AFRICA

Algiers, Algeria | AFP | Algeria’s interior ministry on Friday defended moves to expel dozens of migrants as a matter of “national security”, after the UN voiced concern over a group who went missing in the desert. The global body’s refugee agency UNHCR said Thursday that 100 people were “unaccounted …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Europe and Africa heaped pressure on DR Congo on Friday, urging it to respect voters’ wishes in key presidential elections as a deadline for unveiling the outcome loomed. Expectations are mounting that electoral overseers will delay publication of provisional results due by Sunday — …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Attempts by authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo to crack down on dissent during tense vote counting could “backfire”, the UN said Friday, warning it was “watching carefully” as events unfold. Elections held last Sunday will determine who succeeds President Joseph Kabila, at the …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Around 16,000 people have fled into the Democratic Republic of Congo’s neighbour after inter-communal clashes erupted last month in the southwest of the country, the UN said on Friday. Violence in Yumbi, in the DRC province of Mai-Ndombe, prompted an exodus to the neighbouring Republic …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudanese police fired tear gas at protesters on Friday as they took to the streets after midday prayers to chant anti-government slogans in the capital’s twin city of Omdurman, witnesses said. Anti-government rallies have rocked cities across Sudan since December 19 when protests first broke …

Washington, United States | AFP | Egypt has asked CBS not to air an interview with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in which he discussed cooperation with Israel in the fight against Sinai jihadists, the US network said. The network said on its website Thursday that Sisi — a former army …

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe | AFP | Seven Chinese nationals appeared in a Zimbabwe court on Thursday after they were arrested last month with rhino horn pieces worth nearly a million dollars. They are facing charges of breaching the country’s wildlife laws. Zeng Dengui, 35; Peicon Jang, 35; Chen Zhiangfu, 30; …

United Nations, United States | AFP | Somalia on Thursday told the UN Security Council not to interfere in its national affairs after expelling a UN envoy who questioned the government’s decision to arrest an al-Shabaab defector running for election. Somali Ambassador Abukar Dahir Osman did not specifically mention his …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Five members of the Nigerian air force were killed when a helicopter crashed as Boko Haram militants ambushed a military base in northeastern Nigeria, a spokesman said Thursday. Air force spokesman Ibikunle Daramola said the five crew members had died when the helicopter “crashed in …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Former South African president Jacob Zuma’s plan to record an album of apartheid-era struggle songs sparked off a political row Thursday as opposition politicians slammed the project as a taxpayer-funded waste of money. Zuma, ousted from power last year amid multiple fraud scandals, is …