Africa (except North Africa)

BEIRA, 2 Apr 2019; AA: Turkey's state-run relief agency set up a tent city for people in Mozambique, hit hard by last month’s deadly tropical Cyclone Idai.

The Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) built the tent city with the support of other agencies, including National Medical Search Team (UMKE) and Search and Rescue Association (AKUT) as well as the charity group Turkiye Diyanet Foundation in the Tica town near the central Beira city.

CAPE TOWN, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) will double its loan approval book from its current 8 billion U.S. dollars to about 16 billion dollars during 2019, the bank's president Kundapur Vaman Kamath said on Monday.

"In 2019, the bank will build on the strong momentum in our operations and aims to double its loan approval book to about 16 billion dollars," Kamath said at the 4th Annual Meeting of the NDB Board of Governors taking place in Cape Town.

BEIRA, Mozambique (AP) — Cholera cases among cyclone survivors in Mozambique have jumped to 271, authorities said, a figure that nearly doubled from the previous day.

The Portuguese news agency Lusa cited national health director Ussein Isse, who declared the outbreak of the acute diarrheal disease on Wednesday with just five cases.

KAMPALA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of people on Saturday took part in a run in Uganda's capital Kampala aimed at popularizing China's proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

China in 2013 proposed the BRI which refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa through the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road.

CAPE TOWN, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Amid a worsening power crisis, the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) vowed on Thursday to break energy monopoly by state-owned electricity utility Eskom.

This followed the most severe rolling blackouts over the past week, which have crippled businesses and industries, hampered transportation and affected over 8 million people at any given time.

Poor management and alleged corruption at Eskom, which provides about 95 percent of the electricity consumed in the country, are believed to be the major factors that have led to the power crisis.

GABORONE, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Botswana's President Mokgweetsi Masisi said on Tuesday that reducing extreme poverty is his government's priority and he is working to lure foreign investors into the southern African nation to create the much needed employment opportunities.

Masisi was addressing members of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) in Francistown, Botswana's second largest city ahead of the party's elective congress, which will be held from April 5 to 7 in Kang, a village in the southwestern part of the country.

25 Mar 2019; Xinhua: A Chinese rescue team comprised of 65 members arrived at Beira International Airport in Mozambique on Monday after Cyclone Idai wreaked havoc in the southeastern African country.

The rescue team member brought suitcases of rescue equipment and materials at a temporary station in Beira, Mozambique.

24 Mar 2019; DW: A pre-dawn attack on ethnic villages in central Mali left 134 victims dead and 55 injured, including pregnant women, children and the elderly. Violence has spread down from the north.

A deadly raid on the mainly-Muslim Peulh-Fulani villages of Ogossagou and Welingara in central Mali on Saturday shocked a population already targeted by attacks and reprisals.

RABAT, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Emergency humanitarian aid, sent by Morocco to cyclone-hit Mozambique, arrived on Sunday in the eastern city of Beira, the Moroccan official MAP news agency reported.

The cyclone hit southern Africa, causing hundreds of deaths in Mozambique as well as neighboring Zimbabwe and Malawi.

The 39-ton humanitarian aid package, including tents, blankets and basic foodstuffs, was delivered to Mozambique by four Moroccan Royal Armed Forces aircraft, the report said, adding that it was handed over to the Mozambican authorities.

23 Mar 2019; DW: Dogon tribe-members reportedly burned a large portion of a Muslim Fulani village. Tensions among ethnic communities have surged since the government started battling extremists in its desert territories.

Members of the Dogon tribe staged an attack on the Peulh village of Ogossagou in central Mali on Saturday, local officials confirmed. The Peuhl community is part of the Muslim nomadic Fulani group.