Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | A South African film-maker was killed by a giraffe while filming on a reserve outside Johannesburg, the game lodge’s owner has said, adding that he died after being air-lifted to hospital. The giraffe hit Carlos Carvalho in the head at the Glen Afric Country …
Read More »45 dead in attack by armed bandits in northern Nigeria: civilian militia
Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Forty-five people died in an attack by armed bandits in northern Nigeria, civilian militia members said on Sunday, amid growing levels of rural violence often involving cattle theft, robbery and kidnappings for ransom. “The 45 bodies were found scattered in the bush. The bandits pursued …
Read More »Six killed in Boko Haram attack on Lake Chad island
N’Djamena, Chad | AFP | Six people were killed, including four government officials and a soldier, in an attack by Boko Haram jihadists on a Chadian army checkpoint on an island in Lake Chad, a military source told AFP Sunday. The overnight killings, which cost the life of a civilian …
Read More »THIS WEEK: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf accepts prize for African leadership
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf accepts prize for African leadership Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Pictured), the former President of Liberia, accepted the 2017 Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership at a special leadership ceremony in Kigali, Rwanda on April 27. Speaking to guests from Rwanda and …
Read More »Sudan fuel shortage hikes black market prices
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Black market fuel prices surged on Saturday in Khartoum and other Sudanese towns as petrol and diesel shortages forced residents to queue for hours outside gas stations. Fuel supplies began dwindling in early April, with officials blaming maintenance delays at a key refinery, although foreign …
Read More »Mozambique opposition names interim leader
Beira, Mozambique | AFP | Mozambique’s Renamo opposition party on Saturday named Ossufo Momade as its interim leader after veteran chief Afonso Dhlakama, who had headed the party for 39 years, died unexpectedly. Momade, a former secretary general of the party, will take over until Renamo’s next congress, which has …
Read More »New interim government in Gabon: official
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | A new interim government was installed in Gabon on Friday, three days after the former administration resigned over delays in holding legislative elections, a presidency official told AFP. The incoming government will remain in office until the elections, delayed since December 2016, are held. There …
Read More »‘Dirty war’ ravages Cameroon’s anglophone region
Buea, Cameroon | AFP | They call it a “dirty war” — a silent conflict in Cameroon’s anglophone region marked by near-daily attacks by separatists and a brutal army backlash that shows no sign of abating. Over the past eight months, scores of police, soldiers and civilians have died in …
Read More »Burundi to suspend BBC and VOA radio broadcasts
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Burundi’s press regulator on Friday said it was suspending broadcasts by the BBC and Voice of America (VOA) by local radio stations ahead of a constitutional referendum on May 17. The head of Burundi’s National Communications Council told journalists in the capital Bujumbura that a …
Read More »South Sudan diplomat mistaken for bandit, shot dead in Central Africa
Bangui, Central African Republic | AFP | An aide to South Sudan’s ambassador to Central Africa was shot and killed apparently by mistake in Bangui on Friday, by men from the Central Office for the Suppression of Banditry (OCRB), government sources told AFP. The incident took place after the OCRB …
Read More »