AFRICA

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Five Ugandans who were being detained in Rwanda have been deported. They are Gilbert Beingana, Amos Tibesiga and Nicholas Tumwesigye, all residents of Kabale district. Others include are Ivan Nirinyiyimana and Beatha Nyiramuco, from Kisoro district. The five were arrested last week for illegal …

Ong Jmal, Tunisia | AFP | Bass rhythms boom out across the Tunisian Sahara toward a herd of camels, lasers splash colours across the dunes and VIPs sip vodka in what was once a “Star Wars” movie set. The Dunes Electronique music festival, launched in 2014, was revived last weekend on …

Bamako, Mali | AFP | Twenty-four Malian soldiers and 17 jihadists fighters were killed in clashes in the east of the country, the army said, as security in the west African nation deteriorates further. Mali and Niger forces were carrying out a joint operation when a patrol was attacked Monday by …

Yenagoa, Nigeria | AFP |  Nigeria’s ruling party on Monday won the key oil-rich state of Bayelsa, the electoral body said, a sign of President Muhammadu Buhari’s growing influence in opposition strongholds. Forty-five candidates had taken part in the gubernatorial election on Saturday which was marred by sporadic violence, including killings, …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP |  Members of Ethiopia’s Sidama ethnic group are expected to vote Wednesday to form a breakaway regional state — a milestone that risks further destabilising the country ahead of next year’s national elections. The Sidama push for statehood already triggered days of unrest in July that …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |   South African unions on Sunday called on all aviation workers to join striking South African Airways (SAA) staff after the cash-strapped airline failed to meet their demands. The country’s embattled flag carrier has been losing 52 million rand ($3.5 million) per day since more …

  Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | It was all celebrations this weekend in Wakaliga, a Kampala suburb, the birthplace of Msgr. Joseph Kizito, a Ugandan-priest who has been appointed as the ninth Bishop of Aliwal Catholic Diocese in South Africa. The jubilation has also extended to Rubaga hill, the …

  Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Supporters of ousted Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir held a protest Saturday vowing to oppose any move by the country’s new authorities to hand him over to the International Criminal Court. Dozens of his supporters, carrying Bashir’s portrait, gathered outside the Khartoum court where he is …

Yaounde, Cameroon | AFP |  Cameroon is poised to hold parliamentary and municipal elections in February but a bloody separatist conflict and political tensions are set to cloud the vote, experts say. Anglophone separatists are fighting government troops in western Cameroon while the north of the country has come under attack …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African Airways workers on Friday embarked on an indefinite strike for higher wages and against the national carrier’s retrenchment plan, forcing the cash-trapped airline to ground hundreds of flights. The strike has forced South Africa’s largest carrier to cancel more than 200 domestic, regional …