country during the visit. Our correspondent Nelly Sarpong reports on the meeting in Berlin. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana paid an official visit to Germany on 11-13 June mainly to participate …

Eritrea has declared its support for Saudi Arabia and its allies in the ongoing Gulf diplomatic crisis that started last week after Gulf nations cut ties with Qatar for allegedly supporting extremist groups. The Eritrean government said in a statement that its decision is in the right direction to realise regional peace and stability. “The decision by Gulf nations is …

People smugglers and criminal gangs in Libya are using social media to broadcast the abuse and violence they inflict on African migrants in their captivity and demand ransoms from their families back home, according to the United Nations. In a video posted on Facebook, hundreds of emaciated Somalis and Ethiopians, including several children, are seen huddled in a concrete room …

Over 70 Ghanaian immigrants were deported from the United States on Wednesday for visa-related offences including staying illegally and over staying their visas. The all-male deportees arrived at Accra’s Kotoka International Airport in handcuffs, local media report. The deportees initially refused to disembark from the plane in protest over their inhumane treatment including shackling hands and legs before and during …

People travelling to other EU member states will no longer have to pay extra fees when they use their mobile telephones. After a decade-long battle with telecoms operators, the EU has on Thursday (15 June) officially scrapped roaming fees on calls, data and text messages, sent or received on mobiles. Frequently Asked Questions on Roam like at home  In which …

A District Court (Landgericht) in the western city of Aachen has ordered the operator of a fitness studio chain to pay a compensation of 2,500 euros to an African as damages for discriminating against him. The man had been repeatedly refused membership in a fitness studio in Aachen owned by EasyFit in a way the court found to have contravened …

Fighting continues in Libya, a country fragmented by a multitude of power centers. Since mid-2014, the humanitarian situation has deteriorated due to political instability. Millions of people across Libya are impacted, including refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants. Dr. Tankred Stoebe, who works with Doctors Without Borders (MSF), spent the month of January in the country co-ordinating a medical assessment that took …

Germany seeks a partnership for a common future with Africa, Chancellor Angela Merkel said at the opening of the G20 Africa Conference in Berlin. She encouraged the participants to an open, purposeful discussion: “Talk openly, we have to learn from each other and we have to achieve results.” “I hope that this conference will help us take responsibility together,” Chancellor …

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi has been freed by an armed group in western Libya where he was being held following the 2011 revolt against his late father, former leader Muammar Gaddafi, one of his lawyers and the brigade involved said. He was released in the town of Zintan under an amnesty law passed by a parliament based in eastern Libya, lawyer …

The EU lifted visa requirements for Ukrainian citizens on Sunday (11 June), in a move that sparked joy and expectations of a better future as an aspiring EU country. Thousands of people flocked to Kiev’s European square on Saturday for free concerts and an official countdown to midnight. Musical performances included a Ukrainian version of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, which …

A new legislation that bans face Muslim veils, obliges immigrants to attend integration courses and asylum seekers to carry out unpaid public work will go into force in October after it was signed into law by the country’s president. The controversial integration law that will fine women for wearing face-concealing Islamic dress from October, and deprive migrants of benefits who …

    Indigenous Christians in the Muslim-dominated northern region of Nigeria are a besieged people. They’re being systematically driven off their ancestral land by violence. “Every week, there are more massacres, but nobody seems to mind – not even their own government,” writes Douglas Murray, Associate Director of the British think tank, the Henry Jackson Society. Murray who visited the …