GENEVA, March 23 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) on Saturday called for urgent global support to deal with the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as the number of infected cases approaches 1,000.
Since the Ebola outbreak was declared in the DRC in August 2018, the number of confirmed and probable cases has amounted to 993, resulting in 621 deaths.
Chimanimani, Mar 21; AP: A week after Cyclone Idai lashed southern Africa, flooding still raged Thursday as torrential rains caused a dam to overflow in Zimbabwe, threatening riverside populations. The confirmed death toll in Zimbabwe, neighboring Mozambique and Malawi surpassed 500, with hundreds more feared dead in towns and villages that were completely submerged.
Aid agencies and several governments continued to step up their deployments, with helicopters in short supply for hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the cyclone.
KAYUNGA, Uganda, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni on Thursday inaugurated the Chinese-built Isimba Hydropower Plant on the Victoria Nile in the central part of the African country.
Addressing the inauguration, Museveni thanked the Chinese government for financing his country's transport and energy infrastructure projects, which are expected to put the country onto a fast track of development.
MOGADISHU, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Somali government forces have vacated three military bases to protest non-payment of salaries, a move that may jeopardize years of security gains, officials and local residents said on Wednesday.
Security officials who declined to be named said the Somalia National Army (SNA) soldiers vacated three bases in middle Shebelle, stoking fear among the residents that the al-Qaida allied terrorist group, al-Shabab may take over the abandoned bases.
GENEVA, March 19 (Xinhua) -- A International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) official Tuesday described damage caused for 1.7 million people in the path of Tropical Cyclone Idai as the worst humanitarian crisis in Mozambique's history.
IFRC spokesperson Matthew Cochrane said at a UN press briefing here that rescuers are scrambling to pull people trapped on rooftops and in trees to safety in the port city of Beira with a population of more than half a million.
MAPUTO, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi said on Monday that the death toll from Tropical Cyclone Idai could exceed 1,000.
The National Institute for Disaster Management said Monday more than 84 deaths have officially been recorded since the landfall of Idai on Thursday night, bringing torrential rains and devastating winds.
However, Nyusi said the situation could be much more serious in his speech addressed to the nation, after flying over the disaster-hit areas to conduct inspection on Sunday.
LUSAKA, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Zambian President Edgar Lungu on Monday stressed the need for African countries to trade more with each other before looking to the outside world.
He made the remarks while meeting with a visiting delegation from the Federation of Egyptian Industries that is in the country to explore investment opportunities.
The Zambian leader said visits by African business delegations need to be encouraged in Africa's quest to trade more within the continent.
18 Mar 2019; AFP: More than 120 people have died and many more are missing in Mozambique and neighbouring Zimbabwe on Sunday after tropical cyclone Idai barrelled across the southern African nations with flash floods and ferocious winds.
Authorities in Mozambique said the toll there had risen to 62 in the centre of the country, while Zimbabwe said 65 people were killed in affected eastern areas, after the cyclone tore across the region on Friday and Saturday.
16 Mar 2019; DW: Tropical Cyclone Idai has left at least 31 people dead in eastern Zimbabwe, the government said on Saturday, continuing a trail of destruction across southeast Africa.
Since the start of the week, heavy rains and the powerful storm already killed 87 people in neighboring Mozambique and Malawi.
14 Mar 2019; DW: Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi has pardoned around 700 political prisoners jailed under his predecessor.
Among those to be freed on Wednesday were opposition figures Franck Diongo, Diomi Ndongala and Firmin Yangambi, who had been jailed under former President Joseph Kabila for various national security offenses.
The pardons fulfill a promise Tshisekedi made to free opposition political prisoners in his first 100 days in office.
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