Paris, France | AFP | Lawyers for Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga have called on UN prosecutors to end their international case and allow him to be tried in France where he was arrested. Described as Africa’s most wanted man, Kabuga is accused of financing the 1994 Rwanda genocide and was arrested at his home …
Read More »S.Africans rush to liquor stores as booze ban lifts
Soweto, South Africa | AFP | Scores of people lined up outside liquor stores in South Africa’s township of Soweto on Monday, waiting to stock up on drinks after a nine-week ban on alcohol sales as part of a strict coronavirus lockdown. Buying booze was prohibited when Africa’s most industrialised economy …
Read More »DR Congo reports fresh Ebola outbreak
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | DR Congo on Monday reported a fresh Ebola outbreak in the country’s northwest, just weeks before it hoped to declare the end of another epidemic in the east. The appearance of the deadly disease on the other side of the vast central African country comes as an added blow …
Read More »Universities in Tanzania reopen despite virus concerns
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | AFP | Universities in Tanzania reopened on Monday, despite a lack of clarity on the spread of coronavirus after the government decided to stop updating figures in April. As students entered dozens of campuses across Tanzania for the first time since mid-March, there were only cursory efforts to impose measures …
Read More »Zimbabwe summons US envoy over George Floyd comments
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe summoned its US ambassador on Monday over remarks by a senior American official accusing the southern African country of stirring anti-racism protests over the death of George Floyd, the government said. In a Sunday interview with ABC news, US national security advisor Robert O’Brien referred to Zimbabwe and China …
Read More »Two decades on, Zimbabwe takes stock of Mugabe land reform legacy
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Eighty-year-old Isobel Simons calmly narrated how she and her late husband lost their 728-hectare Zimbabwe farm two decades ago to Robert Mugabe’s controversial land reforms. Then she broke down and sobbed. “It was my home for 47 years,” she said. Her home is now a tiny …
Read More »In Sudan, traced Bashir regime assets ‘tip of iceberg’
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudanese authorities have begun to recover billions of dollars of real estate illegally amassed by deposed dictator Omar al-Bashir’s regime, but other assets will be difficult to seize, experts say. “Initial estimates indicate that the real estate and properties owned by the former regime… range (in …
Read More »South Africa leader faces thorny test over virus lockdown
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Admired by some but berated by others for imposing a tight lockdown, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa faces a fresh leadership test over his handling of the coronavirus outbreak. Africa’s most industrialised nation is preparing to reopen its economy on Monday as it moves into …
Read More »‘Cook Off’: the Zimbabwe film that defied all odds to reach Netflix
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | “Seeing myself on Netflix, I have to punch myself every day. Like, is that really me?” asked actress Tendaiishe Chitima, star of the first Zimbabwean feature film acquired by the streaming pioneer. “Cook Off” was shot in 2017, just months before the fall of Zimbabwe’s …
Read More »Malawi president lashes out against poll nullification
Blantyre, Malawi | AFP | President Peter Mutharika has accused Malawi’s judiciary of agitating for regime change after the courts nullified last year’s presidential vote and ordered fresh elections by July 3. Malawi’s top court rejected Mutharika’s bid to overturn the landmark ruling quashing his controversial re-election, paving the way for a re-run, scheduled for …
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