By Rédaction Africanews Fans planning to attend the 2026 World Cup in the US, Canada, and Mexico may face visa hurdles, but a new system aims to make travel easier. The Fifa Prioritised Appointment Scheduling System (Fifa Pass), announced by US President Donald Trump in November, went live this week. It helps fans from countries whose teams have qualified to get visa appointments faster. The US State Department stressed that a Fifa Pass does not guarantee a visa. All applicants must still pass security checks and meet visa requirements. Fans from countries in the US visa waiver program, including much of Europe, the…
Author: Montage Africa
By Rédaction Africanews and AFP After it imposed sanctions on Guinea following the 2021 coup, the African Union has announced it is lifting them. It comes after what the Union described as ‘the successful organisation of the presidential election’ in December. The Union hailed what it referred to as “the positive steps taken in the implementation of the Political Transition Roadmap in the Republic of Guinea which culminated in the successful organization of the presidential election on 28 December 2025”. A civil society group urging the return of civilian rule has denounced the election as a “charade”, while opposition candidates…
By Dominic Wabwireh with AP As the most severe internet blackout in Iran’s history stretches into its third week, activists report the human cost of a brutal crackdown on nationwide protests has climbed to at least 5,002 killed. With information scarce and verification nearly impossible, the outside world is left peering into a fog of violence, contested numbers, and escalating international threats. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), which provided the grim tally, noted over 26,800 people have been detained. The Iranian government has offered a significantly lower death toll of 3,117, a figure widely doubted given the…
There was a huge plaster on Sarah Peter’s head to staunch the bleeding caused by the blow of a gunman’s weapon. Sarah, not her real name, was in church in a village in northern Nigeria on Sunday morning when attackers raided the compound to abduct the worshippers and take them away on foot. The 60-year-old was whacked on the skull with a rifle to encourage her to move. “Blood was all over,” she said, her fingers brushing the area where the wound was. “I suffered,” she added, clearly still traumatised by what happened three days earlier. “They kept dragging me…
By Dominic Wabwireh with other sources Algeria’s Senate has demanded revisions to a historic law declaring France’s 1830-1962 colonization a crime, creating legislative discord just weeks after the lower house unanimously passed the bill demanding an apology and reparations from Paris. While the lower house’s December 24 vote classified colonization as a crime with “legal responsibility,” the Senate objected to specific articles, particularly around financial compensation. A joint committee must now reconcile the text, as the Senate cannot directly amend the legislation. The disagreement centers on President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s stated position that Algeria is “not tempted by money” but seeks…
By Rédaction Africanews with AFP They were caught under a barrage of fire and became trapped with “nowhere to go” after their city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo fell under the M23 armed group’s control a year ago. Around one million Goma residents were holed up in their homes on 26 January last year when the Congolese army and its allies were forced to pull out of the provincial capital. Hundreds of Rwandan soldiers had just poured across the border to fight alongside the M23 in a lightning offensive to seize the lakeside city. Thousands of people were…
Ugandan police have detained a lawmaker, and close ally of opposition leader Bobi Wine, for his alleged role in election-related violence last week. Muwanga Kivumbi, a deputy leader of Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP), is accused of organising attacks on a police station and a vote-tallying centre after their electoral loss, which the party denies. The police have said that seven people were killed in the incident, but the politician has given a different account, saying that 10 people were killed at his home as they waited for parliamentary election results. The Uganda Police Force said in a post on…
The head of South Sudan’s armed forces has given soldiers seven days to “crush the rebellion” in the east that is a potential threat to the capital, Juba. Recently, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) has attacked and captured several areas in Jonglei state, a local journalist told the BBC, though this could not be independently verified. The latest fighting has threatened Jonglei’s capital, Bor, two hours’ drive from Juba. SPLA-IO’s leader, suspended First Vice-President Riek Machar, is currently on trial on charges of murder, treason and crimes against humanity, which he denies. There are fears that the…
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the European Union (EU) today officially handed over the country’s first humanitarian hub to the Government of Madagascar. Located in the eastern city of Manakara, the hub will strengthen the nation’s emergency preparedness and response to crises for the cyclone-prone eastern and southern coasts. “The humanitarian hub builds the capacity of the Government of Madagascar to prepare for and respond to crises like cyclones, storms and floods. By allowing food, medicine, and other vital supplies to be stored in advance, it helps speed up response times and saves lives,” said Tania Goossens,…
By Zwelethu Bashman, Managing Director, MSD South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, Marloes Kibacha, Managing Director, Africa Health Business, Cheyenne Braganza, Senior Project Associate, Africa Health Business JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, 22 January 2026 -/African Media Agency(AMA)/ – Introduction Cervical cancer remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths among women globally, despite being almost entirely preventable. In Africa, it continues to claim lives not because science has failed, but because policy ambition has fallen short. Over 200 strains of human papillomavirus (HPV) exist, with 12 high-risk types responsible for most HPV-related cancers. [1] Although HPV vaccines can prevent almost 90% of…