AFRICA

Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | Around 1,500 economic migrants have been taken from Algeria to Niger in recent days by the UN’s migration agency, its Niamey chief said on Thursday. Giuseppe Loprete from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) told AFP around “600 Cameroonians, two large groups of Malians …

N’Djamena, Chad | AFP | Chad’s prime minister and his government resigned on Thursday, according to a presidential statement, as controversial constitutional changes took effect in a move that bolsters President Idriss Deby’s powers. Deby — in power for more than two decades in the oil-rich landlocked African state — …

  Maputo, Mozambique | AFP |  Mozambique’s veteran rebel leader Afonso Dhlakama, who mixed guerrilla warfare with opposition politics, has died aged 65, party sources said Thursday. Several sources in Dhlakama’s Renamo party told AFP that Dhlakama passed away after an unconfirmed heart attack, with local television stations also reporting …

Juba, South Sudan | THE INDEPENDENT |  Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has addressed the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) National Liberation Council Meeting where he appealed to its leaders to drop violence as a means of conflict resolution. “Force should be reserved for the enemy. A disagreement among brothers should not …

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso | AFP | On the edge of the forbidding Sahara in the dusty northern market town of Djibo, Burkina Faso’s battle against jihadism is at its most acute. This impoverished corner of West Africa has always seemed distant from the central government in Ouagadougou. Today, though, that …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Poachers have shot dead three critically endangered black rhinos in a specially-protected sanctuary in northern Kenya, the wildlife service said Thursday. Two adults and a calf were killed inside the 83 square kilometre (32 square mile) fenced rhino sanctuary in Meru National Park and had …

Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP | Armed men abducted a German nurse working for the International Committee of the Red Cross on Wednesday evening from a compound in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, the aid group said Thursday. “We are deeply concerned about the safety of our colleague,” said Daniel O’Malley, ICRC’s deputy …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Thirteen people were killed in prolonged clashes between cattle thieves and local civilian militia in northern Nigeria’s Zamfara state, police said on Thursday. The militia and cattle thieves fought a gun battle Tuesday through Wednesday in the remote village of Fankashi in the Maru district …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Burundi’s influential Catholic bishops said Thursday that they were opposed to fundamental constitutional changes to be voted on in a referendum this month. If passed, the proposed changes could see President Pierre Nkurunziza remain in charge for another 16 years. A statement, signed by 10 …

Why it is not true that African presidents can do whatever they want, unencumbered by democratic constraints COMMENT | NIC CHEESEMAN | Africa is often imagined to be a place in which presidents can do whatever they want, unencumbered by constitutional or democratic constraints. A large body of literature has developed …