AFRICA

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP |  “Corona is a reality. Protect yourself and protect others,” Mamie Batata, a worker with the Catholic charity Caritas, warns through a megaphone as she proceeds through Kimbanseke, a rundown part of Kinshasa. The reactions are blunt. “Get out of here.” “Leave us in peace.” “The …

Algiers, Algeria | AFP |  Two main figures of Algeria’s “Hirak” protest movement will soon be freed at the president’s initiative, the leader of an opposition party said Tuesday. “President Abdelmadjid Tebboune assured me that he would use his constitutional prerogative to ensure that Karim Tabbou and Samir Benlarbi regain their …

Paris, France | AFP | Lawyers for Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga have called on UN prosecutors to end their international case and allow him to be tried in France where he was arrested. Described as Africa’s most wanted man, Kabuga is accused of financing the 1994 Rwanda genocide and was arrested at his home …

Soweto, South Africa | AFP | Scores of people lined up outside liquor stores in South Africa’s township of Soweto on Monday, waiting to stock up on drinks after a nine-week ban on alcohol sales as part of a strict coronavirus lockdown. Buying booze was prohibited when Africa’s most industrialised economy …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | DR Congo on Monday reported a fresh Ebola outbreak in the country’s northwest, just weeks before it hoped to declare the end of another epidemic in the east. The appearance of the deadly disease on the other side of the vast central African country comes as an added blow …

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | AFP | Universities in Tanzania reopened on Monday, despite a lack of clarity on the spread of coronavirus after the government decided to stop updating figures in April. As students entered dozens of campuses across Tanzania for the first time since mid-March, there were only cursory efforts to impose measures …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe summoned its US ambassador on Monday over remarks by a senior American official accusing the southern African country of stirring anti-racism protests over the death of George Floyd, the government said. In a Sunday interview with ABC news, US national security advisor Robert O’Brien referred to Zimbabwe and China …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP |  Eighty-year-old Isobel Simons calmly narrated how she and her late husband lost their 728-hectare Zimbabwe farm two decades ago to Robert Mugabe’s controversial land reforms. Then she broke down and sobbed. “It was my home for 47 years,” she said. Her home is now a tiny …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP |  Sudanese authorities have begun to recover billions of dollars of real estate illegally amassed by deposed dictator Omar al-Bashir’s regime, but other assets will be difficult to seize, experts say. “Initial estimates indicate that the real estate and properties owned by the former regime… range (in …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  Admired by some but berated by others for imposing a tight lockdown, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa faces a fresh leadership test over his handling of the coronavirus outbreak. Africa’s most industrialised nation is preparing to reopen its economy on Monday as it moves into …