Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in northeast Nigeria after an increase in violence in the Boko Haram conflict, the United Nations said on Wednesday. “More than 30,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) have arrived in Maiduguri, mainly from Baga, in recent weeks,” …
Read More »Morocco closes 2,000 mine shafts after string of deaths
Rabat, Morocco | AFP | Moroccan authorities closed 2,000 illegal mine shafts last year in Jerada, an impoverished former coal town that has been the site of a string of deadly mining accidents. The closure of the “abandoned and illicitly exploited shafts” was announced Wednesday by the energy and mines …
Read More »GLOBAL COMMENT: Globalisation 4.0 for whom?
Popular anger in many countries’ politics in recent years is rooted in the failure of neoliberalism GLOBAL COMMENT | WINNIE BYANYIMA | Imagine a world in which women and girls have their rights respected, climate change receives the attention it so urgently requires, and poverty has been eliminated. Never before …
Read More »DR Congo candidate Fayulu denounces ‘electoral coup’
Paris, France | AFP | The runner-up in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s long-awaited presidential poll Martin Fayulu on Thursday denounced the results as an “electoral coup”. His fellow opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi was declared the winner of the December vote by the electoral commission early Thursday morning. “These results …
Read More »DR Congo’s Tshisekedi: son, heir and president-elect
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The son of DR Congo’s veteran opposition leader, Felix Tshisekedi has taken the prize that eluded his late father — the presidency. On Thursday he was named by election officials as the provisional winner of an historic election in the country. He is the …
Read More »Opposition’s Tshisekedi wins historic DRC presidential poll
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The Democratic Republic of Congo is set to see its first handover of power in 18 years after opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi was Thursday named by election officials as the provisional winner of an historic presidential poll. The election’s supervisors had faced mounting pressure …
Read More »Seven civilians, 3 soldiers killed in DR Congo attack: army
Beni, DR Congo | AFP | Seven civilians and three soldiers were killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday when a militia attacked a military post in the restive east of the country, the army said. The attack, in Beni region, was carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamist-rooted militia …
Read More »AMISOM to reconstitute military bases to enhance troops’ safety
Mogadishu, Somalia | THE INDEPENDENT | The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) is reconstituting its Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) to enhance safety and security of its troops. The exercise will also involve reviewing the design and layout to help establish sustainable FOBs which have positive impact on troop protection, logistical …
Read More »Tanzania’s Magufuli orders central bank to create gold reserve
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Wednesday ordered the central bank to create a gold reserve, as he urged the government to better control mineral exports from the country, Africa’s fourth largest gold producer. “We should start buying gold, the central bank must invest in this. …
Read More »S.Africa, Zambia call for speedy finalisation of DR Congo vote result
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Zambian counterpart Edgar Lungu on Wednesday called on electoral officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo to quickly wrap up the vote collation and release the presidential election results. The two leaders held emergency talks in Pretoria …
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