Maputo, Mozambique | AFP | Mozambique’s government and the ex-rebel group Renamo completed a long-awaited peace pact on Tuesday, inking a final deal aimed at ending years of conflict. President Filipe Nyusi and Renamo leader Ossufo Momade embraced after signing the landmark agreement at a ceremony in Maputo’s Peace Square …
Read More »Towards a new era: what is in Sudan’s landmark pact
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Veteran Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir ruled the northeast African country for three decades with an iron fist. Now Sudan is turning the page, ushering in a new era of civilian rule. A constitutional declaration, signed on Sunday between the ruling generals and the leaders of an …
Read More »US-African trade lagging despite free access, forum hears
Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | Trade between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa is in the doldrums despite a 2000 US law designed to boost access the American market, a conference in Ivory Coast has been told. The African Growth and Opportunity Act, which in 2015 was extended to 2025, …
Read More »Outrage in Gambia over release of ex-president’s assassins
Banjul, Gambia | AFP | Relatives of people murdered by death squads in The Gambia expressed outrage on Monday over the release of three former hitmen, who said they committed dozens of assassinations ordered by ex-president Yahya Jammeh. The men, who were part of an unofficial paramilitary unit known as the …
Read More »Air strike kills 42 in southern Libya town
Tripoli, Libya | AFP | At least 42 people were killed and dozens wounded in an air strike targeting a town hall meeting in southern Libya, a local official and the UN-recognised government said Monday, accusing forces of military strongman Khalifa Haftar. The Government of National Accord (GNA) said Sunday’s raid …
Read More »Mugabe still in Singapore hospital since April: president
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s ex-leader Robert Mugabe remains hopsitalised in Singapore where he has been receiving medical care for four months, his successor President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Monday. Mnangagwa said in a statement that the 95-year-old Mugabe had been receiving medical care for an undisclosed ailment, and was …
Read More »Commercial farming in Africa
The models and their pros and cons | Ruth Hall, Dzodzi Tsikata and Ian Scoones | Colonialism brought large-scale farming to Africa, promising modernisation and jobs – but often dispossessing people and exploiting workers. Now, after several decades of independence, and with investor interest growing, African governments are once again …
Read More »Sierra Leone’s secret societies mark bodies and minds
Freetown, Sierra Leone | AFP | Wearing a fading Mickey Mouse T-shirt, her knees hugged to her chest, eight-year-old Musu Kamara sits in a corrugated shack in Sierra Leone’s capital waiting for her initiation into a secret society. Kamara will leave for two weeks in the bush with a sisterhood called …
Read More »Rwanda moves to auction vehicles carrying smuggled goods
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) has said it will be auctioning vehicles that enter Rwanda carrying smuggled or illegal goods. The Rwanda Revenue Authority boss Pascal Ruganintwali has said “all vehicles or other means of transport used to carry smuggled or illegal goods will be …
Read More »Sudan generals, protest leaders agree on constitutional declaration
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudan’s ruling generals and protest leaders reached a “full agreement” on the constitutional declaration, the African Union said on Saturday, paving the way for transitioning to civilian rule. The document is complementary to a power-sharing deal signed on July 17 that aims to form a joint …
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