AFRICA

Dakar, Senegal | AFP | A Senegalese singer was formally charged with “offending the head of state and broadcasting fake news”, her lawyer told AFP Wednesday, after audio of her lashing out at President Macky Sall went viral. Amy Colle Dieng, 39, was arrested on August 3 after unleashing a social …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP |  Cash-strapped Zimbabwe announced Wednesday that it plans to build a $1 billion university to honour Robert Mugabe, the 93-year-old president accused of brutal repression and bringing the country to economic ruin. The university joins other facilities named after Mugabe including the government’s school of intelligence, …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Four people were killed Wednesday in election-related violence in Kenya, where the opposition claimed massive rigging in a vote that President Uhuru Kenyatta looked certain to win. The east African nation, keenly aware of post-poll violence a decade ago that left 1,100 dead, was on …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Two people in Lagos have died and a hundred medical workers have been placed under observation after a flare-up of Lassa fever, a cousin of the deadly Ebola virus, officials said Wednesday. Lagos University Teaching Hospital said the two died this week after being admitted for …

Kigali, Rwanda | AFP |  Rwanda’s electoral commission on Wednesday confirmed President Paul Kagame’s overwhelming victory in last week’s presidential election, even improving his score slightly to 98.79 percent. There had been little doubt that the 59-year-old would return to the helm of the east African nation which he has …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta appeared headed for re-election Wednesday but his rival Raila Odinga claimed a massive hacking attack had manipulated results, ratcheting up tensions in opposition strongholds. Police fired tear gas to disperse a few hundred protesters in Kisumu in western Kenya as well …

Kisumu, Kenya | AFP | Riot police engaged in running battles Wednesday with protesters in the opposition stronghold of Kisumu in western Kenya, as presidential aspirant Raila Odinga claimed massive poll fraud, an AFP reporter witnessed. Police fired tear gas as several hundred protesters in the neighbourhood of Kondele — an …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Hackers broke into the database of Kenya’s electoral commission and manipulated the results of the election, the leader of the country’s opposition coalition alleged on Wednesday. Vote counting is ongoing in east Africa’s strongest democracy after Tuesday’s election where voters were asked to either re-elect …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  President Uhuru Kenyatta appeared headed for re-election Wednesday as his rival Raila Odinga rejected early results as “fake”, setting nerves on edge in east Africa’s richest economy. With ballots from 90 percent of polling stations counted, electoral commission (IEBC) results showed Kenyatta leading with 54.6 …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Resting on a hospital bed after a session of chemotherapy, Sudanese banker Mohamed Hasan vividly recalls the day when doctors told him he had blood cancer. It is a shock in any country but in Sudan, where access to drugs and treatment is impaired by 20-year-old …