AFRICA

Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP |  Former Ivory Coast political leader Charles Ble Goude said Monday he had been sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison by an Ivorian court over murder, rape and torture charges. Ble Goude was cleared of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in the …

Nyeri, Kenya | AFP |  In a humming factory in Kenya’s highlands, tea is hand-plucked from the fields, cured and shredded into the fine leaves that have sated drinkers from London to Lahore for generations. But Kenya’s prized black tea isn’t fetching the prices it once did, forcing the top supplier …

Beni, DR Congo | AFP |  Eighteen people in eastern DR Congo’s troubled region of Beni have been killed in a fresh attack by a notorious armed group, a local official said on Monday. “There was an incursion in Apetina-Sana by the ADF last night,” Beni administrator Donat Kibwana told …

Omdurman, Sudan | AFP |  A Sudanese court on Monday sentenced 27 intelligence agents to death for torturing and killing a protester early this year, an AFP correspondent said. The defendants were found guilty of torturing to death Ahmed al-Kheir Awadh at an intelligence services facility and sentenced to be …

Washington, United States | AFP | The United States military said it killed four “terrorists” in airstrikes against the Al-Shabaab militant group in Somalia on Sunday, a day after the country’s deadliest attack in two years. US Africa Command (AFRICOM) conducted three airstrikes in two locations in the conflict-hit east …

Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP |  A Turkish military plane arrived in Mogadishu on Sunday to evacuate those gravely wounded in a devastating bombing that killed 79 people and overwhelmed local health services, in the latest attack on a city dogged by insecurity. The aircraft also brought doctors to help treat …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP |  Fanuel Mapfumo has been unable to lift heavy objects since a Zimbabwe police officer fractured his left arm as he was covering a story last August. The 28-year-old journalist was filming a banned protest in the capital Harare when it happened. Opposition supporters were voicing their …

Bissau, Guinea-Bissau | AFP |  Voters in Guinea-Bissau have a choice between two old political hands in Sunday’s presidential election run-off, although both have very different styles and backgrounds. Here are profiles of the two men: – Domingos Simoes Pereira –  Former prime minister Pereira has been politically active since his …

Rabat, Morocco | AFP |  Hundreds of people demonstrated Saturday outside Morocco’s parliament demanding the release of a journalist detained for criticising a judge in a tweet. Omar Radi, 33, was detained Thursday in Casablanca and immediately put on trial for the tweet about a judge prosecuting protest leaders, his …

Paris, France | AFP | As 1960 dawned, sub-Saharan Africa braced for historic change: that year, 17 of its countries were destined to gain independence from European colonial powers. But six decades on, the continent is mired in many problems. It is struggling to build an economic model that encourages …