East Africa

Uganda begins testing a vaccine against the Ebola strain that has none

Scientists in Masaka have started a first human trial of a vaccine against the Bundibugyo strain behind Congo's outbreak. Congo itself starts a larger trial this month.

Masaka16 October 20261 min read

Kagame invites Africa to make the Rwanda Grand Prix the whole continent's

After congratulations from Ramaphosa and Hichilema, Rwanda's president said he wants other African countries to help make the Formula One race a continental success.

Kigali16 October 20261 min read

Kenya raises petrol prices by 6% as Middle East conflict lifts import costs

Diesel is up 4.5% and kerosene also costs more. Matatu operators warn fares will follow.

Nairobi16 October 20261 min read

Kenyan court lets Dangote's $16bn Lamu refinery go ahead while residents' case continues

A judge lifted an order that had frozen the site after finding the petitioners had cited the wrong plot of land. The case returns to court on 24 November.

Malindi15 October 20262 min read

Tanzania's hospitals have nearly doubled their beds since 2021

Twenty-seven years after Julius Nyerere's death, the country he set against poverty, ignorance and disease reports ICU beds up sixfold and maternal deaths sharply down.

Dar es Salaam15 October 20262 min read

Kenya confirms a second Ebola case, a relative already in quarantine

The 39-year-old developed symptoms while isolated as a close contact of Kenya's first case, who died in Nairobi on 5 October.

Nairobi15 October 20261 min read

Technology

East Africa's digital customs win praise from tax chiefs

Commonwealth tax administrators visiting Arusha commended the region's shared customs territory and its electronic tracking of cargo across borders.

Arusha14 October 20261 min read

Egypt backs funding drive for 36 Nile Basin projects

The projects, in the countries of the southern basin, cover hydropower, power lines and water supply. Cairo has also opened a $100 million fund of its own.

Berlin14 October 20261 min read

Formula One is coming back to Africa, and Rwanda will host

A ten-year deal will bring a Grand Prix to a new circuit at Bugesera in the early 2030s, the first race on the continent since 1993.

Kigali14 October 20262 min read

London court to test what 'responsible gold' means

The families of two young Tanzanians shot dead near a mine in 2019 are suing the body that certified its gold. Thirty more Tanzanians have joined them.

London13 October 20262 min read

Kenya's university lecturers dig in as pay talks collapse

The union says the government returned with almost the same offer it rejected on 1 October, and that the Treasury did not come to the meeting.

Nairobi13 October 20261 min read

Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia close ranks on the Horn

Four leaders meeting at El Alamein agreed five principles, from the Nile to the Red Sea. The country they did not name, but had in mind, was Ethiopia.

Cairo13 October 20261 min read

Kenya declares Ebola a formidable epidemic disease

New rules cover screening, quarantine, contact tracing and burials. The WHO says 94 of 127 listed contacts are in quarantine, and advises against travel bans.

Nairobi13 October 20262 min read

Ethiopian forces enter Adwa as Tigray rebels pull back

Residents say federal troops and allied militia have taken the town near the Eritrean border, nine days after government-allied forces retook Mekelle.

Addis Ababa13 October 20261 min read

Six in ten Ugandan children never see a pre-school

Primary and secondary school are free. The years before are left to private providers. A UN committee says that should end.

Kampala12 October 20262 min read

In Baidoa, fighting returns to a city already starving

Two million Somali children are malnourished. The World Food Programme, which once fed four million people a month, now reaches 670,000.

Baidoa12 October 20261 min read

Climate

East Africa agrees one voice for the climate summit

The bloc will ask for adaptation money to be tripled by 2035 and for countries to draw directly on the loss and damage fund.

Machakos12 October 20261 min read

'Leave them to me': Ruto renews attack on Kenyatta

Kenya's president told a church service that he will deal with those he says are paying for his opponents, as the 2027 election draws nearer.

Nairobi12 October 20261 min read

East Africa plans 34 mobile labs to catch outbreaks early

Health ministers from eight countries also agreed to buy medicines together and to share outbreak intelligence in real time.

Arusha12 October 20261 min read

How Kenya's first Ebola case got past two airport checks

The man was screened in Entebbe and again in Nairobi and was not flagged. Health officials say fever checks alone were never going to be enough.

Nairobi12 October 20262 min read

Kipchoge, 41, wins in Melbourne with a course record

It is the Kenyan's first marathon victory since Berlin in 2023, and the high point so far of his attempt to run one on every continent.

Nairobi12 October 20261 min read

Kenya has 108 Ebola contacts in quarantine, none ill

No new infection has been found since the first case was confirmed on 6 October. Borders and airports remain open.

Nairobi11 October 20261 min read

In Kibera, children play chess on boards made from waste

A community project has turned 200kg of discarded plastic into nearly 2,000 chess sets for children who could not otherwise afford one.

Nairobi11 October 20261 min read

Diaspora

At least 139 dead as migrant boat sinks off Djibouti

Fifteen children are among the dead and 84 people are missing. Survivors, all Ethiopian, say the boat began to sink as soon as they boarded.

Obock11 October 20261 min read

Eritrea asks UN to act over Ethiopia's 'declaration of war'

Asmara denies sending troops into Tigray. Addis Ababa says they advanced 60km. In the border city of Adigrat, residents say food and medicine are running out.

Asmara11 October 20261 min read

Climate

The Ugandan lab turning seized ivory into convictions

Poachers now strip carcasses of anything that identifies them. In Entebbe, scientists use DNA to tell a court exactly which animal a piece of meat or tusk came from.

Entebbe11 October 20261 min read

US report says Kenyan officials linked to human trafficking are going unpunished

Convictions fell from 21 to six in a year. The report also cites claims that some embassy staff in Saudi Arabia demanded sex or cash from women seeking help.

Nairobi11 October 20261 min read

Ugandan schools take on the taboo around periods

More than 20 schools in the Rwenzori region used drama and essays to talk openly about menstruation. A head teacher says silence leaves schools unprepared.

Kasese10 October 20261 min read

Diaspora

Kenya says 84 citizens are dead or missing in Ukraine war

The foreign ministry has traced 354 Kenyans drawn into the conflict. Sixty-two have come home and five are prisoners of war.

Nairobi10 October 20261 min read

Technology

Ethiopia opens a month-long cybersecurity campaign with children first

The seventh national Cybersecurity Month runs from 11 October to 9 November, with a focus on protecting children online.

Addis Ababa10 October 20261 min read

Diaspora

Twenty thousand Ethiopians have crossed into Djibouti in three weeks

More than 3,000 are stranded in remote desert with little food or water, the UN migration agency says, as Djibouti also receives people returning from Yemen.

Djibouti10 October 20261 min read

Ethiopia and Eritrea accuse each other of starting a war as flights to Mekelle resume

Addis Ababa says Eritrea is backing Tigrayan forces. Asmara says it is the victim of an unprovoked war. Ethiopian Airlines returns to Tigray's capital on Sunday.

Addis Ababa10 October 20261 min read

Tigray faces failed rains and war at once, with 3.2 million people cut off from food aid

Crops have been scorched across 252,500 hectares and aid warehouses looted since fighting resumed, according to an account from a Tigray health network published by The New Humanitarian.

Mekelle9 October 20261 min read

Kenya's suspected second Ebola case turns out to be malaria

A patient isolated in Wajir tested negative for the virus, the health minister says. Screening and contact tracing continue after the country's first confirmed death on Tuesday.

Nairobi9 October 20261 min read

Fighting across the Red Sea is pushing refugees and higher prices into the Horn of Africa

At least 3,700 people have fled Yemen for Djibouti in a month, and the cost of insuring ships through the Bab el-Mandeb has nearly doubled, raising fuel and fertiliser prices across the continent.

Djibouti9 October 20261 min read

Kenya's Harambee Starlets beat Seychelles 11-0 in Olympic qualifier

Valary Nekesa scored twice before half-time and Kenya added eight more after the break in Nairobi. The second leg is on Monday.

Nairobi9 October 20261 min read

Technology

Four Kenyan women win hackathon with an AI fare-payment system for matatus

The team behind Naulisako beat 40 other young developers in a 30-hour contest at Konza Technopolis and will now compete against winners from five other African countries.

Konza9 October 20261 min read

Somalia sets up a six-ministry Ebola committee as the outbreak reaches the region

The cabinet approved preparedness measures days after Kenya confirmed its first death. The government has not said whether any case has been detected in Somalia.

Mogadishu9 October 20261 min read

Ethiopian drones hit Eritrean troops near Adigrat as the two governments stay silent

Witnesses and a conflict monitor report repeated strikes on Eritrean positions inside Tigray. Neither Addis Ababa nor Asmara has commented, days after the two countries cut diplomatic ties.

Adigrat9 October 20261 min read

Climate

El Niño could be the strongest since 1950 and will peak in December, UN weather agency warns

The World Meteorological Organization expects wetter conditions across the Greater Horn of Africa and says the event is almost certain to last until February.

Nairobi8 October 20261 min read

Why Raila Odinga's mausoleum has five sides

The pentagon at the family home in Bondo recalls the raised fist that became his signature, and the five-member team that carried his 2007 campaign.

Bondo8 October 20261 min read

Eritrean troops reported inside Tigray as fighting in northern Ethiopia widens

Witnesses and a pro-government commander say uniformed Eritrean soldiers with heavy weapons have been in the town of Adigrat for days. Addis Ababa and Asmara cut diplomatic ties last week.

PANM8 October 20261 min read

Ramaphosa presses Kiir on South Sudan's December election

South Africa's president, who chairs the African Union committee on South Sudan, told Salva Kiir that political, security and logistical problems must be settled before the 22 December vote.

Tshwane8 October 20261 min read

Somalia says it has killed the former head of al-Shabab's intelligence wing

The national intelligence agency says Bashir Ahmed Haji Nunow, who ran the group's feared Amniyat unit for eight years, died in an operation in Jilib on 1 October.

Mogadishu8 October 20261 min read

Kenya must prove it is clean before hosting the world, anti-doping chief says

Nairobi will stage the 2029 World Athletics Championships, the first African city chosen to do so. The head of Wada says promises on doping now have to become results.

Nairobi8 October 20261 min read

Uganda joins Kenya in opening the Dangote refinery share sale to its investors

The Nigerian refinery is trying to raise $1.6bn in what could be Africa's largest stock market listing. The offer closes on 13 October.

Kampala8 October 20261 min read

Kenya races to trace contacts after its first Ebola death, as the outbreak in DR Congo worsens

A man who fell ill in DR Congo crossed three countries before dying in a Nairobi hospital. No other infection has been confirmed in Kenya, but the case has raised hard questions about border screening.

Nairobi8 October 20264 min read