AFRICA

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP |  Members of Ethiopia’s Sidama ethnic group are expected to vote Wednesday to form a breakaway regional state — a milestone that risks further destabilising the country ahead of next year’s national elections. The Sidama push for statehood already triggered days of unrest in July that …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |   South African unions on Sunday called on all aviation workers to join striking South African Airways (SAA) staff after the cash-strapped airline failed to meet their demands. The country’s embattled flag carrier has been losing 52 million rand ($3.5 million) per day since more …

  Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | It was all celebrations this weekend in Wakaliga, a Kampala suburb, the birthplace of Msgr. Joseph Kizito, a Ugandan-priest who has been appointed as the ninth Bishop of Aliwal Catholic Diocese in South Africa. The jubilation has also extended to Rubaga hill, the …

  Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Supporters of ousted Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir held a protest Saturday vowing to oppose any move by the country’s new authorities to hand him over to the International Criminal Court. Dozens of his supporters, carrying Bashir’s portrait, gathered outside the Khartoum court where he is …

Yaounde, Cameroon | AFP |  Cameroon is poised to hold parliamentary and municipal elections in February but a bloody separatist conflict and political tensions are set to cloud the vote, experts say. Anglophone separatists are fighting government troops in western Cameroon while the north of the country has come under attack …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African Airways workers on Friday embarked on an indefinite strike for higher wages and against the national carrier’s retrenchment plan, forcing the cash-trapped airline to ground hundreds of flights. The strike has forced South Africa’s largest carrier to cancel more than 200 domestic, regional …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenya and Somalia have agreed to “normalise” relations and start reissuing travel visas to each other’s citizens after a long-running dispute over marine borders strained ties between the neighbours. The agreement, announced by Kenya’s presidency late Thursday, followed a meeting in Nairobi between President Uhuru Kenyatta …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Two years ago, Linos Mutepera was among hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans who celebrated the toppling of long-time ruler Robert Mugabe with tears of joy. Today, he looks back at that time with bitterness, his hope of a better life dashed on the rocks of poverty …

Birao, Central African Republic | AFP | A heavy silence hangs in the dusty alleys of Birao, in the extreme northeast of Central African Republic, where figures only rarely wander between the empty houses and reed hedges. Since September, Birao has been hit hard by fighting between armed groups despite a …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The second meeting between Uganda and Rwanda to address rising tension between the two countries and the border closure, has been called off indefinitely. According to the Uganda government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo, the meeting was called off at the request of Kigali. He said …