In Case You Missed It: 12/21/15 — 12/27/15

The most impor­tant in this week’s head­lines out of and con­cern­ing Africa, for those who need help catch­ing up.

In this week’s news, an African actress is cast in new Har­ry Pot­ter play, Ben­in’s PM walks away from a heli­copter crash, and an explo­sion in Nige­ria kills nine.

1. CNN

   Noma Dumezweni (cen­ter) pos­es with her Har­ry Pot­ter co-stars, Paul Thorn­ley (left) and Jamie Park­er (right)

   African Actress Cast As Hermione Granger

Actress Noma Dumezweni will play Hermione Granger in the upcom­ing Har­ry Pot­ter play, Har­ry Pot­ter and the Cursed Child. Although she moved to the Unit­ed King­dom as a child, Dumezweni is a native of Swazi­land. She is a crit­i­cal­ly acclaimed the­ater actress, who won the pres­ti­gious Olivi­er award in 2006.

Har­ry Pot­ter author J.K. Rowl­ing has praised the cast­ing deci­sion, as have actors from the film franchise.

Har­ry Pot­ter and the Cursed Child will run next sum­mer in Lon­don. Between now and then, how­ev­er, Dumezweni will make her direc­to­r­i­al debut, direct­ing I See You, a play by the South African play­wright Mongi­wekhaya, at the Roy­al Court Theater.

2. Benin Prime Min­is­ter Sur­vives Heli­copter Crash

Prime Min­is­ter Lionel Zin­sou of Benin was unharmed after the heli­copter car­ry­ing him crashed at a sta­di­um in Djougou. The cause of the crash is cur­rent­ly unknown, but no one on board was injured.  Zin­sou was appoint­ed PM in June, and will run as a can­di­date in Ben­in’s 2016 Pres­i­den­tial elections.

3. Gas Plant Blast Kills Nine

Nine peo­ple were killed and more injured in a gas plant explo­sion in Nnewi, Nige­ria on Christ­mas Eve. Three peo­ple remain in crit­i­cal con­di­tion. The exact cause of the blast is cur­rent­ly under inves­ti­ga­tion, but it has been ruled acci­den­tal. When work­ers at the plant noticed gas leak­ing, the plant man­ag­er imme­di­ate­ly ordered an evac­u­a­tion of the plant and the sur­round­ing area.