CONTINENTAL DRIFT

Mud overwhelms Freetown

Four hundred people are confirmed dead and at least 600 missing after a mudslide in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown. The president has called for urgent support from the international community, and declared seven days of mourning. A Red Cross official said rescuers were “racing against time, more flooding and the risk of disease to help these affected communities survive and cope with their loss”.

Kenya cracks down on NGOs

Kenya ordered the deregistration of the Kenya Human Rights Commission and the Africa Centre for Open Governance. The country’s National NGOs Board this week told the organisations to cease operations over alleged administrative offences. Both NGOs had raised concerns about the conduct of recent elections. Acting Interior Minister Fred Matiang’i said he will form a commission to look into these offences, and said the deregistration would not be enforced until the commission had ruled.

Namibia hits junk status

Credit ratings agency Moody’s downgraded Namibia to “junk status”. The downgrade reflected concerns that the country has not kept a ballooning deficit under control, and has taken on too much public debt. Furious government officials disputed the Moody’s assessment, saying that nothing material had changed since the last ratings assessment. Maybe that was the problem.

Hichilema walks free