My friend and colleague, Anthony Kasozi, who has died of cancer aged 65, was a coach and consultant with the rare gift of making his clients feel more confident.Specialising in leadership development, Anthony worked over many years with a wide range of organisations such as the International Committee for the Red Cross, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the African Academy of Science and the Mental Health Foundation. Often dealing with directors and multinational teams, he was no stranger to difficult conversations held in stressful situations and always found ways to create calm, a sense of possibility and a way ahead that elicited the best from people. Continue reading...

Darts development organisations and win for David Munyua at PDC World Darts Championship have turbocharged a resurgence in interest in the sportPeter Wachiuri pumped his fists as he sensed victory at the Jacaranda showground in the Kenyan city of Nakuru. Leading his opponent, James Kamama, in the final of the main event, Wachiuri approached the oche again, picked a dart from his left hand, leaned forward with an intense gaze on the dartboard, and threw double 10.“Game shot!” the announcer’s voice boomed across the hall. Cheers erupted in the crowd, gospel music played out of the speakers and Wachiuri launched into a celebratory on-stage dance.Peter Wachiuri and James Kamama pose for a photo after the final of the main event Continue reading...

Digital artists from Maa-speaking peoples including the Maasai and Samburu are gaining popularity in Kenya with a blend of traditional and modern soundsAs the sun sets, a goat’s leg sizzles on the fire in Kenya’s Mau Forest, a bumpy three-hour drive from the nearest Tarmac road. “Nowadays, Maasai shoot with cameras, not spears,” the manager says as he watches a Maasai musician looking at himself on a smartphone screen.Julius Kesier, alias Kamurar Maasai, a musician and influential community mentor, is being filmed at his manyatta settlement. The spear he carries is purely for show. Continue reading...

Defence maker Saab signs contract to deliver ⁠16 ​Gripen E fighter aircraft to Ukraine in $2.54bn deal. What we know on day 1,589Swedish defence equipment maker Saab has signed a contract to deliver ⁠16 ​Gripen E fighter aircraft to Ukraine in a deal worth about ⁠24.6bn Swedish crowns ($2.54bn). Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, writing on the Telegram messaging ⁠app, said the agreement reached with ​Swedish prime minister Ulf ‌Kristersson involved ‌the purchase of the 16 aircraft and included ‌technical support. Saab’s timetable differed from that outlined by Zelenskyy, who said deliveries would begin in 2027, while the Swedish defence equipment maker said deliveries were scheduled for 2029-2030.Ukraine’s top military commander said in an interview broadcast on Tuesday that his forces were preparing for a possible ⁠new Russian attack from the north, but any attempt to advance on Kyiv was unlikely. Oleksandr Syrskyi, interviewed on TSN Ukrainian television, also said ⁠an attack from ⁠neighbouring Belarus ​was unlikely after weeks of Ukrainian allegations that Moscow was trying to press its ally to play a greater role in the war. “The ⁠most likely scenario, and this is confirmed by several data sources, is possible offensive action in the north from the territory of Russia, from the ⁠Bryansk region,” Syrskyi said.“This is a realistic option, of course, and we are preparing for ​it.”Russian glide bombs killed two people and ⁠injured ⁠at least ​15 in the south-eastern Ukrainian ⁠city of Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday, regional governor ⁠Ivan Fedorov said. Fedorov, writing ​on ‌the Telegram ‌messaging app, said ‌Russian forces had deployed seven bombs over a 90-minute period in the city, a frequent target ‌of Russian attacks.Denmark announced ⁠on ​Tuesday a new military donation package ⁠to Ukraine worth about 4.4bn ⁠crowns ($671.8m). “Around 1.3 ​billion ‌crowns is ‌allocated to ‘the Danish ‌model’, which makes it possible to finance the Ukrainian state’s procurement costs through its ‌own defence industry,” the government said ​in a statement. “In addition, more funds have been ⁠allocated for long-range artillery ammunition.” It ​is ​Denmark’s 30th ​military support ​package ‌to UkrainePolice on Tuesday were searching for the suspect behind a parcel bomb that seriously wounded a sanctioned multimillionaire of Ukrainian origin and two others in Monaco. Officers in Monaco and neighbouring France were hunting for a man in a black fisher’s hat who appeared in surveillance footage after leaving a package in a residential building near the border, authorities said. The device exploded at around 9pm (1900 GMT) on Monday, leaving a man and a woman seriously wounded and a 13-year-old with lighter injuries, according to the Monegasque authorities.Monaco public prosecutor Stephane Thibault said as of Tuesday the man had been stabilised, but the woman’s condition remained “life-threatening”. He said the blast was being investigated as “attempted murder” but was not being considered as a “terrorist” act. He declined to say who was the presumed target of the blast, but several sources have said it was Ukrainian-born businessman Vadym Yermolaiev, who is a permanent resident of Monaco and has acquired Cypriot nationality. Yermolaiev is a sanctioned multimillionaire with a reportedly long list of enemies in his homeland. Kyiv alleges the 58-year-old maintained an alcohol business in Russia-annexed Crimea – paying taxes to Moscow even after it invaded Ukraine in 2022.Kenya’s cabinet on Tuesday approved the country’s accession to two international anti-mercenary treaties, a move aimed at curbing the recruitment of citizens into foreign conflicts and combating human trafficking. Kenya is among several African countries whose citizens have reportedly been forcibly conscripted into the Russian army to fight in Ukraine after being lured with promises of jobs abroad. The foreign affairs ministry officially estimates that 291 Kenyans have been victims of Russia’s “irregular military recruitment”, including 19 dead and 32 missing. Continue reading...

Autobiographical work Free Me aims to encourage victims to speak out in country where violence against women is risingThere are audible gasps in the auditorium in Nairobi as a husband launches a volley of blows and slaps on his wife and pushes her to the floor. “I wish I could spare you this,” the wife tells the audience. “My husband beat me up as if we were in a bar fight. Except, in a bar someone fights back.”The scene comes from Free Me, an autobiographical play by Gathoni Kimuyu, a Kenyan theatre and TV producer who lived through an abusive marriage. Continue reading...

Decision comes after Aden Duale was held in contempt for ignoring previous high court ruling to stop work Kenya’s health minister told a court he had ordered preparations for a US-run Ebola quarantine facility to stop, after being held in contempt for ignoring a previous order to end work.Many Kenyans strongly oppose the facility, with deadly protests erupting since the complex was announced in May for US citizens evacuated from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is grappling with a widespread Ebola outbreak. Continue reading...

A month after the tragedy, mystery surrounds the death of the ‘cheerful’ 25-year-old who came to Australia to pursue her dreamsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastIt was meant to be Sheila Chebii’s last shift as a housekeeper.For weeks, the 25-year-old international student had stripped linen, made beds and refilled towels in the rooms of a luxury high-rise hotel above central Sydney. Continue reading...

Police dispersed demonstrators in Nanyuki, 120 miles from Nairobi, amid rising anger at US plansKenyan police have shot dead a man during a protest against a proposed Ebola quarantine facility for US citizens.Patrick Wahome, who has organised protests in Nanyuki against the centre, told Reuters on Tuesday the man died from a gunshot wound to the head. Reporters from the agency saw his body lying motionless in a police van with a large head wound. Continue reading...

Plan departs from policy of bringing CDC staff back to US for treatment and offering support to all health workersFormer top US officials and other experts are urging the Trump administration to abandon plans for an Ebola quarantine and treatment centre in Kenya, as the union for workers with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calls for Americans exposed to Ebola to be brought home for treatment.Soon after the US revealed it was setting up a field hospital in Kenya for the Ebola quarantine and treatment of Americans, the Kenyan high court blocked the order – but the Kenyan and US governments moved forward anyway, with the first American responders reportedly landing at the Laikipia airbase on Saturday. Continue reading...

People from town of potential site for US citizens exposed to Ebola say it puts them at risk in country with no known casesPeople from a town in central Kenya where the US wants to set up an Ebola quarantine facility for its citizens have strongly criticised the plan, saying they fear it will expose them to the virus and that it is indicative of double standards on the part of the US.“Everybody should be quarantined in their home country. We shouldn’t allow foreigners to bring us diseases,” said Charles Mathenge, a taxi driver who lives near Laikipia Air Base, the proposed site in Nanyuki, 120 miles from the capital, Nairobi. “Kenya is our country, and we should be careful with it.” Continue reading...

Many teams have fans abroad, but the bond between the north London club and ordinary Africans is on a different level. A continent expectsIf Arsenal win the Champions League final later today, expect euphoria across Africa. Judging by the scenes after last week’s Premier League title win – their first in 22 years – the celebrations will be immense. Boisterous fans flooded city centres in Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Kampala and Lagos. In Nigeria’s Zamfara state, people celebrated in the streets despite rising insecurity as a result of Boko Haram’s terrorism.For outsiders, the obvious question is: how did a club from north London become so deeply woven into African popular culture?Sean Henry Jacobs is the founder of Africa Is a Country and edits the Eleven Named People newsletter Continue reading...

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus calls for ceasefire among armed groups to help avoid deaths from preventable diseaseThe death rate of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is between 30% and 50%, the World Health Organization has said, as its head arrived in the country to support efforts to contain the disease.Anaïs Legand, from the WHO’s high threat pathogens team, said the revised death rate estimate is based on confirmed cases. “It’s huge. It means that up to five out of 10 people are likely to die,” Legand told reporters in Geneva. Continue reading...

Parents face anxious wait for updates after blaze tears through Utumishi girls academy in Gilgil, Nakuru countyA fire has ripped through a dormitory at a girls’ school in Kenya’s Rift valley, killing at least 16 students.The fire broke out just after midnight at Utumishi girls academy in Gilgil, Nakuru county, about 76 miles north-west of Nairobi, police said. Continue reading...

Some experts criticize White House approach and say not allowing Americans to return to US hurts treatment effortsThe Trump administration is building a quarantine and treatment center in Kenya for Americans affected by the Ebola outbreak, instead of bringing them home.The White House on Wednesday confirmed that the US was setting up a facility in Kenya for Americans to quarantine after Ebola exposure in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Continue reading...

After two decades, long-suffering Gunners fans from across the diaspora have been rewarded with a Premier League win. So why has this sometimes beleaguered team earned such adulation?Don’t already get The Long Wave in your inbox? Sign up hereHello and welcome to The Long Wave. As the resident Arsenal fan, I’m stepping in for Nesrine the week after my club lifted the Premier League trophy for the first time since 2004, prompting celebrations on a scale we rarely see, at home and across the globe.Arsenal have a storied history with Black players, and its fanbase reflects that. A cursory look at the joy on Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze’s faces at Selhurst Park and the ensuing melee of supporters on the streets of London right through to Kampala is strong proof of that. I look at why a north London club has the love and dedication of so many in the Black diaspora – a flame that has remained lit through the good, the bad and indifferent. Continue reading...

Staff at the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy are helping the repatriation of ‘the shiest antelope’ from western zoos to their native east African country“We are bringing the boys home,” says Ngenoh Erick Kibet, a wildlife officer at the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy, as he hears of the moment that a cargo plane carrying four mountain bongo has touched down on a wet runway at Jomo Kenyatta international airport.The operation is the culmination of two weeks spent in Czechia, a first flight for Kibet, and a decades-long collective effort to rescue a species on the edge of extinction.The 100th bongo calf was recently born at the conservancy Continue reading...

Court cases in Kenya point to a growing market for ants as exotic pets in Asia and Europe that has implications for conservation and biosecurityIn the biblical text Book of Proverbs, King Solomon describes the harvester ant as a model of wisdom and industriousness: “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!”Almost 3,000 years later, the thriving international parallel market for a distinct species of the ant native to east Africa has been thrust into the global spotlight after a series of convictions in Kenya for ant smuggling. Continue reading...

French president reaches out to new allies after setbacks in relations with his country’s former colonies in west AfricaA French-African summit held every few years since 1973 is taking place in a non-francophone country for the first time as Emmanuel Macron tries to rebuild France’s role on the continent after setbacks in its former colonies.More than 30 heads of state and government are meeting in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, for this year’s iteration of the summit. Named Africa Forward, it is being seen by analysts as an attempt by France to court new allies. Continue reading...

The Kenyan player has been recognised for his advocacy and grassroots work to tackle sport’s carbon footprint“Most well-known people who talk about climate change are in North America and Europe,” says Kenyan rugby sevens star Kevin Wekesa, “but for us this is a very relevant conversation. It is not only about future tournaments or big international pledges. In Kenya, we see the effects in rising heat, cracked pitches and changing weather in communities where young athletes are growing up.”A year before competing in his first Olympic Games at Paris 2024, Wekesa responded to Kenya’s relegation from the top tier of international sevens by offering free rugby coaching in schools across Kenya. After travelling to a school in Kirinyaga on the slopes of Mount Kenya, a wet and verdant region, Wekesa found an unplayable dry field and was forced to cancel the session. One of the students told Wekesa that conditions had been similar for two months, while another suggested the unfamiliar weather was because of climate change.This is an extract from our newsletter, The Hotspot. To subscribe just visit this page and follow the instructions. Continue reading...

Due to many obstacles – from security to air fares – local fans lose out as African artists tour overseas instead. But as western corporations invest, there are more worries besidesWhen a major African pop artist announces a world tour these days, you will see Paris, New York, Toronto and Amsterdam among the dates. You will see multiple nights at London’s O2 Arena – a venue that has become a regular hub for Nigerian pop supremacy. You will see grand, multimillion-dollar stage designs, towering LED screens and meticulously choreographed dancing as artists such as Burna Boy, Wizkid, Asake, Rema, Tyla and Tems have become global stars.What you will rarely see, however, is a comprehensive, interconnected list of dates in Accra, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Kigali or Luanda: the cities that birthed these acts. It is a central paradox of the current African music surge: the continent’s biggest cultural exports are struggling to perform consistently for audiences across the continent. Continue reading...