NAIROBI, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Kenya’s lower parliamentary chamber wants some 50 lawmakers to be tested for coronavirus amid fears they may have contracted the virus from a member who recently tested positive.Local media reports say the parliament has submitted the names of MPs and parliamentary staff it wants tested…

BRAZZAVILLE, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Former Republic of Congo president Jacques Joaquim Yhombi Opango died in France on Monday of the new coronavirus, his family said. He was 81. Yhombi Opango, who led Congo-Brazzaville from 1977 until he was toppled in 1979, died at a Paris hospital of COVID-19, his…

A soldier stands guard as police members check vehicles at the start of a 21 day nationwide lockdown PRETORIA, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — South Africa has considered approaching the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other institutions as a last resort for emergency funding to fight the coronavirus that has brought…

The streets of Sudan’s capital Khartoum are empty during the curfew KHARTOUM, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Sudan’s presidential guards shot down a drone that turned out to be monitoring a curfew put in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus , according to al-Sahya newspaper. The guards shot down the…

A destroyed car at the site where a car bomb exploded near the Somali parliament in Mogadishu MOGADISHU, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A governor in Somalia’s Puntland has been killed in a suicide bombing claimed by the al-Shabaab group, police and hospital sources said.Abdisalan Hassan Hersi, governor of Nugaal region,…

Kenya is to distribute cereals to the poor NAIROBI, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — As the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise in Africa, governments in some countries are taking measures to help poor people affected by lockdowns and other restrictions.In Rwanda, which has the highest number of confirmed cases…

FREETOWN, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The government of Sierra Leone has overturned a ban on pregnant girls from attending school. The Ministry of Education said it was committed to ensuring all children had the right to go to school, regardless of their status. In December, the West African regional bloc’s…

GABORONE, March 31 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — Botswana, one of the few democracies to still enforce the death penalty, executed two men convicted of murder on March 28. The latest executions bring to four the number of hangings since President Mokgweetsi Masisi was elected last October. 33-year-old Moabi Seabelo Mabiletsa, and his…