AFRICA

El Daien, Sudan | AFP | Sudan has made “positive” steps towards meeting Washington’s conditions for permanently lifting 20-year-old sanctions on the African country, the US envoy to Khartoum told AFP in an interview. Then-president Barack Obama eased the sanctions in January, but made their permanent lifting dependent on Khartoum’s …

Juba, South Sudan | AFP | South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation gripped by civil war, has cancelled its official independence day celebrations for the second year running. “We are not celebrating… because our situation does not require us to celebrate at a time when there are people in need …

Dakar, Senegal | AFP | As a girl, Karelle Vignon-Vullierme loved eating the Beninese dishes her mother cooked but never bothered following her into the kitchen to learn how to make them herself. But that has not stopped the Senegal-based blogger, now in her 30s, from building up an adoring …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Zimbabwe’s Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday pledged that next year’s elections will be peaceful, “free and fair” despite opposition concerns about electoral interference. Speaking on the sidelines of a conference aimed at courting South African investors, Mnangagwa noted that the last election in …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Tanzania President John Magufuli said students who become pregnant should not be allowed to finish their studies after giving birth, sparking outrage from women’s rights campaign groups. “I give money for a student to study for free. And then, she gets pregnant, gives birth and …

Politicians from at home and abroad led the tributes as Botswana mourned the passing of former President Sir Ketumile Masire. “He had the charisma, people would come and follow his rallies. This man had the gift of the gab,”  said former Speaker of the National Assembly Margaret Nasha. That charisma, combined …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has blamed the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) and the United Nations (UN) for not helping stop the declining situation in Congo.  Congo is a leading source of refugees in Africa. He called on support for regional efforts to …

Sir Ketumile Masire  ?? Born: July 23, 1925, Kanye, Botswana ?? Died: June 22, 2017 Sir Ketumile Masire, who was Botswana’s second President, has died aged 91. He had been hospitalised in critical condition at the Intensive Care Unit at Bokomoso Hospital since June 18. The Board of Trustees of the Sir …

  Accra, Ghana | AFP |  Ghana’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the transfer of two former Guantanamo Bay detainees to the country was unconstitutional without parliamentary approval. Ghana had signed an agreement with the US government in January 2016 allowing the two ex-Guantanamo prisoners to live in the country. …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP |  The animals won’t travel two-by-two, but thousands of safari stalwarts will soon begin their journeys from Zimbabwe to Mozambique in one of Africa’s largest ever wildlife transfers. Fifty elephants, 100 giraffes, 200 zebras and 200 buffaloes will be among the several thousand animals that will …