Kenya

Moderna to supply Africa with up to 110 million COVID doses

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Moderna on Tuesday said it will make up to 110 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine available to African countries, which local officials called a breakthrough on the world’s least vaccinated continent.

The announcement said Moderna is prepared to deliver the first 15 million doses by the end of this year, with 35 million in the first quarter of 2022 and up to 60 million in the second quarter. It says “all doses are offered at Moderna’s lowest tiered price.”

New airstrikes hit capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — New airstrikes hit the capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, residents said Wednesday, as video showed injured people with bloodied faces being rushed to vehicles and thick black smoke rising in the sky. Ethiopia’s government said it targeted facilities to make and repair weapons, which a spokesman for the rival Tigray forces denied.

Meanwhile, the United Nations told The Associated Press it is slashing by more than half its Tigray presence as an Ethiopian government blockade halts humanitarian aid efforts and people die from lack of food.

Witnesses: Ethiopian military airstrikes hit Tigray capital

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Ethiopian military airstrikes have hit the capital of the country’s Tigray region and killed at least three people, witnesses said Monday, returning the war abruptly to Mekele after several months of peace.

The airstrikes, confirmed by two humanitarian workers, came days after a new military offensive was launched against the Tigray forces who have been fighting Ethiopian and allied forces for nearly a year.

UN court's ruling on border dispute draw opposing reactions from Kenya, Somalia

NAIROBI, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- A ruling by the United Nations' top court on the maritime border dispute between Kenya and Somalia has drawn opposing reactions from the two neighboring countries in East Africa.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on Tuesday that there was no agreed maritime boundary and ruled largely in favor of Somalia which will get a big chunk of the 100,000 square-kilometer area that is potentially gas and oil-rich.

U.N. official recalled from Ethiopia over audio recordings - letter

NAIROBI, Oct 12 (Reuters) - The United Nations' migration agency has recalled a staff member identified by two U.N. sources in Addis Ababa as the head of its mission to Ethiopia over audio recordings containing criticism of senior U.N. officials.

In the recordings, two women who say they work for the U.N. in Ethiopia but do not give their names tell a freelance journalist that some top U.N. officials globally sympathise with forces from the northern Tigray region that are fighting Ethiopia's government.

WFP: Kenya drought leaves 2.4 million at risk of hunger by November

NAIROBI, Oct 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least 2.4 million people risk going hungry by November as drought ravages northern and eastern Kenya, a nearly threefold increase from last year, the World Food Programme said.

The East African country has been hit by an accumulation of calamities in recent years, including a locust invasion in December 2019 and poor rainfall in 2020 and 2021, which has left the arid northern and eastern regions facing an emergency.

Kenya proposes ban on export of domestic workers to Saudi Arabia

NAIROBI, Sept 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recommended a temporary ban of recruitment and export of domestic workers to Saudi Arabia until adequate protection measures are put in place.

Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Macharia Kamau told MPs that it had written to the Labour Ministry in July to impose a temporary blockade.

Kenya reopens borders for Indian travellers

Mumbai, Sep 23 (PTI) Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) on Thursday said the African nation has reopened its borders for Indian travellers, which were closed for a brief period due to the second wave of Covid-19.

The temporary ban of passenger flights from India was revoked after a brief period of suspension since May this year as a result of the spike of Covid-19 pandemic in the country, KTB said in a statement.

China-donated vaccines arrive in Kenya amid intensified pandemic fight in Africa

NAIROBI, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Senior Kenyan government officials on Saturday received a batch of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine doses from China as the East African nation ramps up inoculations for high-risk populations against the virus, saying they would reinvigorate the pandemic fight in the country.

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