United Nations, United States | AFP | Burundi is threatening to cut ties with the UN envoy appointed to the country, ahead of elections next year that the government in Bujumbura insists are an internal matter, according to UN diplomats. The UN Security Council abruptly scrapped a meeting on Burundi scheduled …
Read More »Sudan central bankers lead strike as pressure mounts on generals
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Hundreds of workers at Sudan’s banks and government offices, including the key oil ministry, went on strike for a second day Wednesday to demand the country’s ruling generals step down. The two-day strike, which one protest leader said was “90 percent successful”, aimed to pressure the …
Read More »Nigerian President Buhari sworn in for second term
Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in for a second term in office on Wednesday, vowing once more to tackle crippling security threats and root out corruption in Africa’s key economy. The 76-year old leader, in power since 2015 and re-elected in February, took the oath …
Read More »Ghana jabs back against malaria’s devastation
Cape Coast, Ghana | AFP | Abigal Aguanyi, a trader and mother in the West African nation of Ghana, knows first-hand how dangerous malaria can be — her two-year-old niece nearly died from it. So when she heard that a new vaccine was being rolled out against the disease, that across …
Read More »Mozambique islamists step up attacks after cyclone
Maputo, Mozambique | AFP | Islamist insurgents have resumed attacks in northern Mozambique after a cyclone last month, killing nearly two dozen villagers and torching homes in a mounting political threat in the run-up to a general election. A shadowy jihadist group that has targeted Cabo Delgado province since October 2017 …
Read More »President calls for opposition to accept Malawi vote result.
Blantyre, Malawi | AFP | Malawi’s President Peter Mutharika on Tuesday urged opposition parties to accept the outcome of an election clouded by fraud allegations as he was sworn in for a second term. Thousands of supporters gathered at a sports stadium in Malawi’s commercial capital Blantyre to watch him take …
Read More »Poaching slows but Africa’s elephants still face extinction
Paris, France | AFP | The illegal slaughter of African elephants to feed Asia’s demand for ivory has decreased by more than half in eight years, but the majestic mammals are still threatened with extinction, researchers warned Tuesday. In 2011, poachers killed some 40,000 tuskers — about ten percent of the …
Read More »Sudan protesters strike as deadlock with military persists
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Thousands of workers went on strike across Sudan on Tuesday, leaving air and bus passengers stranded as protesters piled pressure on the military to hand power to a civilian administration. The leaders of an umbrella protest movement remain at loggerheads with army generals who ousted president …
Read More »Malawi’s Mutharika: law professor turned graft-accused president
Blantyre, Malawi | AFP | Malawi’s President Peter Mutharika, 78, is a former Washington law professor with two successive election victories to his name and a political career clouded by claims of corruption, even treason. He won his first term in a closely-contested poll in 2014 — two years after …
Read More »Over 830,000 cholera vaccinations planned in DR Congo: WHO
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | More than 830,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province will be vaccinated against cholera, which has claimed over 240 lives this year, the World Health Organization said Monday. The campaign will be implemented by DR Congo’s health ministry with …
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