AFRICA

Mopti, Mali | AFP |  Untroubled by time, the mighty Niger River glides through the Sahel city as women wash their clothes in its brackish waters and cows slumber nearby in the heat. But this peaceful image is an illusion, for Mopti, a city of 150,000 people, is on a dark, …

Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP |  Former Ivory Coast political leader Charles Ble Goude faces a fresh trial by an Ivorian court, prosecutors said Thursday, after he was cleared of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court this year. Ble Goude was an aide to former Ivory Coast President Laurent …

  Entebbe, Uganda | AFP -Michael O’HAGAN | South Sudan President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar have been given another 100 days to form a power-sharing government after failing to resolve differences over a peace deal. The two leaders, whose fall out in 2013 sparked a conflict that …

  Entebbe, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT & AFP | South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar agreed Thursday to extend by 100 days a deadline to form a power-sharing government, a regional official said, after they failed to resolve outstanding disagreements. The Uganda Tripartite Summit on peace in South …

Juba, South Sudan | AFP |  South Sudan President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar will hold rare face-to-face talks Thursday in Uganda, their representatives said, as time runs out for the rivals to form a power-sharing government. Both sides agreed to a November 12 deadline to join forces …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  A national tour by Rugby World Cup winners the Springboks begins on Thursday and one of the first stops will be Soweto, a township near Johannesburg where they were once hated. Three decades ago, as black nationalists fought apartheid regime brutality, South Africa’s national rugby …

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso | AFP | An ambush on a convoy transporting employees of a Canadian mining company in Burkina Faso killed 37 people on Wednesday, the deadliest attack in nearly five years of jihadist violence in the West African country. The impoverished and politically fragile Sahel country has been struggling …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudanese rebel groups engaged in peace talks with Khartoum insisted Wednesday that the country’s new parliament be formed only after an agreement is reached to end long-running conflicts in three border regions. A power-sharing deal signed on August 17 between protest leaders and the generals …

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso | AFP | An attack on a convoy transporting local employees of Canadian mining company Semafo in Burkina Faso left 37 people dead and 60 wounded on Wednesday, a regional governor said. It was the third deadly attack suffered by Semafo in 15 months in the West …

Bissau, Guinea-Bissau | AFP | A West African trade bloc has given Guinea-Bissau’s “illegal government” named by President Jose Mario Vaz a 48-hour ultimatum to resign or face sanctions, a representative said Wednesday, amid a tense standoff between the country’s leader and sacked ministers. Vaz, appointed as president in 2014, has …