Kenya flood toll rises to 181 as homes and roads are destroyed
Nairobi, Kenya Reuters Floods and landslides across Kenya have killed 181 people since March, with hundreds of thousands forced to leave their homes, the government and Red Cross said on Wednesday, as dozens more were killed in neighbouring Tanzania and Burundi. Torrential rain and floods have destroyed homes, roads, bridges and other infrastructure across the […]
Kenyan anti tax hike protests subside as police clamp down
Nairobi, KenyaReuters Protests in Kenyan cities against tax hikes and high living costs largely subsided on Thursday amid a heavy police presence, after several people were reported shot in clashes between security forces and demonstrators a day earlier. At least 300 people were arrested, including several senior opposition leaders, and several people were reported shot, […]
Tax-hike protesters clash with Kenyan police, two shot dead
Nairobi, KenyaReuters Stone-throwing demonstrators clashed with police on Wednesday and two were shot dead, officers on the scene said, in anti-tax protests in cities and towns around Kenya called by opposition leader Raila Odinga. Police fired tear gas to disperse protests in the capital Nairobi, the port city of Mombasa and several other towns, according […]
Urban poverty: World’s slum populations set to surge as housing crisis bites
The UN says three billion people will live in slums by 2050 unless the world tackles poverty and inequality. NITA BHALLA, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports…
Kenyan opposition leader Odinga suspends anti-government protests
Nairobi, Kenya Reuters Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga said on Sunday he was suspending anti-government protests and was ready for talks after an appeal from President William Ruto, though he warned that demonstrations could restart in days. Thousands have joined three marches over the past two weeks against high living costs and alleged fraud in […]
Religious, rights groups call for calm in Kenya’s second week of protests
Nairobi, KenyaReuters Religious leaders and human rights groups in Kenya called for calm on Tuesday as a second week of protests against cost of living increases raised fears of further violence, while President William Ruto said criminals would be held to account. Opposition leader Raila Odinga, who lost to Ruto in last August’s election, is […]
Kenyan building collapses spark alarm as cities swell
Ruaka, Kenya Reuters Daniel Njoroge Karomo awoke to a huge bang and a cloud of dust. Rushing outside he found his parents’ corrugated metal home crushed underneath a five-floor apartment block that had collapsed in the Kenyan town of Ruaka while they were sleeping. Engineers supervise the clearing of the ruins of an apartment block […]
Ethiopian and Tigray forces launch hotline as new peace talks begin
Nairobi, KenyaReuters The Ethiopian Government and Tigrayan forces have established a telephone hotline to help maintain a ceasefire struck last week, and both sides met in Kenya on Monday for a new round of talks on implementing the truce. Ethiopia’s government and regional forces from Tigray agreed last Wednesday to cease hostilities after talks mediated […]
Kenya’s Odinga challenges election result ‘criminality’ in court
Nairobi, KenyaReuters Veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga on Monday challenged Kenya’s presidential election results in the Supreme Court and alleged the tally had involved “criminality”, sharpening a political contest gripping East Africa’s powerhouse. In the petition, Odinga asks the court to nullify the vote’s outcome on several grounds, including a mismatch between the turnout figures […]
Automating access: Vending machines bring safe, cheap water to Nairobi slums
DOMINIC KIRUI, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how an initiative to install water-dispensing vending machines to ease the water access crisis in city slums…