AFRICA

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Paramilitary men beat and tortured to death a civilian in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region, a doctors committee linked to the country’s protest movement said Tuesday. The civilian died on Monday in El-Daen, in East Darfur state, after members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) clashed with …

Abomey-Calavi, Benin | AFP |  The display cases at the royal palaces in Benin’s sleepy southern town of Abomey are coated in dust and the exhibition halls plunged in darkness. But local tourism chief Gabin Djimasse hopes all this will change with the return of 26 artefacts from former colonial master …

  Economists say significant challenges remain, including poor road and rail links, excessive border bureaucracy and petty corruption | THE INDEPENDENT | On July. 07, African nations officially unveiled a landmark trade agreement at the African Union Summit in Niamey, Niger, with the long sought-after agreement hailed as a historic …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma on Monday dismissed multiple graft allegations against him, telling a judicial inquiry he was the victim of conspiracies, years of “character assassination” and plots to kill him. In an often rambling monologue, Zuma accused unnamed foreign intelligence agencies and …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Authorities in Democratic Republic of Congo have appealed for calm after an evangelical preacher fell ill with Ebola in the eastern city of Goma, the first recorded case of the disease in the urban hub in a nearly year-old epidemic. Goma, which has a population …

Soweto, South Africa | AFP |  After helping an elderly woman load her bags into a mini-bus taxi at a busy intersection in Soweto, a scrawny and strung-out young man is rewarded with a few coins for his efforts. High on nyaope, a street drug whose main ingredient is heroin, …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudanese protesters lit candles and released balloons in Khartoum as thousands rallied across the country to mourn dozens killed last month in a brutal raid on a protest camp, AFP correspondents reported. Crowds of protesters were violently dispersed by men in military fatigues in a pre-dawn …

Luanda, Angola | AFP |  The presidents of Rwanda and Uganda on Friday pledged at a summit in Angola to seek to resolve tensions that have erupted between their two countries in recent months. Rwanda’s Paul Kagame and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, once close allies, have exchanged public accusations of spying …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  South African former president Jacob Zuma is due on Monday to make a much-anticipated appearance before an inquiry into alleged corruption after previous witnesses gave damning evidence against him. Zuma is accused of overseeing mass looting of state funds during his nine-year reign before …

Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP |  Ivory Coast, the world’s largest cocoa producer, earns just a fraction of the crop’s potential value and must process it domestically and develop its distribution to fully reap the benefits, a World Bank report said Thursday. Cocoa accounts for 40 percent of the West African …