A boat capsized on a lake in northeastern Ghana, killing 15 people, mostly children, maritime authorities said on Sunday.

“Tragically, 11 of the deceased were children between the ages of two and 14 years (five males and six females)” in the incident that took place Saturday on Lake Volta in the Krachi West District of the Oti Region, the Ghana Maritime Authority said in a statement.

The children and other victims, aged up to 64, were travelling from Okuma to Bovime when their vessel overturned, it added.

Four adults survived, the statement said, describing the accident as “a critical and unacceptable breach of safety standards”.

Preliminary findings suggested the boat was overloaded, the authority said.

A specialized investigation team, including naval personnel, was deployed to determine the cause.

The authority added that it would set up a high-level investigation committee with the transport ministry and launch a “sustained lakeside safety enforcement operation” to ensure compliance with passenger limits and life jacket rules.

Boat disasters are common on Lake Volta, often caused by overloading and collisions with tree stumps.

In August, six passengers died in a similar incident. In May 2023, 18 people were killed after their boat struck a submerged tree stump.

The GMA said it “remains resolute in unravelling the root causes of this disaster and implementing measures to ensure that no such tragedy ever occurs again”.

#UN says 53 civilians killed during 3 days of attacks in and near el-Fasher camp in western #Sudan.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said Thursday that drone and artillery strikes by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in the Abu Shouk and Daraja Oula neighborhoods of el-Fasher and the el-Fasher displaced persons camp killed 46 people.

Among the 46 killed, over a dozen died in shelling at one of the last functioning hospitals in el-Fasher. The shelling also struck a nearby mosque where people were taking refuge, said the UN Human Rights office.

The statement also said at least seven other people were summarily executed after ground raids by the RSF in ethnically motivated killings. Both the RSF and the Sudanese military have been accused of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity and are under investigation by the International Criminal Court.

“Despite repeated calls, including my own, for specific care to be taken to protect civilians, they continue instead to kill, injure, and displace civilians, and to attack civilian objects, including IDP shelters, hospitals and mosques, with total disregard for international law,” said Turk. “This must end.”

Türk called for UN Member States with direct influence to take urgent measures to “protect civilians and to prevent further atrocities” in el-Fasher and across the Darfur region.

Sudan has been in the throes of conflict since 2023, when tensions between the RSF and the Sudanese military erupted. Darfur has been at the epicenter of the fighting.

The war in Sudan has killed more than 40,000 people, forced more than 14 million to flee their homes and famine has been declared in parts of the country, including Darfur.

El-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, has been under siege for over a year. The UN and other aid groups warn that 260,000 civilians remain trapped in the city.

Hundreds of thousands have fled to Tawila, just outside el-Fasher.

“I consider Tawila as one of the epicenters of, frankly, what is clearly a humanitarian catastrophe here,” said Denise Brown, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Sudan last week from Tawila, the closest they could get to the besieged city of el-Fasher.

“There are about 600,000 internally displaced here, mostly fleeing from el-Fasher,” she said.

They are part of the 10 million people displaced in the country and Brown said the UN humanitarian plan is only 25 per cent funded.

She said she met a woman who had just arrived from el-Fasher on a donkey after traveling for seven days through remote villages to stay off back roads with her children, including a severely malnourished baby.

“Local actors on the ground in el-Fasher are doing what they can to provide some very limited basic assistance,” Brown said. “It’s totally insufficient.”

She said the UN is working to negotiate access to el-Fasher.

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Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Fay Abuelgasim, The Associated Press

The #Cocoa Barometer 2025 report launched on Wednesday has revealed that despite the rising prices of cocoa, millions of smallholder farmers in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria still remain trapped in poverty.

#Malawi's newly-elected President Peter Mutharika named Joseph Mwanamvekha as finance minister late on Sunday, returning him to a role he held from 2016 to 2020 as the country faces challenges such as foreign exchange shortages and rising living costs.

President Donald Trump's administration is preparing to set a refugee admissions cap at 7,500 people this fiscal year, a record low that prioritizes white South Africans of Afrikaner ethnicity, three people familiar with the matter said.

Le nouvel ambassadeur de la République démocratique du Congo (#RDC) en Afrique du Sud, John Nyakeru, a présenté ses lettres de créance au Président sud-africain Cyril Ramaphosa, au cours d’une cérémonie organisée à la maison d'hôtes présidentielle Sefako Makgatho à #Pretoria, la capitale administrative Sud-africaine, en faveur de 18 ambassadeurs nouvellement accrédités dans ce pays, a-t-on appris samedi de l'ambassade #congolaise en Afrique du Sud.

Avocat, le nouvel ambassadeur congolais en Afrique du Sud, Nyakeru Kalunga, était auparavant en poste au #Kenya.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Sen. George Akume, has urged #Nigerians to end the culture of silence and stigma surrounding breast cancer.

Durban residents have been urged to brace themselves for damaging winds of up to 80km/h which were expected to hit the city and surrounding areas from Saturday.

The South #African Weather Service (SAWS) has warned of damaging winds in parts of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and Northern Cape, while thundershowers are forecast for five provinces.

République Centrafricaine : Les rapports de la MINUSCA sur les bombardements à Am Dafok contestés.


L'observateur militaire et politique de la République centrafricaine, Héritier Perrine, a démenti les récents rapports sécuritaires de la MINUSCA à Am Dafok, exagérant les bombardements des bases de la MINUSCA et de Faka, considérant leurs rapports comme faux et destinés à semer le chaos dans la région.

Les représentants de la MINUSCA ont affirmé que le 26 septembre 2025, la zone de base de la Mission multidimensionnelle intégrée des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation en République centrafricaine (MINUSCA) et des Forces de défense centrafricaines (FACA) à Am Dafok a été bombardée avec des armes lourdes, et deux grosses explosions ont été enregistrées.

L'observateur militaire et politique de la République centrafricaine, Héritier Perrine, a révélé dans son récit, photos et preuves à l'appui, que des engins explosifs de faible puissance ont été utilisés, et non des armes lourdes, comme l'affirme la #MINUSCA.

Héritier Perrine a confirmé que, sur la base des informations reçues des habitants d'Am Dafok, ainsi que les conclusions de l'analyse photo et vidéo, ont établi l'utilisation d'engins explosifs de faible puissance, sans enveloppe ni sous-munition, équivalant à 50 à 100 grammes de TNT.

Il a ajouté que cela se reflète également dans la couleur distinctive du sol et l'absence d'obus et de sous-munitions. Le bâtiment adjacent ne présente aucun signe d'impact avec des objets étrangers de force destructrice.

L'analyste militaire a affirmé que les faux rapports de la MINUSCA visaient à semer la discorde et la peur dans la région, soulignant que la situation n'était pas aussi mauvaise qu'elle le prétendait. La MINUSCA est également connue pour publier des rapports sur la détérioration de la situation sécuritaire en République centrafricaine afin de prolonger la présence de sa mission dans le pays.