International News

Prince Harry Charity Rift Blows Up As Chair Makes Fresh Allegations

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12 months ago

March 31, 2025

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A bitter boardroom row at an African charity Prince Harry founded and then quit escalated Sunday after its chairperson accused the prince of “bullying” and being involved in a “cover up”.

Earlier this week, Harry and Lesotho’s Prince Seeiso announced their departure from the Sentebale charity they founded in 2006 following a “devastating” dispute between trustees and board chair Sophie Chandauka.

Relations with Chandauka, who was appointed in 2023, “broke down beyond repair”, they said in a joint statement on Tuesday, prompting trustees to leave and demand that Chandauka resign.

In the latest allegations, Chandauka accused Harry, who founded the charity in memory of his mother Princess Diana, of trying to force her out through “bullying (and) harassment” in an interview with Sky News.

According to Chandauka, there was a culture of “silence” at the organisation, with board members reluctant to speak out against the Duke of Sussex, whom she accused of “belligerence” in board meetings and beyond.

In one example, Chandauka criticised Harry for his decision to bring a Netflix camera crew to the charity’s polo fundraiser last year, as well as an unplanned appearance by his wife Meghan at the event.

Following critical media coverage of the fundraiser, she claimed Harry “asked me to issue some sort of a statement in support of the Duchess (of Sussex)”.

She alleged the request to back Meghan was a push by the “Sussex PR machine” that “supports Prince Harry’s efforts”.

Former trustee Kelello Lerotholi told Sky News he did not recognise the allegations of boardroom rifts and discontent.

A source close to the trustees told the BBC they “fully expected this publicity stunt” after they left the board.

‘Cover-up’

Former British politician Lynda Chalker, who quit as a trustee in November after nearly 20 years, described Chandauka’s governance style as “almost dictatorial”.

Chalker told The Times she left because she was “not happy with the direction” the chair was taking.

Harry founded the charity in honour of his mother with Seeiso to help young people with HIV and AIDS in Lesotho and later Botswana.

“What’s transpired is unthinkable. We are in shock that we have to do this, but we have a continued responsibility to Sentebale’s beneficiaries,” the co-founders said in their resignation.

According to Chandauka, relations broke down after she complained about “the harassment and the misogyny” in the organisation including by individuals on the board.

Harry was not one of the individuals, and they had a “great relationship” before she made the allegations, according to the Zimbabwe-born lawyer.

But she said that after she spoke out, Harry “interfered in the investigation”.

“So it’s a cover-up, and the prince is involved,” Chandauka said, claiming that after that point, the prince wanted her out.

“What Prince Harry wanted to do was to eject me and this went on for months. It went on for months through bullying, harassment,” she said.

‘Aware of concerns’

Chandauka said she had reported trustees to the UK’s Charity Commission regulator and taken her case to the High Court in London.

Harry and Seeiso said Chandauka had “sued the charity” to remain in her position after trustees asked her to step down, adding that they would also share their concerns with the Charity Commission.

The Charity Commission told AFP it was “aware of concerns about the governance of Sentebale”.

“We are assessing the issues to determine the appropriate regulatory steps,” it said.

The latest accusations are a fresh blow for the prince, who kept up only a handful of his private patronages including with Sentebale after a dramatic split with the British royals in 2020.

While Harry was integral to the founding vision of the charity, to which he once said he was “committed for the rest of my life”, Chandauka said “Sentebale has a future” beyond the prince.

“Sentebale is here because of the people in Africa who do the work every single day,” the chair said, alleging that “Prince Harry visited Africa for the first time in five years when I asked him to last year”.

Harry chose the name Sentebale as a tribute to Diana — it means “forget me not” in the Sesotho language and is also used to say goodbye.

AFP

International News

Israel Says It had Struck Two Naval Missile Production Sites In Tehran

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5 hours ago

March 25, 2026

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The Israeli military announced on Wednesday it had struck two naval cruise missile production facilities operating under Iran’s ministry of defence in Tehran.

“In recent days, the Israeli air force acting on IDF intelligence struck two key naval cruise missile production sites in Tehran,” the military said.

It said the facilities were used to “develop and manufacture long-range naval cruise missiles, which are capable of rapidly destroying targets at sea and on land”.

The strikes “represent another step in deepening the damage done to the regime’s military production infrastructure”, the military added.

Last week, the military announced its fighter jets had struck several Iranian naval ships in the Caspian Sea, including vessels equipped with anti-submarine missiles.

AFP

International News

2025 ‘Deadliest Year’ Yet For Red Sea Migrants, UN Reports 922 Deaths

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5 hours ago

March 25, 2026

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The number of migrants who died on the “Eastern Route” from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula doubled to a record high of 922 last year, the UN migration agency said Wednesday.

Tens of thousands of migrants from Ethiopia, Somalia and neighbouring countries take the route across the Red Sea each year, mostly from Djibouti to Yemen, in search of work as labourers or domestic workers in wealthy Gulf countries.

“2025 was the deadliest year ever recorded on the Eastern migration route… with 922 people dead or missing — double the number from the previous year,” Tanja Pacifico, head of mission for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Djibouti, told AFP.

The majority of victims were from Ethiopia, the second most-populous country in Africa with more than 130 million people. It is plagued by multiple internal conflicts and deep poverty.

“IOM remains fully committed to working alongside the government of Djibouti to promote safe and dignified migration pathways, in order to prevent further tragedies,” said Pacifico.

Many migrants who cross the Red Sea find themselves stuck in Yemen, the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula, which has been embroiled in a civil war for nearly a decade, and some even choose to return.

Rapid economic growth in Ethiopia — estimated to reach around 10 percent in 2026 — could encourage less migration, IOM says, but that is mitigated by high inflation, also around 10 percent in February.

AFP

International News

Denmark Faces Lengthy Negotiations To Form A Government

Published

6 hours ago

March 25, 2026

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Election workers recount ballots in the Marselisborg Hallen in Aarhus, Denmark on March 25, 2026. (Photo by Mikkel Berg Pedersen / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP) /

Denmark’s political parties began the thorny process of forming a government Wednesday, with the centrist Moderates as kingmaker after the prime minister’s Social Democrats scraped through a general election without a majority.

Greenland’s Inuit Ataqatigiit party member Naaja Nathanielsen (C) looks on in a polling station in Nuuk, on March 24, 2026, during the parliamentary election in Denmark (Photo by Oscar Scott Carl / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP) / Denmark OUT

Danes were braced for a weeks-long process as Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen seeks to consolidate power in the deeply splintered parliament after Tuesday’s snap vote.

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen arrives at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen to inform the king about the election result one day after the parliamentary election on March 25, 2026. (Photo by Martin Sylvest / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP)

A left-wing bloc made up of five parties, including Frederiksen’s Social Democrats, won 84 seats; the right-wing and far-right claimed 77; and the Moderates won 14 in the election.

The Social Democrats posted their worst election score since 1903—though they remained Denmark’s largest single party, with 38 seats in the 179-seat parliament.

Chairwoman of the Social Democrats Mette Frederiksen attends a party leader debate hosted by Publicists’ Club one the day after the parliamentary election at the Confederation of Danish Industry’s building in Copenhagen on March 25, 2026. (Photo by Liselotte Sabroe / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP)

Frederiksen formally tendered her coalition government’s resignation to King Frederik on Wednesday, telling a televised party leader debate she wanted to try to form a centre-left government.

“The most realistic scenario” would be a coalition with the five parties on the left and the centre-right Moderates, she said.

But it is not certain the Moderates, led by Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, would agree to that.

“I don’t believe that Denmark needs policies aligned with” the leftist Red-Green Alliance, Lokke said.

Chairman of the Moderates Lars Loekke Rasmussen attends a party leader debate at the Confederation of Danish Industry’s building in Copenhagen on March 25, 2026, the day after the parliamentary election. (Photo by Liselotte Sabroe / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP) / Denmark OUT

King Frederik was to meet party leaders individually later Wednesday to determine who should be asked to try to form the next government.

“My expectation is that Mette Frederiksen will become prime minister,” University of Copenhagen political science professor Rune Stubager told reporters.

“But I don’t know with the backing of which parties, like the left wing or the right wing,” he said.

He noted that Lokke, a two-time former prime minister, would likely vie for the position of prime minister, even though he has adamantly denied any interest in the job.

“Danes want me and not another prime minister. I still have the backing to be able to continue on behalf of the Danish people,” Frederiksen insisted during the debate.

Frederiksen has for the past four years headed an unprecedented left-right coalition made up of her Social Democrats, the Moderates and the Liberals.

The Liberals have refused to continue in a Social Democrat-led government.

‘Too Hard To Say’

Danes are now prepared for long negotiations. After the 2022 election, the talks lasted six weeks.

“It’s a long process, which means the government won’t be formed and it will be quite difficult to pass laws during this period,” lamented Jesper Dyrfjeld Christensen, a 54-year-old engineer.

“It’s really too hard to say who will be part of the coalition,” admitted Stubager.

With 12 parties in parliament, the political landscape is jagged — though Denmark is accustomed to minority governments.

“To some extent, this is the way Danish politics works. You have a minority government in the centre which forms a majority with the left on some issues and with the right on others,” he explained.

The negotiations are expected to focus on economic and pension issues, pollution and immigration, he said.

The traditional far-right party, the Danish People’s Party, which has heavily influenced policy since the late 1990s but slumped in the 2022 election, more than tripled its result to 9.1 per cent of votes.

The three anti-immigration groups together garnered 17 per cent, a stable figure for Denmark’s populist right over the past two decades.

“If negotiations take place in the left-wing bloc with the moderates, then there will be more focus on green issues than on immigration,” Stubager said.

“But if, instead, the Moderates negotiate with the parties on the right, then the central issue will be immigration.”

Four seats in Denmark’s parliament are held by its two autonomous territories — two for Greenland and two for the Faroe Islands.

While the Faroese renewed the mandates of the two outgoing lawmakers, with one for each bloc, Greenland overwhelmingly backed the left-wing party and Naleraq, which advocates rapid independence from Denmark.

AFP