AFRICA

Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar, whose forces on Monday said they had taken control of Sirte, have in over five years conquered northeastern Libya and much of the south. After the ouster and killing of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, Libya plunged into chaos with a …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egypt announced Monday that it will hold a meeting with four European Mediterranean countries about developments in neighbouring Libya after Turkey began deploying troops in the war-torn North African nation. The talks — to be held in Cairo on Wednesday– will bring together foreign ministers from …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Jihadists from Somalia’s Al-Shabaab group on Sunday stormed a military base used by US forces in Kenya’s coastal Lamu region, killing three American citizens and destroying several aircraft and military vehicles, officials said. Attackers breached heavy security at Camp Simba at dawn but were pushed …

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso | AFP |  Seven children and four women were among 14 civilians, killed when a roadside bomb blew up their bus in northwestern Burkina Faso, the government said. “The provisional toll is 14 dead,” a statement said, adding that 19 more people were hurt, three of them …

  Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  South Africa’s electricity utility Eskom at the weekend resumed power outages, citing a “vulnerable” generating system, just weeks after implementing the severest rationing in recent times. The debt-laden company which generates around 95 percent of the country’s electricity, on Sunday said the cuts …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Jihadists from Somalia’s Al-Shabaab group on Sunday attacked a military base used by US and Kenyan forces in Kenya’s coastal Lamu region, the army spokesman said. The strike on the base known as Camp Simba in Manda Bay near the picturesque tourist drawcard of Lamu …

N’Djamena, Chad | AFP |  Chad has ended a months-long mission fighting Boko Haram in neighbouring Nigeria and withdrawn its 1,200-strong force across their common border, an army spokesman told AFP on Saturday. “It’s our troops who went to aid Nigerian soldiers months ago returning home. They have finished their mission,” …

Benghazi, Libya | AFP | Libyan deputies voted Saturday for a break in diplomatic relations with Turkey over its controversial agreements with the UN-recognised government that is contested inside the North African country. At an emergency meeting in the eastern city of Benghazi, parliament also urged the international community to …

Benghazi, Libya | AFP |  Libya’s military strongman Khalifa Haftar has called on all Libyans to take up arms in response to a prospective military intervention from Turkey aimed at shoring up the UN-backed government in Tripoli. The beleaguered Tripoli government, headed by Fayez al-Sarraj, has been under sustained attack …

Juba, South Sudan | AFP |  South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has pardoned a Harvard-educated economist whose conviction earlier this year on spying charges drew international criticism. Peter Biar Ajak was among 30 prisoners on a pardon list seen by AFP and dated January 1. A spokesman for the main …