Africa

The United States Foreign Relations Committee chairman has said he will block some US military aid to Egypt until it takes "concrete, meaningful and sustainable steps" to improve human rights.

An employee of Cairo University was killed on campus, in the “third incident of femicide in Egypt in two days.” Almost eight million Egyptian women were victims of violence committed by their partners or relatives or by strangers in public spaces, according to reports.

Egyptian security forces have detained at least 73 members of the election campaign of opposition politician and former MP Ahmed Tantawi, a local rights group has reported.

Egypt is set to hold a presidential vote in December, the elections body has announced. Incumbent President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is widely expected to win despite the dire economic situation facing the country.

The United States plans to withhold $85 million in military aid to Egypt because of Cairo's failure to meet Washington's conditions on freeing political prisoners and other issues, a US senator has confirmed, calling for withholding $235 million more.

Egypt is the country second most at risk of a debt crisis, coming just after war-torn Ukraine, according to an analysis by Bloomberg.

Rescuers are racing against time to find survivors in the remote areas hit hardest by Morocco’s deadliest quake in more than six decades, with the death toll climbing to more than 2,800 people.

The Egyptian government has announced a ban on the wearing of the face-covering niqab in schools as of the beginning of the next term in late September.

The death toll from Friday’s quake in Morocco has climbed to 2,497, with 2,476 people injured, Morocco’s state news agency reported on Monday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that more than 300,000 people have been affected by the devastating quake that struck Morocco Friday night. The 6.8-magnitude earthquake has claimed 2,122 lives so far— making it the deadliest the country has seen in decades.

The Iranian foreign minister has extended his sympathy and condolences to the government and people of Morocco over the recent quake that has left hundreds of people dead and many others injured in the country.

More than 1,000 people have been killed after a powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck and area southwest of tourist hotspot Marrakesh in Morocco on Friday night, according to state TV.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi cancelled a trip to South Africa because he feared being arrested for his role in the Rabaa massacre, Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, a former minister of trade and industry, has claimed.

Libyan Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush, under fire for meeting with her Israeli counterpart, has been dismissed, senior sources in the government confirmed on Monday.  She left the country on Sunday for Turkey.

Libya's prime minister has suspended Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush and referred her for investigation after Israel announced its Foreign Minister Eli Cohen had met her last week despite a lack of formal relations between the two sides.

Leaders of the BRICS group of developing nations have invited six states - Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - to become new members of the bloc, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa whose country is hosting a summit meeting of the BRICS grouping has confirmed.

Egypt is ready to resume full diplomatic ties with Iran after over four decades without the need for mediators but wants the efforts to patch up ties to remain behind the scenes, a ranking Egyptian official says.

Iranian President, Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, is scheduled to fly to Johannesburg, South Africa, on Wednesday to attend the 15th BRICS summit.

The world is confronting an unparalleled water crisis, with five of the most water-stressed countries being Bahrain, Cyprus, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman and Qatar, a new report by the World Resources Institute shows.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian left Tehran for Pretoria on Wednesday to attend an economic meeting in the South African city.

A group of US senators and rights activists has urged the Biden administration to withhold a larger portion of US military aid to Egypt, saying the North African country’s human rights record “has continued to deteriorate” over the past year under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

People across Egypt have been left frustrated while struggling to complete daily tasks in the heat because of constant power cuts. The outages, which are primarily affecting villages in Upper Egypt, as well as the Delta region and the capital Cairo, come amidst soaring temperatures of 40C to 50C this year.

The office of South African President has announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the summit of BRICS leaders in Johannesburg next month. The decision was taken by the two nations, it added.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has stated that arresting Russian President Vladimir Putin when he visits the country next month for the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg would be a declaration of war with Moscow.

Israel has recognised Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, according to the Moroccan government and a statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office.