Newscast - Africa

Human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has urged the media and Nigerians to stop branding terrorists as mere bandits.
Mr Falana made the appeal in a statement while reacting to the Federal Government silence on the calls to declare bandits as terrorists.
He made reference to the Chibok situation, as well as IPOB among others who the government was quick to proscribe as terrorists and yet has continued to treat banditry lightly.

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently withdraw the impermissible conditions imposed on Twitter pending the final determination of the suit at the ECOWAS Court of Justice in Abuja challenging the legality of suspending the microblogging platform.
The Deputy Director, SERAP, Kolawole Oluwadare, urged the president to withdraw the clauses in a bid to allow the court to render a decision on the central issues in the case, and protect the plaintiffs’ rights and interests.
The address also seems to suggest that even when the suspension is lifted, Nigerians will only be allowed to use Twitter for business and positive engagements.

The Nigerian government says it has suspended the passports of more than 2,000 Nigerians accused of violating Covid-prevention protocols after returning from abroad.
Dr Mukhtar Mohammed says that the passports would remain suspended for a year.
Nigeria has strengthened its surveillance system at airports, seaports and land borders.
People arriving from places such as India, South Africa, Brazil and Turkey are expected to be in quarantine for 14 days at government-approved facilities.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he would unveil his new cabinet next month and bring back parliament by fall’s end to tackle climate change, Covid and economic recovery.
Trudeau says his minority Liberal government has been given the mandate to move even stronger, even faster on the big things that Canadians really want.
He also said to expect a decision in the coming weeks on whether to ban Huawei equipment from Canada’s 5G wireless networks, after the United States and other key allies did so.

The United Nations has said that 255 million full-time workers lost their jobs in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, called for accelerated action on jobs and social protection to avoid an uneven global recovery and prevent future crises.
The UN chief will convene leaders today to mobilise action while worried about the situation and to avoid further loss of jobs.
Guterres called for a global accelerator for jobs and social protection that would create at least 400 million jobs and extend social protection to 4 billion women, men and children currently without coverage.

The Taliban says they will temporarily adopt a 1964 constitution that granted women the right to vote but eliminate any elements they disagree with.
The Taliban’s acting justice minister issued a statement saying the Islamists planned to introduce a constitution used during Afghanistan’s short-lived golden age of democracy, but only briefly and with amendments.
Mawlavi Abdul Hakim Sharaee says the Islamic Emirate will adopt the constitution of the former King Mohammad Zahir Shah’s time for a temporary period.
He added that anything in the text found to conflict with Sharia law and the principles of the Islamic Emirate would be discarded.

Four Tunisian political parties have demanded that President Kais Saied reverse his recent decision to expand his powers and rule by decree.
One of the four left-leaning factions warned that the president's actions risked a slide into violence or even civil war.
He was accused of having installed a one-man rule with a stroke of his pen.
President Saied began gathering almost all power into his own hands in July when he suspended parliament. His opponents accuse him of carrying out a coup, but many Tunisians have supported Mr Saied.

Algeria's army chief has accused Morocco of conspiring against his country and promised a firm response.
Gen Said Chanegriha says Morocco had gone too far with its conspiracies and subversive propaganda campaigns.
Last month Algeria cut all diplomatic ties with its neighbour, accusing it of hostile actions.
Morocco says that decision was unjustified and absurd.
Algeria alleges that the Moroccans support the separatist MAK movement, which seeks independence for its Kabylie region.
The two countries have also been at odds for decades over the fate of the territory of Western Sahara, which Morocco claims as its own.

Algeria will begin producing Chinese-developed Sinovac vaccines for its own use and export to other African countries.
The production will be done in partnership with China and state pharmaceutical products company Saidal.
The country plans to produce one million doses in October, two million in November and three million in December.
The government plans to vaccinate 70% of the country's 45 million people.
Algeria also plans to start producing Russia's Sputnik V vaccine by the end of this year.

A new estimate for the amount of money that Zambia owes Chinese lenders is nearly double what the Zambian government had previously admitted.
The credit rating firm S&P Global says Zambia spends at least 30% of its income on interest payments,
President, Hakainde Hichilema, says the debt situation had not been fully disclosed by the former government.
A new paper from the China Africa Research Initiative, based at Johns Hopkins University in the US, estimates that the sum now amounts to $6.6bn.
Zambia's finance ministry says these figures were broadly consistent with official government reporting.