AFRICA

Rabat, Morocco | AFP |  Here are some milestones in the two-decade reign of King Mohammed VI of Morocco and facts on the North African country: – Breaks with father – On July 23, 1999, Mohammed ascends the throne at age 35 on the death of his father Hassan II, …

Tunis, Tunisia | AFP |  Thousands of Tunisians on Saturday attended the funeral of president Beji Caid Essebsi as the North African nation gears up for snap elections as early as September to defend the democratic gains of the Arab Spring. Essebsi, the country’s first head of state elected in …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | A probe into a deadly June raid on a Khartoum protest camp revealed Saturday that a feared Sudanese paramilitary group was involved in the crackdown that killed scores and sparked international outrage. Shortly before dawn on June 3, gunmen in military fatigues raided the site of …

  Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Some turn up dead or injured. Others are never heard of again: A wave of kidnappings in Tanzania that appears to target critics of the government has set the nation on edge. In May, high-profile dissident Mdude Nyagali was snatched by four gunmen after leaving …

Maiduguri, Nigeria | AFP |  Maiduguri resident Ahmed Muhammed wanders through the rubble left behind as he recalls the outbreak of fighting in his city a decade ago that launched the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. “We heard shooting — badadadadadada — here, there, everywhere around us,” the 44-year-old railway …

Tunis, Tunisia | AFP | Tunisia is gearing up for snap elections as early as September following the death of president Beji Caid Essebsi, amid uncertainty over who could step forward to run the North African country. Essebsi, the country’s first head of state elected in nationwide polls, died Thursday at …

Bethlehem, Palestinian Territories | AFP |  In his Bethlehem cellar, distiller Nader Muaddi made fewer than 500 bottles of his liquor last year but has won international accolades and now aims to help revive interest at home in the traditional drink. On the outskirts of the city famed for Jesus’s …

Banjul, Gambia | AFP |  Former members of a Gambian death squad known as the Junglers on Thursday accused ex-president Yahya Jammeh of ordering the murder of two US citizens in 2013, having already confessed to the killing of a well known journalist. Since Monday, Gambians have been gripped by live …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Charity group Action Against Hunger on Thursday demanded the release of six aid workers kidnapped in northeast Nigeria and held by jihadists aligned to the Islamic State group. The Paris-based charity said a staff member, two drivers and three health workers for one of its projects were …

  Doreen Robinson, the head of the Wildlife Unit at the UN Environment Programme was one of the co-organizers of the first ever Africa Wildlife Economy Summit held recently in the Zimbabwean town of Victoria Falls. She spoke to The Independent’s Ronald Musoke about what the conveners hoped to achieve …