Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudanese police fired tear gas at hundreds of protesters in the capital and its twin city of Omdurman Tuesday as demonstrators staged night-time rallies against the government. The after-dark demonstrations were the latest in more than a month of escalating protests against President Omar al-Bashir’s …
Read More »Endangered in Ivory Coast: traditional priestesses
ANIANSUE, Ivory Coast | AFP | A dozen women, their bodies coated with clay, sway to beating drums as if in a trance, ankle bells jingling as they stamp their feet, in the eastern Ivorian town of Aniansue. They are training to become certified “komians”, or priestesses, steeped in traditional …
Read More »DR Congo prepares to install Tshisekedi as president
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | DR Congo was on Monday making plans to install Felix Tshisekedi as its new president this week after a long and bitter election whose outcome was disputed by the runner-up and shunned by many western nations. The ceremony, which looks likely to happen on …
Read More »4 hurt as gunmen raid Chinese construction site in Kenya
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Four people were wounded when gunmen opened fire on a Chinese construction site in Kenya’s remote northeast, before being quickly repelled, police said on Monday. Eight attackers opened fire on the construction site near the town of Garissa late on Sunday evening, said David Kerina, …
Read More »Zimbabwe court rules against internet shutdown
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s High Court on Monday ruled that State Security Minister Owen Ncube had no power to order the internet shutdown which took place during last week’s nationwide protests. “It has become very clear that the minister had no authority to make that directive,” judge Owen …
Read More »Rwanda mine collapse kills 14
Kigali, Rwanda | AFP | An accident at an eastern Rwanda mine on Monday killed 14 people, including seven women, a local government official said. “This is an unfortunate event that nobody expected. The accident happened when falling debris at the mining site buried all the 14 people and killed …
Read More »Privatise Nigeria’s oil industry? Easier said than done
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | A leading contender in Nigeria’s presidential election next month has pledged to privatise the country’s oil industry, but that’s a promise that might prove hard to keep, some observers say. Atiku Abubakar, the main opposition party contender, has vowed to break up the Nigerian National Petroleum …
Read More »African support grows for Tshisekedi as DR Congo president
Arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, this afternoon to attend the Africa Union heads of state high level consultation meeting on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. pic.twitter.com/g8bWbGbLau — Yoweri K Museveni (@KagutaMuseveni) January 17, 2019 Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | African nations on Sunday began recognising Felix …
Read More »Sudan police confront protesters as Bashir rejects accusations
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudanese police fired tear gas at hundreds of protesters planning to march on parliament Sunday, as President Omar al-Bashir insisted demonstrators who died in anti-government rallies were not killed by security forces. Deadly protests which erupted on December 19 after a government decision to …
Read More »Mnangagwa ends foreign tour after Zimbabwe protests
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa broke off a foreign tour on Sunday as criticism grew over a brutal crackdown on protests at home, saying he wanted “to get Zimbabwe calm, stable and working again”. “In light of the economic situation, I will be returning home after …
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