12 February 2023
Namibia: Baby abandonment has been decriminalised in 2019, so a woman who abandons her baby will no longer be prosecuted. Safe places were established where such children can be left. The BBC article is about one of them, the “baby-saver-box” of Ruach Elohim Foundation in Swakopmund. Ten babies – mostly new-borns – have been left there in a bit over four years. “The mother has 30 days to claim her baby back if she changes her mind.” After that, the baby will be registered as an adoptive baby. Knowledge about the change of law is insufficient, so many of the 140 babies abandoned in the country in the last five years according to police statistics were left in unsafe places. Abandoning a baby may be giving the baby “an opportunity to live” or to live better.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-64451313
Congo-Kinshasa: Seven Congolese soldiers have been sentenced to death for having “fled advancing M23 rebels, retreating through the town of Sake where they killed two people by recklessly discharging their arms”. They will appeal the verdict. In Congo-Kinshasa, “death sentences are commuted to life imprisonment”.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-64595421
11 February 2023
South Africa: A famous musician and a friend of his were murdered in Durban “on their way to a nightclub for a performance as part of Forbes' birthday celebrations”. The rapper Kiernan Forbes was mostly known as AKA. The motive of the killing is not clear. The two were approached by two armed men when walking to their car and shot from close range. According to estimations of the NGO Gun Free South Africa, 30 people are murdered daily with guns in South Africa.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-64608537