Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP | A mine blast killed two generals and five other soldiers near the Somali capital Mogadishu on Thursday, military sources said, in an attack claimed by the jihadist Al-Shabaab movement. General Omar Adan Hassan, head of the army’s 12th brigade, and the brigade’s operational commander, General …
Read More »Nigerian presidential candidate warns about vote-buying
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | The main challenger to President Muhammadu Buhari in next year’s election has advised Nigerians against selling their votes as concerns persist over possible electoral fraud at the landmark polls. Atiku Abubakar, from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), claimed Buhari’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) had …
Read More »Western donors pledge over 2bn euros anti-terror aid for Africa’s Sahel
Nouakchott, Mauritania | AFP | Western donors said Thursday they have pledged 2.4 billion euros ($2.7 billion) in funding aimed at preventing terrorism and lawlessness along the southern rim of the Sahara. The updated pledge total was announced in a final statement from a donors conference held in the Mauritanian …
Read More »The battle to save Central African Republic’s starving children
Bangui, Central African Republic | AFP | The line of parents waiting to see doctors stretches back outside the hospital into the dusty courtyard. Mums and dads carrying weak, starving children. Many hanging limply in their arms like half empty sacks of rice. The scene at the paediatric complex in …
Read More »GLOBAL COMMENT: Uniting Africa for power
Integration is essential to scale and connect markets where lack of electricity is holding back progress GLOBAL COMMENT | Tony Blair | African countries are increasingly coming together. A landmark free-trade agreement was concluded earlier this year. East Africa has made great progress on free movement of people. And a commitment to …
Read More »Child marriage costs countries billions in lost earnings: World Bank
Accra, Ghana | AFP | Respect Ruvimbo Topodzi was 15 and walking home from school in her native Zimbabwe when a 22-year-old man asked her out. She turned him down but it was too late. Her father saw them and assumed they were already together. He told her she had …
Read More »Burundi to shut UN rights office: sources
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | The Burundi government has ordered the United Nations Human Rights Council to shut its office in the country within two months, foreign ministry and UN sources told AFP. The government on Wednesday sent a verbal note to resident UN coordinator Garry Conille to transmit the …
Read More »Boko Haram raids kill soldier in NE Nigeria as attacks intensify
Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Boko Haram jihadists have attacked two military bases in Nigeria’s restive northeast, killing one soldier and injuring two, security sources told AFP Wednesday, in a week that saw insurgent assaults on troops intensify. Riding in trucks fitted with anti-aircraft guns, fighters from the self-styled Islamic …
Read More »DR Congo election candidate campaigns in region hit by unrest, Ebola
Beni, DR Congo | AFP | A key opposition candidate in DR Congo presidential elections launched his campaign Wednesday in a city caught between an Ebola epidemic and militant attacks in one of the country’s most dangerous regions. Martin Fayulu, vying to replace President Joseph Kabila in the pivotal December …
Read More »Libya to launch vaccine campaign after shortages
Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Libya is set to launch a campaign overseen by the World Health Organization to vaccinate more than 2.7 million children after months of shortages, the health ministry said Wednesday. The “national immunisation campaign”, organised with the United Nations children fund UNICEF, is expected to begin …
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