#Uganda royal family under ‘house arrest’ in succession row. KAMPALA, Uganda - The mother of a Ugandan traditional king, Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, who died last month but was once the world’s youngest monarch, said Thursday she was being held against her will in the palace with other members of the royal family over a succession dispute.

King Oyo, who ascended to the throne at the age of three and reigned over Uganda’s Tooro Kingdom for 31 years, died while receiving cancer treatment in the United States.

Guinness World Records had recognized him as the world’s youngest reigning monarch. Uganda is a republic but officially recognizes traditional kings, who serve mainly as cultural institutions with limited political power.

A selection committee from the Babiito royal clan announced on Wednesday that Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, a news anchor for the public broadcaster UBC, had been chosen to succeed his cousin as king.

That was opposed by Princess Ruth Komuntale, the late king’s sister, who accused “evil vultures” of conspiring against her and the Queen Mother.

She produced a will, which she said was drafted by the king in 2022, designating “a biological son” as heir, without giving his name.

This came as a surprise to many in the Tooro elite, who had never heard of the son, and chose to exclude him from the vote.

“A king cannot sleep with a prostitute on the street or a house maid, produce a son and it is hoisted onto the throne,” Andrew Mwenda, a powerful figure in Uganda who hails from Tooro, said on X.

“This is not to suggest that Oyo did any of this. It is simply to say that he was not officially married, and if he left a son, Toro needs to know the mother and her background,” he added.

Mwenda is a close associate of President Yoweri Museveni’s son, the army chief General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who wields growing control over the country and has vowed to take over after his father.

On Thursday, Queen Mother Best Kemigisa released a statement saying troops had “removed the royal guards without notice, and... were deployed around the palace.”

“We cannot leave or receive people freely. We are under house arrest,” she said.

Fire in eastern Congo kills at least 24 students at 2 schools. BUKAVU, Congo — A fire swept through two adjacent schools Thursday in Bukavu in eastern Congo, killing at least 24 students and injuring dozens, the rebel administration that controls the city and local officials said.

The spokesperson for the M23 rebel group, Lawrence Kanyuka, said 19 girls and five boys were killed, adding that 29 people were being treated at local medical facilities.

The fire started at a house before spreading to the two adjoining schools, local neighborhood administrator Moïse Lubala told The Associated Press.

He said several students were trapped inside Furaha secondary school and some suffocated.

A mix of boys and girls of different ages, students at Furaha and at Ujamaa primary school, were brought to the Nyamulagira BDOM health center in their school uniforms, nurse Ciza Jean-Baptiste told the AP.

Medical staff were struggling to keep track of the exact number of injured because there were so many, he said.

“The exit was too narrow, so some students began jumping through windows while others rushed toward the door. As everyone tried to force their way out, students were pushed over and trampled on,” said Lubala.

The cause of the fire is not known, but the neighborhood where the fire started is densely populated and most houses are made out of wood, according to Lubala.

Congo’s government struggles to exert control over the east of the country. M23 rebels, backed by Rwanda, took control of Bukavu in February 2025. More than 100 armed groups are vying for control of eastern Congo’s trillions of dollars in mineral wealth that’s critical for much of the world’s technology.

Health services are under severe strain as the region grapples with the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history that has killed more than 3,300 people, with more than 6,800 confirmed cases recorded.

#Southafrica: Alleged ‘mastermind’ added to R9.9m Emfuleni fraud case as State fears for witnesses

#Nigeria: Kinsmen of the late Premier of the defunct Eastern Region, Dr Michael Okpara, have endorsed the re-election of Abia State Governor Alex Otti and the member representing Ikwuano/Umuahia Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Obinna Aguocha, in the 2027 elections.

Nigeria continued to suffer severe fiscal pressure in the third quarter of 2025 as the country’s oil revenue target fell by N6.69 trillion. This is even as the federal government released only N16.08 billion to MDAs for capital projects during the period.
This is contained in the reviewed 2O25 third quarter budget implementation report just released by the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF).

Sudanese welder Shannan Mohammed has been building furniture for a family in Omdurman little by little as constant blackouts interrupt his work.

Police fired tear gas to disperse small-scale traders protesting against an import duty hike, a Reuters witness saw on Friday, while hundreds of businesses closed in central Nairobi.

South Africa will raise the benchmark price that’s used to calculate duties on sugar imports, a move long-sought by domestic producers in an industry that’s been battered by cheap foreign competition

Tanzania's vice president has resigned less than a year into the job and President Samia Suluhu Hassan has accepted the resignation, a government spokesperson said, without citing a reason.

#Nigeria: Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo State described any jobs outside laws making and oversight functions by the legislative arm as deviation from the field of play.