International News
Death Toll From Uganda Rubbish Dump Collapse Reaches 18
The death toll from a landslide at a vast garbage dump in the Ugandan capital Kampala has risen to 18, police said on Sunday, amid claims the site was a disaster waiting to happen.
Local media said homes, people and livestock were engulfed in mountains of waste at the landfill in the northern Kampala district of Kiteezi on Saturday after a collapse caused by heavy downpours.
President Yoweri Museveni said he had directed the army’s special forces to help in the search and rescue operation and demanded to know who allowed people to live near such a “potentially hazardous and dangerous heap”.
Kampala’s metropolitan police spokesman Patrick Onyango told reporters at the scene that 14 bodies had been recovered on Saturday, and another four on Sunday.
He gave no breakdown, but on Saturday the Kampala Capital City Authority, which operates the landfill, had given a death toll of eight including two children.
Earlier, Onyango told AFP that an estimated 1,000 people were displaced and that the police were working with other government agencies and community leaders to see how to help those affected.
Kampala mayor Erias Lukwago told AFP that “many, many more could be still buried in the heap as the rescue operation is ongoing”.
He described it as a “national disaster”, accusing corrupt officials who have been syphoning off money that should have been used to maintain the landfill.
– ‘Danger zone’ –
Museveni said in a statement posted on X that he had ordered payments to the victims’ families of five million Ugandan shillings ($1,300) for each fatality and one million shillings ($270) for each injured person.
He also called for an investigation into how people were allowed to live so close to the site and ordered the removal of all those living in the “danger zone”.
Excavators were still churning through huge mounds of rubbish on Sunday as crowds of local residents looked on, some wailing in despair.
Lukwago had on Saturday raised concerns about the safety of the 36-acre (14-hectare) Kiteezi landfill which was established in 1996 and takes in almost all garbage collected across Kampala.
“This is a disaster and was bound to happen as the landfill was full to capacity,” he told AFP, adding that it received about 1,500 tonnes of waste a day.
In January, Lukwago had warned that people working and living near the site were at risk of numerous health hazards due to overflowing waste.
Several areas in Uganda and other parts of East Africa have been battered by heavy rains recently, including Ethiopia, the second most populous country on the continent.
Devastating mudslides in a remote mountainous area in southern Ethiopia last month killed around 250 people.
In February 2010, mudslides in the Mount Elgon region of eastern Uganda killed more than 350 people.
AFP
German authorities deported at least 137 Nigerian citizens across five chartered flights between February and June 2026, according to migration monitoring reports.
Data from the DERS Team and Refugees4refugees.org shows the deportations occurred in phases, with 27 Nigerians returned in February, 37 in March through a joint European Union operation, 24 in April, 23 in May, and 26 in June.
The February operation departed from Stuttgart and landed at Lagos Cargo Airport, with Baden-Württemberg listed as a primary participant. The March operation represented the largest single return of Nigerians recorded over three years and was executed in collaboration with Spain, Austria, and Belgium.
The reports indicate a growing reliance on multi-national chartered flights by European states to repatriate undocumented or non-resident individuals to Nigeria.
The United States has condemned the killing of members of the family of Plateau-based cleric, Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo, describing the attack as horrific and urging Nigerian authorities to ensure those responsible are brought to justice.
In a statement shared on X on Thursday, the US Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs expressed condolences to the victims’ families and called for stronger measures to prevent further attacks on vulnerable communities across Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
“The United States strongly condemns the horrific killing of members of Rev. Ezekiel Dachomo’s family in Plateau State, Nigeria. The continued violence targeting Christian communities and other vulnerable populations in Nigeria’s Middle Belt is deeply alarming,” the bureau said
The US said it had already engaged Nigerian officials on the worsening security situation, stressing that urgent action was needed to curb recurring attacks and hold perpetrators accountable.
“As I discussed last week with Nigerian officials, we must do more to prevent violent acts. The perpetrators must be held accountable, and urgent action is needed to strengthen security and protect Christians and other vulnerable communities,” the statement added.
The bureau reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to working with the Nigerian government to combat terrorism and violent extremism, stressing that Christians and other Nigerians should be able to practise their faith without fear of violence.
The statement followed the July 12 attack on Kum community in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State, where nine members of Rev. Dachomo’s extended family, including a two-month-old baby, were killed.
According to the cleric, the attackers, believed to be armed Fulani militias, asked for him by name before opening fire on his relatives.
Dachomo, who serves as Regional Chairman of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, said his family had repeatedly been targeted because of his outspoken criticism of the violence in Plateau State.
He recalled that his grandmother and an uncle were also killed in previous attacks, adding that days after burying his relatives, he received a written death threat from the same group, warning that he would be their next target.
Saudi Arabia has updated its tourist eVisa programme for 2026, limiting eligibility in Africa to only three countries as part of its list of 66 nations whose citizens can apply through the Kingdom’s online visa platform.
The move leaves most African countries, including Nigeria, outside the simplified entry scheme.
The electronic visa allows eligible travellers to visit Saudi Arabia for tourism, leisure activities, family visits and Umrah, excluding the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Applications are completed online, eliminating the need for embassy visits and lengthy visa processing.
Saudi authorities said the eVisa forms part of ongoing efforts to expand tourism, attract international visitors and simplify travel procedures through a fully digital application system. The visa is available only to citizens of approved countries and territories listed on the Kingdom’s official tourism portal.
Below is the list of African countries eligible for Saudi Arabia’s eVisa.
1. Mauritius
2. Seychelles
3. South Africa
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