AFRICA

Frankfurt am Main, Germany | AFP | A German state-owned bank has found itself at the centre of a battle in the Democratic Republic of Congo over agricultural land dating back to the Belgian colonial period, AFP learned Monday. Representatives from nine communities in the DRC last week called on DEG …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | Ethiopia has arrested 63 senior military and intelligence officers accused of corruption and human-rights abuses, the country’s attorney general, Berhanu Tsegaye, said Monday. The arrests are a rare move against the country’s powerful security apparatus. They represent a further flexing of power by reformist …

Palermo, Italy | AFP | Libya’s key political players meet with global leaders in Palermo on Monday in the latest bid by major powers to kickstart a long-stalled political process and trigger elections. A summit in Paris in May had seen the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) and eastern …

Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabon’s presidency admitted for the first time on Sunday that President Omar Bongo, hospitalised for nearly three weeks in Saudi Arabia, is in a serious condition but said his health is improving. The 59-year-old leader was taken to hospital in the Saudi capital Riyadh on …

Bukavu, DR Congo | AFP | At least 10 stowaways were killed and 24 were injured when a freight train derailed in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a local official said Sunday. Rehema Omari, stationmaster in the town of Samba near where the accident occurred on Friday, said the …

Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Queueing up outside banks in Tripoli, Libyans say they have little hope of an end to the political and economic turmoil shaking their country, on the eve of international crisis talks in Italy. Accompanied by his five-year-old son, architect Mohamad Kredigh was hoping to get …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Hundreds of villagers fled their homes in Nigeria’s northeast late on Saturday after an attack by Islamist militants from the Boko Haram group, militia officials and witnesses said. The raid highlighted fragile security in Nigeria’s northeast, where the army is still battling to end a …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s government publicly denied claims on Sunday that its spy agency had attempted to kidnap main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa as he left a rally this weekend. Chamisa’s Movement for Democratic Change party tweeted Saturday that “Central Intelligence Organisation agents (participated) in a failed attempt …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | The presidential nominee of Nigeria’s main opposition party alleged Sunday that he was “intimidated” by armed government agents who searched his private plane at the Abuja airport. Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who will challenge incumbent Muhammadu Buhari in February, …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Seven opposition leaders from the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday picked little known lawmaker Martin Fayulu as their joint candidate for key and long delayed presidential elections at the end of December when Joseph Kabila stands down after ruling the country for 18 years. …