AFRICA

Goma, DR Congo | AFP | Rwanda has shuttered its frontier with Ebola-hit Democratic Republic of Congo after a third case of the deadly virus was detected in the border city of Goma, the Congolese presidency said Thursday. The announcement coincided with the first anniversary of an epidemic that has claimed …

Benin City, Nigeria | AFP | She was only just 18 when she gave birth without a doctor in a Tripoli apartment, gripping the hand of her best friend who had come on a journey they hoped would lead from Nigeria to Europe. For Joy, who told her story to AFP on …

Libreville, Gabon | AFP |  Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema will celebrate forty years in power on Saturday, highlighting his status as Africa’s longest-serving head of state. Since he seized control in a 1979 military coup, rights groups have described Obiang Nguema, 77, as one of the continent’s most brutal …

Goma, DR Congo | AFP | An epidemic of Ebola in eastern DR Congo sharply widened on Wednesday, the eve of the first anniversary of the outbreak, with the announcement of a death in a major city and the quarantining of 15 people in a province that had previously escaped the …

  Mogadishu, Somalia | THE INDEPENDENT |  The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission for Somalia (SRCC) Ambassador Francisco Madeira has commended AMISOM Police for their dedication to duty, commitment to the mission and selfless service to the people of Somalia. Ambassador Madeira was speaking in …

Accra, Ghana | AFP |  Fish vendor Mercy Allotey waits at the beachfront in Ghana’s capital Accra for customers to buy the freshest catch brought in by the brightly-coloured dugout canoes plying the coast. But she complains the local fishermen are now netting less and less as a combination of illegal …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP |  Langton Chiwocha chose Emmerson Mnangagwa among 23 candidates in Zimbabwe’s presidential elections a year ago. Today he says he deeply regrets his choice. “We had high expectations as many promises were made, but things have turned worse since the elections,” Chiwocha told AFP. “I wish I …

Goma, DR Congo | AFP |  An Ebola epidemic raging in eastern DR Congo marks its first year on Thursday in a mood of fear mingled with hope that fresh money and a change of leadership will turn the tide. So far, 1,790 people have died of the dreaded haemorrhagic virus …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudanese protest leaders cancelled planned talks with the country’s ruling generals on Tuesday as they visited a town where five teenaged protesters were shot dead. Sudan’s military ruler condemned the killing of the schoolchildren in the central town of Al-Obeid on Monday as the United Nations …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Four Sudanese school students were among five demonstrators shot dead Monday during a rally against shortages of bread and fuel, a day before protest leaders and ruling generals are set to hold new talks on the country’s transition. Authorities announced a night-time curfew in four towns …