AFRICA

Centurion, SOUTH AFRICA | AFP | South African President and ruling ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa stepped up the charm offensive Sunday to lure firebrand Julius Malema back to the party he was expelled from in 2012. Ahead of a general election due in 2019, a weekend-long voter registration drive was …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | DR Congo President Joseph Kabila enacted a law to hike taxes on so-called strategic metals and ordered government consultations with foreign companies worried by the change, an official said Sunday. “The law has been promulgated in the same form as was adopted by parliament,” …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egypt’s military said Sunday 16 jihadists, an officer and a soldier were killed in the past four days during a major military operation against Islamic State group jihadists in Sinai. The army launched a sweeping campaign after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is standing …

Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabon is to withdraw its forces from the UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, a force known by its initials of MINUSCA. The cabinet on Thursday endorsed a request by the defence ministry to pull out the country’s troops in MINUSCA, “given the …

Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA | AFP | Democratic Republic of Congo opposition groups rallied behind exiled figure Moise Katumbi at talks in South Africa on Saturday aimed at forging a united front to fight elections due by the end of the year. Exiled Katumbi led dozens of opposition leaders at the …

  Isingiro, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Over 6,900 refugees have received new attestation forms and ration cards at the end of the first phase of a countrywide biometric verification exercise that started on March 1, 2018  in the Oruchinga refugee settlement in Uganda’s South-West region. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, …

Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabon is to withdraw its forces from the UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, a force known by its initials of MINUSCA The cabinet on Thursday endorsed a request by the defence ministry to pull out the country’s troops in MINUSCA, “given the …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | UN chief Antonio Guterres on Friday hailed “progress” towards holding long-delayed elections in DR Congo but criticised the government for brutally putting down demonstrations against President Joseph Kabila. Kabila was due to stand down from office in December 2016, ending his second elected term. …

Lome, Togo | AFP | Opposition groups in Togo said Friday they were suspending upcoming protests against President Faure Gnassingbe at the request of Ghana, which is mediating in the crisis. “The facilitator, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo, received a delegation from the (opposition) coalition on Wednesday in Accra and asked us …

Port Louis, Mauritius | AFP | Mauritian President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim is to resign after becoming embroiled in a financial scandal, Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth announced on Friday. Gurib-Fakim, who is the only female head of state in Africa, has been accused of using a bank card provided by an NGO to …