Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, a front-runner for the leadership of South Africa’s ruling ANC party, called during a campaign speech in Durban Saturday for a peaceful contest instead of a “fight amongst enemies”. Dlamini-Zuma made the call in what was likely to be her final major …
Read More »S.Africa court orders prosecution chief to leave job
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | A South African court on Friday overturned President Jacob Zuma’s appointment of the head of public prosecutions, dealing a sharp reprimand to the scandal-tainted leader. Shaun Abrahams, who was in 2015 named by Zuma as director of public prosecutions, has often been criticised for allegedly …
Read More »Court orders Dakar mayor’s trial to open next week: lawyer
Dakar, Senegal | AFP | A lawyer for Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall, detained since March on corruption charges, on Friday said the prosecutor’s office had ordered his trial to begin next week, despite pending appeals. Sall is accused of misappropriating 1.83 billion CFA francs ($2.85 million, 2.7 million euros) of city …
Read More »Aid agencies suspend work in C.Africa after worker killed
Bangui, Central African Republic | AFP | Humanitarian groups in the Central African Republic (CAR) have suspended operations, the UN said Friday, after an aid worker was killed in the north of the restive, landlocked nation. “The humanitarian community in CAR continues to pay a heavy price from the rise in …
Read More »14 Tanzanian UN peacekeepers dead in DR Congo attack
Goma, DR Congo | AFP | At least 14 United Nations peacekeepers were killed in the restive Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said Friday, in the deadliest attack in the organisation’s recent history. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the peacekeepers, who were from neighbouring Tanzania, were killed in the …
Read More »Chad ban on protests “justified” by security fears: minister
N’Djamena, Chad | AFP | Chad’s interior minister has said that a ban on some protests in the country is justified because of security risks. It comes after a coalition of activist groups earlier this week said they were planning to defy the ban and hold a major anti-government march. Interior …
Read More »Nigeria says it ‘by no means’ supports Cameroon secessionists
Yaoundé, Cameroon | AFP | Nigeria called for an end to violence in neighbouring Cameroon, where a crisis sparked by a separatist drive in English-speaking areas has forced thousands of people to seek sanctuary across the border. “The Nigerian state by no means supports the secessionists,” Nigerian ambassador Lawan Abba Gashagar …
Read More »S.African VP says he believes Zuma guilty of rape
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa has said he believes the woman who accused President Jacob Zuma of rape, triggered an immediate riposte from the presidential office. Ramaphosa is a leading contender to take over from Zuma as head of the ANC ruling party later …
Read More »ANALYSIS: Can South Sudan’s peace agreement be revitalised?
Meressa K Dessu | ISS TODAY | With the civil war in South Sudan concluding its fourth year, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is maximising its efforts to revitalise the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (ARCSS) through the establishment of a …
Read More »Cameroon arrests author who criticised president
Yaoundé, Cameroon | AFP | Cameroonian author Patrice Nganang was arrested at the airport as he tried to fly to Zimbabwe a day after publishing an opinion piece sharply critical of Cameroon’s president, a source said Thursday. Nganang, who teaches literature at New York University, “was taken into custody yesterday …
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