Nine banks have lent Tanzania $1.2 billion for the 411km Tabora-Kigoma section of its standard gauge railway, Mwananchi reported. The African Development Bank arranged the deal and backs it with an $800 million partial guarantee.
Tanzania has secured a $1.2 billion (TSh 3.17 trillion) commercial loan to build the 411km Tabora-Kigoma section of its standard gauge railway (SGR), Mwananchi reported. The African Development Bank (AfDB) arranged the deal, which involves nine banks. The loan is part of a wider $2.3 billion package for the section. In a statement on Wednesday, the AfDB said it was providing an $800 million partial credit guarantee. According to the bank, the guarantee unlocked funding from commercial lenders. It covers the principal of the guaranteed portion plus two years of interest. Separately, credit insurance arranged by broker Texel spreads $405.5 million of risk across international insurers, including syndicates in the Lloyd's market. Deutsche Bank and Société Générale led the group of lenders. HSBC, Commerzbank, Nedbank, Stanbic Bank Tanzania, First Abu Dhabi Bank, FirstBank UK and Bank of Africa United Kingdom also took part. Their funding splits into $720 million in guaranteed loans and $480 million lent on the strength of Tanzania's sovereign credit. Benny Mwaipaja, communications director at the Finance Ministry, confirmed the deal but gave no further details. Transport Permanent Secretary Prof Godius Kahyarara said Tanzania is now assured of linking Tabora, Kigoma and Burundi.…
Striking nurses and health workers in Mbandaka will join a door-to-door cholera vaccination campaign running November 6-15. Their unions say the strike goes on, and hospitals and health centres remain closed.
Nurses and health workers in Mbandaka, in DR Congo's Equateur province, have agreed to join a cholera vaccination campaign while their strike continues. Radio Okapi reported that they made the decision this week. The campaign runs from November 6 to 15. The seven health sector unions in Mbandaka reached the decision at an extraordinary session. Alain Lingoma, coordinator of the Equateur health inter-union, said the move responds to a humanitarian need. The outbreak is hitting the city and its surroundings hard. The unions first secured approval from their national leadership in Kinshasa. "The cholera epidemic is severely shaking the city of Mbandaka and its surroundings. It is a situation we have never known," Lingoma said, according to Radio Okapi. Deaths…
Tuesday's US midterm vote could change who controls Congress, which approves the funds behind Kinshasa's deals with the Trump administration, Actualite.cd reported. At stake are a $1.2 billion health pact and a minerals partnership.
DR Congo has a stake in Tuesday's US midterm elections, Actualite.cd reported in an analysis published before the vote. For Kinshasa, the key issues are funding for health cooperation and oversight of the Trump administration's economic commitments. The outlet said the vote alone will not decide whether the agreements survive or collapse. Americans voted for all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 Senate seats. Governors, state lawmakers and local officials were also on the ballot. The president leads foreign policy, but Congress approves federal funds. Its committees can hold hearings, review spending and question programme officials. According to Actualite.cd, a new majority could change how commitments to Kinshasa are funded and monitored. The outlet stressed that this is an institutional possibility, not a given. Health cooperation shows what is at stake. A five-year memorandum signed on February 26, 2026, has an announced value of $1.2 billion. It provides up to $900 million in US support and a $300 million increase in Congolese national health spending. The programmes cover HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, maternal and child health, and disease surveillance. Actualite.cd noted that this money has not yet been paid out. The State Department plans to mobilise the aid together with Congress, so budget votes will matter. The strategic partnership signed on December…
Health CS Aden Duale has presented the Public Health (Ebola Disease) Rules, 2026, to MPs. The rules would ban bringing home the bodies of people who die of Ebola outside Kenya and require burial within 24 hours.
Families could soon lose the right to bring home the body of a relative who dies of Ebola outside Kenya. Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale presented the proposed Public Health (Ebola Disease) Rules, 2026, to the National Assembly Committee on Delegated Legislation, The Eastleigh Voice reported. According to the Daily Nation, the rules are now before the House. Part 21 (2) of the draft is blunt. "A person shall not transfer or repatriate the body of a person who has died of Ebola disease outside Kenya," the provision reads. Inside Kenya, a medical officer of health would have to organise the burial within 24 hours. The burial would take place at a site judged suitable on public health grounds. Only trained staff in protective equipment would be allowed to handle bodies. Bodies would go into sealed, leak-resistant bags with identification references. Washing, embalming or dressing a body for a funeral would be banned. A sealed body could be opened only for an examination or specimen collection allowed by law. Medical officers would also have to decontaminate premises and equipment, dispose of contaminated waste safely and monitor staff exposed during handling or burial. Duale told MPs that the rules aim to control the spread of…
DR Congo's Justice Ministry has barred new inmates from Kinshasa's Makala central prison, except in exceptional cases. The prison was built for 1,500 people but now holds more than 16,000, the ministry says.
The Congolese government has stopped new admissions to Makala central prison through the Ministry of Justice, Radio Okapi reported. Only exceptional waivers will let new detainees in. Officials describe the ban as temporary. The numbers explain why. Makala was built for 1,500 people. According to the Justice Ministry, it now holds more than 16,000. Authorities say security, health and humanitarian concerns over detention conditions drove the decision. Makala is not alone. Radio Okapi…
A British health worker who tested positive for Ebola in DR Congo is being evacuated to the UK, the UK government said on Wednesday. The patient is stable and will go to a specialist isolation unit, according to a document seen by Reuters.
A British healthcare worker has tested positive for Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The worker is being flown to the UK for treatment. A UK government spokesperson confirmed the case in a statement on Wednesday, The Guardian reported. The spokesperson said the UK's "well-established procedures" had been activated and that the risk to the UK public "remains low". The patient has not been named and is in a stable condition. The worker was expected to land in Britain on Wednesday or Thursday, according to an official document seen by Reuters. A specialist ambulance will then take the patient to a "high consequence" infectious disease unit. The Royal Free hospital in London has a high-level isolation unit for diseases such as Ebola. Newcastle and Liverpool also have such centres. A humanitarian organisation had sent the worker to DR Congo to help fight the outbreak. The Guardian said it is the first case of a British national catching Ebola in the current outbreak. Ebola spreads through direct contact with body fluids, such as the blood or vomit of infected people, or…
Business in Butembo, in DR Congo's North Kivu province, remained largely paralysed on Wednesday as traders kept up their strike, Radio Okapi reported. They are protesting against heavy taxes and what they call administrative harassment.
Shopping arcades, fuel stations, shops and small businesses in Butembo stayed shut for a third straight day on Wednesday, Radio Okapi reported. Traders in the North Kivu city are striking over what they describe as a growing pile of taxes and administrative checks. According to the strikers, several state agencies keep stepping up inspections and demands for tax payments. These include national and provincial revenue authorities. The traders say this disrupts the normal running of their businesses. Talks failed last weekend. Traders' representatives met city authorities but did…
DR Congo has ordered an investigation into suspected illegal mining after seizing thousands of tons of copper and cobalt, Semafor reported on Wednesday. Police, soldiers and mining officials also took more than 500 trucks and machines in the southeast.
DR Congo has ordered an investigation into suspected illegal mining, Semafor reported on Wednesday. The order followed the seizure of thousands of tons of copper and cobalt. The justice minister said police, soldiers and mining officials also confiscated more than 500 trucks and machines at several sites in the country's southeast. Semafor said the probe could mark the start of a tougher response to illicit operators occupying mining sites. Some of…
The Coalition Article 64 (C64) says it will meet President Félix Tshisekedi and former president Joseph Kabila separately to push for a national dialogue. It refused to back Kabila's new rebel alliance, saying the crisis has no military solution.
The fourth Youth Olympic Games opened in Dakar, Senegal, on October 31 and run until November 13, Radio Okapi reported. A total of 2,700 young athletes, split equally between girls and boys, are competing in 25 disciplines.
All people under Ebola monitoring in Kenya should be home by November 11, PS Mary Muthoni said. Kenya has recorded nine cases and two deaths, with no new infection since October 20.
Virunga National Park says lab tests confirmed that anthrax killed 28 hippos in the Semuliki River over about a month. Residents are told not to touch or eat dead animals because the disease can spread to humans.
South Kivu Governor Jean-Jacques Purusi led a peace march in Uvira on Tuesday and put the crowd at more than 100,000. Marchers condemned violence they blame on the FRN, which they accuse Rwanda of backing.
Suspected ADF fighters attacked Maikengu village in eastern DR Congo's Lubero territory on Tuesday, burning homes, shops and pharmacies. Hundreds of families fled Maikengu and Kambau, though local authorities say nobody was killed.
Arno Yafunga Botay fled DR Congo as a child and grew up in Kenya. He is fighting in the under-55kg judo category for the Refugee Olympic Team, which is making its Youth Olympics debut in Dakar.
Kenya has spent KSh 147.1 million on a KSh 600 million project to rebuild its properties in Kinshasa, the Daily Nation reports. The work includes the embassy office that protesters vandalised in January 2025.
A Congolese traders' association says two of its members have been missing since September 7 in Kamanyola, South Kivu. It accuses the FRN/M23 of arresting them while they carried $265,000 for more than 85 small traders.
Nearly 50 people held by ADF rebels for two to three months have been freed in Malembi forest, Mambasa territory, Radio Okapi reported. Twenty-nine of them were handed back to their families at a ceremony in Mambasa on Monday.
The Bill Clinton Foundation for Peace has urged DR Congo authorities to ease overcrowding at Ndolo military prison in Kinshasa. The group says its president was harassed during a visit there and wants two long-held detainees freed.
Journaliste en danger (JED) says the media environment in DR Congo is getting worse. Its annual report, published on Monday, cites threats and attacks on journalists and disinformation about Ebola.
Both Ebola treatment centres in Beni, North Kivu, have been over capacity for several days as confirmed and suspected cases rise. Officials said on Monday that nearly 80 patients are in care, including about 10 children, according to Radio Okapi.
The ISP camp for displaced people in Bunia, eastern DR Congo, has a single water source for about 3,500 households, Radio Okapi reported. Residents fear disease and are urging humanitarian partners to step in.
Congolese NGO Justicia Asbl says about 5,000 soldiers and police remain at mining sites in Haut-Katanga and Lualaba. It says this defies a presidential ban announced in July and puts human rights at risk.
Two suspected Ebola cases in north-eastern Nigeria tested negative after two rounds of testing, health officials said on Monday. A Swiss traveller who visited Uganda remains Nigeria's only confirmed case of the Bundibugyo strain.
Nyaleke, about 15 km from Beni in DR Congo's North Kivu, has had no health facility since its only health post was destroyed in 2016. Pregnant women travel about seven kilometres for antenatal care and deliveries, Radio Okapi reported.
Residents of Kolwezi's Dilungu and Bel Air neighbourhoods marched to Ruashi Mining's site on Friday. They say the company's operations cracked their homes, dried out crops and made people sick, and they want compensation.
A local administrator in Kongo-Central said on Saturday that checks found no suspected infiltrators of Rwandan origin at Joseph Kabila's farm in Kiasungwa. He urged residents to stay calm and not to share false information.
Uganda wants the AU's standby peacekeeping and humanitarian force sent to help contain Ebola, Semafor reports. The outbreak has killed nearly 5,000 people in DR Congo and has spread to Kenya and Nigeria.
A Congolese soldier and three CRP militiamen were killed on Thursday when militia fighters attacked an army position at Bule-centre in Ituri's Djugu territory. Seven other militiamen were seriously wounded, security sources told Radio Okapi.
Community leaders in Bunia's Bankoko neighbourhood, in DR Congo's Ituri province, say 26 people have died in nearly three weeks of possible Ebola. Health authorities have not confirmed the figures or the more than 100 reported contacts.
We use cookies to measure readership. They are only switched on if you agree. You can change your choice at any time at the bottom of the page. Privacy policy