The 2021 Highway Africa summit conference will be held virtually this year from June 21-23.The summit is said to be Africa's biggest conference for journalists, media scholars and NGOs working in the media. More from Director of Highway Africa, Francis Mdlongwa…

Countries around the world will on Sunday commemorate World Refugee Day. World Refugee Day is an international day organised every year on 20 June by the United Nations. It is designed to celebrate and honour refugees from around the world. The day was first established on 20 June 2001, in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. More from Muluti Phiri, Advocacy Officer for the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa, CoRMSA....

Now to South Sudan, where reports say, nearly half of the country's twelve million people have refused to be vaccinated against the Covid-19 infection because it causes infertility or blood clots. Channel Africa's James Shimanyula has more.

Zimbabweans received the message of the death of the late Dr Kenneth Kaunda former Zambian President on Thursday with shock. They have hailed the late Dr Kaunda for his contribution to the country's liberation struggle. They spoke of the sacrifice Kaunda made at the expense of his own people in a bid to liberate the continent. John Cassim, reporting has more from Harare....

The death of Zambia's first President and founding father, Kenneth Kaunda, has not only saddened Zambians but the international community as well. Zambia's icon who has been described as "God's Gift To Zambia" by his former first cabinet Minister, died on Thursday aged 97, after an illness. Channel Africa's Arthur Davies Sikopo has more from Lusaka.

Tributes continue to pour in for Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia's first President and one of the last of the generation of African leaders who fought colonialism, who died on Thursday aged 97. Kaunda was admitted to a military hospital in the capital, Lusaka, on Monday suffering from pneumonia. In the 1950s, Kaunda was a key figure in what was then Northern Rhodesia's independence movement from Britain. For more on this Ayanda Mkhwanazi spoke to Zambian based MacDonald Chipenzi - Executive Director of Governance, Elections, Advocacy, Research Services Initiative......

A year old campaign has reiterated its call for governments and relevant stakeholders in Africa to accelerate measures that have proven efficient to provide children with a legal identity. In June 2020, the African Union and UNICEF launched the "No Name Campaign", a joint initiative to promote the right for every child on the continent to a legal identity, and therefore to justice. For more on this, Ayanda Mkhwanazi spoke to Andrew Brooks, Regional Child Protection Advisor at UNICEF's office for West and Central Africa....

As South Africa commemorates Youth Month 2021 under the theme: "Growing youth employment for an inclusive and transformed society'", the big question is: Are young people ready and equipped to take up space in the data science field? According to the Education Commission, it is predicted that by 2030, more than half of the nearly two billion youth worldwide will not have the skills or qualifications necessary to participate in the emerging global workforce.More from Michelle Beetar, Vice President and Managing Director data analytics company, FICO in Africa.

Eswatini has become one of the first African states to move towards clean energy production with an aim to lower carbon emissions and reduce its energy dependence on neighbouring countries like South Africa and Mozambique. The project will create a number of employment opportunities in the tiny Kingdom with a population of just over 1 million people. The government has sourced some of the funds used to set up the Lavumisa and Edwaleni Power Stations from within its governing structures. The country aims to also have biomass energy production in the near future. More from Eswatini's Minister of Natural Resources and Energy Peter Bhembe...

South Africans are back to level 3 of the nationwide lockdown in response to COVID-19. The move announced last night was prompted by the rise in infections which has seen the country entering a third wave of the virus. During his national address, President Cyril Ramaphosa also assured citizens that the vaccination drive is improving, despite the disruptions that have been experienced. More from Dr Marlin McKay, who had been calling for tighter restrictions since infections began rising.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Union for the Congolese Nation (UNC) has expressed dissatisfaction and disappointment after conviction on appeal of Vital Kamerhe, the party's leader.Kamerhe, former Chief of staff of President Félix Tshisekedi has been sentenced to 13 years of forced labour. He had lodged an appeal after he was convicted in June 2020 to 20 years for embezzlement of public funds relating to construction of prefabricated houses as part of the head of state's 100-day program. Jean Noël Ba-Mweze has more from Kinshasa.

Mozambique's government should combine its military response to a spiraling insurgency in its gas-rich north with aid to disillusioned communities and dialogue with militants. This is according to a new report by the International Crisis Group. In the report, the group says Mozambique will need to resolve "the set of local factors that have spurred militants into battle" in order to stem the violence. Islamic State-linked jihadists have been terrorizing the impoverished Cabo Delgado province since 2017, ransacking villages and towns.Channel Africa’s Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Dino Mahtani, Main author of the report, to discuss the report’s findings further.

Youth unemployment in South Africa is a serious problem which has worsened under the COVID-19 pandemic. According to data published by Statistics South Africa the official unemployment rate among youth was 46% in the first quarter of 2021. It is against this background that Surgo, a recruitment agency has this year dedicated the country's Youth month - an annual campaign in June to encourage diversity and inclusion in the country's workplace. For more on this issue, Khumbelo Munzhelele spoke to Rude Alley, Managing Director of Surgo, an outsourcing company....

Zambia's former President Kenneth Kaunda is receiving treatment for an undisclosed illness at a military hospital in the capital Lusaka. The 97-year-old ruled Zambia from 1964, when the country won its independence from Britain, until 1991. He is among the continent's few surviving liberation heroes. Channel Africa's Arthur Davis Sikopo reports from Lusaka.

The World Food Program, promises to increase humanitarian assistance to more people in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado Province. The guarantee was given by David Baesley, Executive Director of the United Nations agency, at the end of his meeting with President Filipe Nyusi in the capital Maputo. Channel Africa's Milton Maluleque has more from Maputo.

For the first time in eighteen years, Sudan's troubled region of Darfur, will be under the governorship of a former rebel leader, Mini Arko Minawi, appointed by the Khartoum Transitional Government, following a comprehensive peace agreement he signed together with nine other rebel leaders in neighbouring South Sudan. Channel Africa's James Shimanyula reports.

One of the many challenges of getting the COVID-19 jab involves the cold chain, a system of storing and transporting vaccines at recommended temperatures from the point of manufacture to the point of use. The cold chain challenge is one that South Africa will also have to deal with as it attempts to vaccinate its 19 million populations in the rural areas. For most people in rural areas it will be difficult to get to a vaccination centre, prompting health practitioners to take vaccines to those settings where equipment, skilled personnel and power are in short supply.More from Ian Lester, Chief Executive officer of Beyond - an organisation involved in the monitoring of the last mile of the vaccine cold chain.He was on the line to Khumbelo Munzehelele…..

The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority has announced that it would not release the Johnson & Johnson vaccine following contamination concerns at one of the US drug maker's sites. The news marks a major setback in the country's vaccine rollout just as a third wave of infections is gathering momentum. Lagging behind many other countries, South Africa has only vaccinated just over one percent of its population. More from Mia Malan, Editor-in-chief of the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism.

Hundreds of Lamu residents on the Kenyan coast have benefitted from a free medical camp organized by Kenya Ports Authority in partnership with Lamu County Public health. This is part of the authority's plan to give back to society and provide easy access to quality medical care in the country. Channel Africa's Diana Wanyonyi has more from Mombasa.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions, (COSATU), has warned that employers, who force employees to be vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus, will be taken to court. The country is faced with an increased number of corona virus infection cases, with some of the country's provinces already battling the third wave of the virus. The warning comes as the South African government rolls out vaccination across the population. For more on this, Zikhona Miso spoke to COSATU National Spokesperson, Sizwe Pamla.

Malawi says several of its diplomats have been expelled from South Africa after they were found guilty of peddling duty-free alcohol. Malawi's foreign affairs ministry in Lilongwe announced on Friday that South Africa had given the diplomats and their families 72 hours to leave the country. Several diplomats of Lesotho were expelled also from South Africa on similar grounds. To find out more on this, Zikhona Miso spoke to our Blantyre correspondent George Mhango.

Cameroon's clergy has appealed to government troops and English- speaking separatists to stop abducting and harassing priests. Within the past two weeks six Roman Catholic priests and missionaries were abducted and a church attack left at least two dead and 11 wounded. Moki Kindzeka reports from Yaoundé that there has been growing concerns over abuses on the central African states cleric in the restive English speaking regions