AFRICA

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | A planned demonstration against Democratic Republic of Congo’s President Joseph Kabila organised by Catholics has been banned a day before it was to take place in the capital, Kinshasa’s governor said Saturday. “The city does not have sufficient numbers of police officers to supervise this …

Kananga, DR Congo | AFP | A village chief believed to have ordered the killing in March of two UN experts in the Democratic Republic of Congo was arrested Saturday, a Congolese military spokesman said. Congolese authorities have from the start said the suspect, Constantin Tshidime Bulabula, was behind the …

Lusaka, Zambia | AFP | Zambia’s president Edgar Lungu has deployed the army to help combat a cholera outbreak that has claimed 41 lives in the capital Lusaka and affected 1,550 more since September. The initial outbreak began on September 28 according to the World Health Organization and Zambia’s health …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Boko Haram fighters opened fire on a group of loggers in a remote village in northeast Nigeria on Saturday, killing four people, a survivor and a militia leader said. Gunmen on motorcycles attacked the loggers while they were loading firewood into pickup vans at Maiwa village, …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP |  Sudan’s president on Saturday announced a state of emergency in two states in the centre and east of the country, the official news agency said. President Omar al-Bashir issued a decree to install the state of emergency in North Kordofan and Kasala for six months, …

  Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Catholics in crisis-torn Democratic Republic of Congo vowed Saturday to defy a protest ban and hold a “peaceful march” Sunday to urge implementation of a deal for President Joseph Kabila to leave office and for delayed elections. Kabila has been in power since …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP |  An Egyptian court sentenced ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi to three years in prison along with 19 other defendants on Saturday for “insulting the judiciary,” his lawyer said. The other defendants include former members of parliament, activists and three journalists. Morsi had already been sentenced …

Benghazi, Libya | AFP | Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar has said he will support 2018 elections in the war-torn country but also implied he would seize power if the polls did not occur. Late Thursday, Haftar said presidential and parliamentary elections were “a fundamental solution” to Libya’s crisis and should …

Yaoundé, Cameroon | AFP | Cameroonian police have arrested a group of nearly 40 heavily armed men who were headed into neighbouring Equitorial Guinea, a military source said Friday. Equitorial Guinea’s Ambassador to France, Miguel Oyono Ndong Mifumu, referred to the incident as an “invasion and destabilisation attempt”, according to …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Three pro-democracy activists have been released after spending five months in prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo over a protest march against President Joseph Kabila, their organisation said Friday. Jean Mulenda, Jean-Pierre Tshisitshabu and Patrick Mbuya have left Kasapa central prison in the …