Sauti Sol staying in quarantine to work on new album
DJ Edu
This Is Africa music programme on BBC World Service
Osborne Macharia
The four band members tested negative for Covid-19
In January Kenyan band Sauti Sol signed a recording deal with Universal Music Group, the group was working on releasing
their new album, Midnight Train, when Covid-19 pandemic disrupted our lives.
The four
band members felt they had to stay together so they decided to all get tested for Covid-19, luckily the results were negative.
For a month now, the band, along with their crew, have been staying in a house on the outskirts of the capital, Nairobi, rehearsing
and working on the launch of their album, as well as writing new material.
They plan to perform the Midnight Train album live very soon and stream the concert. Negotiations with platforms and media partners are ongoing.
The album is packed with songs exploring different themes.
Sober, for example,
addresses alcohol addiction, Insecure describes a couple crippled by anxiety,
and Suzanna, is about a young woman who has used skin lightening products and had cosmetic
surgery.
The album also features
collaborations with Sho Madjozi and Black Motion, India Arie, The Soweto Gospel
Choir, Mortimer and Bensoul, Xenia, Nviiri the Storyteller and Okello Max.
The jihadist group al-Shabab seeks to overthrow Somalia's central government
The Islamist militant group al-Shabab has dropped its initial dismissal of the Covid-19 pandemic, announcing that it has opened a "treatment centre" for people who test positive for the disease in Jilib town in southern Somalia, an area under their control.
Al-Shabab's Radio Andalus reported that the
group had also introduced a new 24-hour hotline for any of the town's residents who
exhibit coronavirus symptoms to call.
It did not say how many people had tested positive for Covid-19.
The broadcast also did not mention
whether the group had any testing kits or if their health workers were
capable of detecting infections.
Earlier this month, al-Shabab cleric Mohamed
ala-Mohamed urged people to protect themselves from Covid-19 by drinking
herbal concoctions, particularly touting turmeric powder and a
number of other herbal mixtures as a remedy.
Somalia's health ministry gives daily updates on coronavirus figures, but it is not clear if its statistics include those from
al-Shabab-held areas.
When the virus was first detected in Somalia in March, al-Shabab
dismissed it as "God's punishment".
In April, senior al-Shabab leader and preacher Fuad Shongole,said, “God sent the virus to punish
the non-Muslims”.
In April, the group's spokesman, Ali
Mohamud Rage also said Covid-19 was a punishment
from God on "non-Muslim countries for the injustices and transgressions
against Muslims".
Al-Shabab is allied to al-Qaeda and has been launching a series of attacks to depose the internationally recognised government based in the capital, Mogadishu.
Two Ghanaian-Americans have made
history in the US by being what is being described as the first
mother-and-daughter duo to attend medical school at the same time, and then be
posted to the same hospital, LSU Health in Louisiana.
Cynthia
Kudji, who was born in the Ghanaian town of Kenyasi, and her daughter Jasmine graduated just a few weeks ago and they have already been working on the front line
of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Cynthia said working with her daughter had been "a dream come true".
Jasmine told the BBC Focus on Africa presenter Bola Mosuro that she hoped their experience would prove an inspiration to others.
"I feel so proud to have gone through this journey with my mum - to inspire other women and other people of colour to do the same thing.
"I'm just so excited to continue on this journey."
Listen to the full interview below:
The Ghanaian-American pair will now be placed at the same hospital
New developer for Guinea's huge iron ore deposit
Russell Padmore
Business correspondent, BBC News
The plan to develop one of the
world's biggest deposits of iron ore is a step closer, after
Guinea signed an agreement with a consortium to mine the resources.
The country hopes to earn $15bn (£11bn) from the giant Simandou project over 25 years, but previous efforts to
develop the iron ore have been mired in claims of corruption.
The consortium includes SMB of
Guinea, Winning Shipping from Singapore and Chinese investors.
Simandou is the largest known
deposit of iron ore, thought to hold two billion tonnes.
The development will include the
construction of a 650km (400 mile) railway line, from Guinea’s mountainous forest
region to the coast.
However, a long running legal row
between the entrepreneur Beny Steinmetz and the Brazilian mining company Vale,
could overshadow the development.
Both have been engaged in a
dispute since 2010, when Vale bought a 51% stake in assets belonging to BSG
Resources, controlled by the Steinmetz family, including two blocks of
Simandou.
The joint venture lost the
mining rights following accusations of bribery.
A member of Belgium's royal family has defended the role played by King Leopold II in the exploitation of the colony that became the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Prince Laurent - brother of the present King Philippe - acknowledged in an interview with the Sudpresse newspaper that abuses were committed in the Congo colony but not by his ancestor.
He said King Leopold could not have hurt people there because he never went to Congo, though he owned it as his personal estate.
The royal palace has not commented on the current debate about Belgium's colonial past which saw severe atrocities committed.
These included mass punishments, including the amputation of limbs of children while forcing their parents to work.
Men who failed to tap enough rubber, then a key economic export for the colonial rulers, were killed.
King Leopold unilaterally established the Congo colony in 1885 but it was taken over by the Belgium state in 1908 following diplomatic pressure to rein in the brutality of the monarch's rule.
Several statues of Leopold II have been defaced during Black Lives Matter protests in Belgium.
Prince Harry praises Ghanaian World War II veteran
Thomas Naadi
BBC News, Accra
UK's Prince Harry has written a
letter of encouragement and support to Private Joseph Hammond, a 95-year-old
Ghanaian WW II veteran, who set himself a challenge of walking 3.2 km (two miles) every day
for one week.
The objective was to raise about $600,000 (£500,000) to buy Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for health workers and and vulnerable veterans in Commonwealth countries.
Mr Hammond said he was inspired by Capt Sir Tom Moore, a British veteran, who raised more than $35m for the UK's National Health Service.
Prince
Harry said that Private Hammond and Capt Tom More - who celebrated his 100th birthday during his campaign - had set an example to the world.
Private Hammond, who met Prince Harry last year at the Field of Remembrance in London, said he was grateful for the letter.
He was drafted
into the Royal West African frontier Force aged 16 to fight in WWII.
Although he finished the seven-day walking challenge in May, the fundraising campaign continues. He has so far raised $35,000.
The BBC caught up with him in May.
Watch:
Coronavirus in Africa: Ghana WW2 in a Covid-19 fundraiser
BreakingBurundi court rules president-elect should be sworn in
AFP
Burundi's Constitutional Court has ruled that President-elect Evariste Ndayishimiye should be sworn in as soon as possible as the country's next head of state.
Pierre Nkrunziza, who had been president for 15 years and was due to leave office in August, suddenly died on Monday.
According to the constitution, the speaker of parliament, Pascal Nyabenda, should have been appointed interim leader - but that did not happen immediately.
Instead, the cabinet said it would turn the issue over to the courts.
Mr Ndayishimiye, who belongs to the same party as the late president, won May's presidential election and was expecting to take office in August.
Ugandan scholar wins case against university
A court in Uganda has reinstated Stella Nyanzi as a research fellow at Makerere University after she was suspended two years ago.
Dr Nyanzi, who is known for her anti-government protests, will also be paid 120m Ugandan shillings ($32,000; £25,000) as compensation by the institution.
She once stripped naked outside her university office after she was locked out.
Dr Nyanzi had accused the university administration of various ills.
She was later suspended and proceeded to court.
Dr Nyanzi said the battle had been won.
"I am looking forward to going back to my office, getting all my unpaid salaries, and getting promoted to the position of Senior Research Fellow. I lost at least eight years of promotion because of these protracted violations," she wrote on her Facebook page on Friday.
