Juba, South Sudan | AFP | South Sudan President Salva Kiir on Friday said a new delay to set up a power-sharing government was “endurable” as he vowed to honour a peace deal funding pledge for a unified army. Kiir and rebel chief Riek Machar, whose fallout in 2013 sparked …
Read More »EU casts doubt on credibility of Mozambique election
Maputo, Mozambique | AFP | The European Union on Friday cast doubt on the credibility of Mozambique’s ruling party’s victory in last month’s election, saying its observers detected a litany of “irregularities and malpractices” and called on authorities to clarify them. Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi won a new five-year …
Read More »Despair, jihadism and revolt: Mali’s torn heart
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, …
Read More »I.Coast ex-political leader Ble Goude faces Ivorian trial
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 …
Read More »South Sudan rival leaders given 100 days to form unity government
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 …
Read More »DEAL: Machar and Kiir agree on way forward
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 …
Read More »Machar and Kiir meet in Uganda as deadline looms
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 …
Read More »Soweto to welcome World Cup winning Springboks, a team they once hated
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 …
Read More »37 killed in Burkina Faso’s deadliest attack in five years
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 …
Read More »Sudan rebels insist new parliament be formed only after peace deal
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 …
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