AFRICA

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP |  Detained former DR Congo health minister Oly Ilunga has been accused of embezzling $4.3 million of public funds raised to tackle the Ebola epidemic, his defence counsel said Sunday while insisting on his innocence. “Police accuse him of having siphoned off a total of …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | A witness in the trial of Omar al-Bashir said Saturday that his army-owned firm had supplied military equipment to neighbouring countries using funds allegedly received illegally by the ousted Sudanese leader. Bashir was deposed by the army in April following months of protests against his …

  Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa was jeered and whistled at on Saturday during his speech at Zimbabwe ex-leader Robert Mugabe’s funeral before he apologised for recent xenophobic attacks. At least 12 people have been killed this month in a surge in violence and …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has sent high-ranking emissaries on a mission to reassure African countries after a wave of xenophobic attacks, the presidency said on Sunday. At least 12 people have been killed in the surge of mob violence targeting foreign-owned businesses and …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Robert Mugabe, who died aged 95, used repression and fear to hold on to power in Zimbabwe for 37 years until he was finally ousted when his previously loyal military generals turned against him. After his humiliating fall from office in November 2017, his phenomenal physical …

Bouaké, Ivory Coast | AFP |  Every time Catherine Coulibaly’s 19-year-old son had to make a routine appointment with the cardiologist for his heart condition, she gritted her teeth as she silently counted the financial cost. It wasn’t just the hospital fee — there was the transport, food and accommodation, too, …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP |  Former Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe will be given a state funeral on Saturday with a dozen African leaders expected to pay tribute to a man lauded as a colonial-era liberation hero. Mugabe, who died last week in Singapore aged 95, left Zimbabwe torn over the legacy …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Former Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe’s family and the government on Friday said he would be buried in about a month after they agreed to entomb him at a monument for national heroes in Harare. Mugabe died in Singapore last week aged 95, leaving Zimbabweans divided over …

Kenya becomes third country to adopt world’s first malaria vaccine Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Kenya on Friday became the third country to start routinely innoculating infants against malaria, using the world’s first vaccine to combat a disease that kills 800 children globally every day. The vaccine — RTS,S — …

  Washington, United States | AFP |  The US government announced sanctions against Uganda’s once-powerful police chief on Friday, citing evidence of corruption and human rights abuses including torture. The agencies said there was credible information that Kale Kayihura was involved in “torture and/or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or …