Tag Archives: Africa

Gambian Assembly Revokes Female Genital Cutting Ban

The New York Times reports: Gambian lawmakers have voted to revoke a ban on female genital cutting by removing legal protections for millions of girls, raising fears that other countries could follow suit. Of the 47 members of the Gambia National Assembly present on Monday, 42 voted in favor of a bill to overturn the ban, sending the decision to …

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Ghana Approves Prison Terms For Identifying As LGBTQ

The New York Times reports: Ghana’s Parliament on Wednesday passed a bill that imposes jail terms on people who identify as L.G.B.T.Q. or organize gay advocacy groups, measures that Amnesty International called among the harshest on the African continent. The legislation, if signed into law by President Nana Akufo-Addo [photol, would mean that people convicted of identifying as gay could …

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Pope: Africans Are A “Special Case” On Homosexuality

Reuters reports: Pope Francis said in an interview published on Monday that Africans were a “special case” in the opposition of bishops and many other people in the continent to homosexuality. But he said he was confident that, except for Africans, critics of his decision to allow blessings for same-sex couples would eventually understand it. “Those who protest vehemently belong …

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World’s First Malaria Vax Program Begins In Cameroon

The BBC reports: The world’s first routine vaccine programme against malaria has started in Cameroon, in a move projected to save thousands of children’s lives across Africa. The symbolic first jab was given to a baby girl named Daniella at a health facility near Yaoundé on Monday. Every year 600,000 people die of malaria in Africa, according to the World …

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Kenyan Jesus Cult Leader Charged With Terrorism

Al Jazeera reports: A Kenyan court has charged cult leader Paul Mackenzie with “terrorism”-related crimes over the deaths of 429 of his followers. The self-proclaimed pastor was charged along with 94 others on Thursday over the deaths of followers whose bodies have been exhumed from the Shakahola forest near the Indian Ocean. The charges, announced during an appearance before a …

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Burundi President Calls For Publicly Stoning Gays

Agence France-Presse reports: Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye launched a virulent anti-gay tirade on Friday, saying same-sex couples should be publicly stoned. He also lashed out at Western countries that press other nations to allow gay rights or risk losing aid. Homosexuality in Burundi, a conservative Christian country in East Africa, has been criminalised since 2009 with prison terms of up …

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Uganda’s Gay Death Penalty Is Hurting Its Economy

The New York Times reports: Since the passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023, as the law is officially known, there have been arrests and hundreds of human rights violations involving L.G.B.T.Q. people, according to a report by Convening for Equality, a coalition of human rights groups. More quietly, the law is exacting a grim economic toll. The hospitality industry …

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Hundreds Dead In Powerful 6.8 Morocco Earthquake

The Associated Press reports: A rare, powerful earthquake struck Morocco late Friday night, killing more than 800 people and damaging buildings from villages in the Atlas Mountains to the historic city of Marrakech. But the full toll was not known as rescuers struggled to get through boulder-strewn roads to the remote mountain villages hit hardest. People woken by the quake …

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Nigerian Police Arrest 67 For Attending “Gay Wedding”

The Associated Press reports: Police in Nigeria said Tuesday they detained at least 67 people celebrating a gay wedding in one of the largest mass detentions targeting homosexuality, which is outlawed in the West African country. The “gay suspects” were arrested in southern Delta state’s Ekpan town at about 2 a.m. on Monday at an event where two of them …

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Ugandan Faces Execution Under New Anti-Gay Law

Reuters reports: A 20-year-old man has become the first Ugandan to be charged with “aggravated homosexuality”, an offence punishable by death under the country’s recently enacted anti-gay law, prosecutors and his lawyer said. The death penalty can apply in cases deemed “aggravated”, which include repeat offences, gay sex that transmits terminal illness, or same-sex intercourse with a minor, an elderly …

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Kenya Bans Five Churches Linked To Starvation Cult

Agence France-Presse reports: Kenyan authorities have banned five churches including that of a suspected cult leader accused of inciting more than 400 of his followers to starve themselves to death, a government document said Friday. The registrar of societies said in a gazette notice that the licence of self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie’s Good News International Ministries was cancelled. Mackenzie …

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Kenyan Jesus Starvation Cult Death Toll Rises To 403

The Associated Press reports: The number of people who died in connection with Kenya’s doomsday cult has crossed the 400 mark as detectives exhumed 12 more bodies on Monday believed to be followers of a pastor who ordered them to fast to death in order to meet Jesus. Pastor Paul Mackenzie, who is linked to the cult based in a …

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Kenya Bill Would Copy Uganda’s “Death To Gays” Law

Reuters reports: Mohamed Ali [photo] doesn’t believe gay Africans exist. He says homosexuality is a Western invention imposed on the continent. Openly gay Africans are liars seeking visas to the West or money from rights groups, he adds. Ali is a member of Kenya’s parliament. He is desperate to follow neighbour Uganda by unleashing a sweeping legislative crackdown on LGBTQ …

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Kenya Starvation Cult Suspect Dies In Hunger Strike

Reuters reports: A Kenyan accused of involvement in the deaths of hundreds of members of a starvation cult has died after a 10-day hunger strike in police custody, a prosecutor said on Wednesday. Joseph Buyuka was among 30 people, including self-styled pastor Paul Mackenzie of Good News International Church, in custody over the deaths of 337 followers of the church. …

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Death Toll In Kenyan Jesus Starvation Cult Passes 300

Courthouse News reports: The number of people who died after a Kenyan pastor ordered his followers to starve to death in order to meet Jesus has surpassed 300, authorities said Tuesday, and the death toll is expected to rise as more exhumations are planned. The death toll increased to 303 after 19 more bodies were recovered from mass graves in …

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Death Toll In Kenyan Jesus/Starvation Cult Rises To 179

Reuters reports: Kenyan investigators unearthed 29 more bodies on Friday in a continuing search for victims of a doomsday cult in the country’s southeast. The death toll now stands at 179. Authorities this week have searched for remains in shallow graves scattered throughout the Shakahola forest and for any survivors as hundreds of people are still reported missing. Kenya’s Deputy …

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Kenyan Jesus Cult Harvested Some Victims’ Organs

The Telegraph reports: Kenyan cult leaders may have harvested the organs of followers they convinced to starve to death to meet Jesus, police have said. Police believe most of the bodies are followers of Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, a taxi driver who became a pastor and is now accused of ordering them to forgo food “to meet Jesus”, because the world …

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Most Of Kenyan Starvation Cult’s Victims Are Children

Reuters reports: Children account for most of the 109 bodies so far recovered in mass graves linked to a cult in Kenya, the interior minister said on Friday, the latest details in a case that has shocked the country and prompted calls for tighter regulation of religious fringe groups. Followers of the Good News International Church near the coastal town …

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“Starve To Meet Jesus” Cult Toll: 90 Dead, 213 Missing

USA Today reports: The death toll at a ranch in coastal Kenya that is owned by a pastor who is accused of leading a religious cult and ordering his followers to starve themselves reached 90 on Tuesday, as the country’s interior minister announced an expanded operation at the site. The new figure came after police exhumed 17 more bodies. The …

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“Starve To Meet Jesus” Cult’s Death Toll Rises To 73

The Associated Press reports: Kenyan President William Ruto said Monday that the starvation deaths of dozens of followers of a pastor in the south of the country is akin to terrorism. He said the pastor, Paul Makenzi, who is in police custody belongs to jail and not to any religion. “Mr. Makenzi … pretends and postures as a pastor when …

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