Pretoria, South Africa| BY PETER FABRICIUS| ISS TODAY| Later this month South Africa’s ruling party begins its five-yearly policy conference to determine the direction to be taken by the new African National Congress (ANC) president who will be elected in December. This is assuming that that person also becomes South Africa’s …
Read More »Angola prepares ‘golden’ retirement for president Dos Santos
Luanda, Angola | AFP | Angola’s government is preparing a golden parachute for the country’s president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, complete with first-class air travel and a chauffeur-driven car. And after 38 years in power, he will retire on a pension not far short of his current salary. A bill …
Read More »Tanzanian newspaper suspended for pointing finger at ex-presidents
Tanzanian newspaper suspended for pointing finger at Mkapa, Kikwete Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Tanzanian weekly, Mawio, has been ordered to suspend publication for two years after pointing the finger at two former presidents in connection with huge revenue losses, the country’s interior ministry said Friday. The weekly, regularly critical of …
Read More »Four civilians killed in latest Kenya roadside bombing
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Four people were killed and 11 injured when a passenger bus struck a roadside bomb in northeast Kenya on Friday, officials said, the most recent in a string of such attacks. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, but in recent weeks …
Read More »Malawi deplores clashes between Hutu-Tutsi refugees
Blantyre, Malawi | AFP | Malawi on Friday deplored the violent clashes reportedly taking place between rival ethnic groups from Rwanda and Burundi at a refugee camp near the capital Lilongwe, and said they must stop. There have been clashes in recent weeks between Tutsi and Hutu refugees from Rwanda …
Read More »UN says Burundi still torturing and killing opponents
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Burundi security forces and government-allied militia are continuing to torture and kill opponents, UN investigators said Thursday, allegations denied by the government. The investigators from the UN’s Commission of Inquiry on Burundi have been denied entry to the country said there was a “feeling of …
Read More »Nigerian Army rejects grounds for war crimes probe
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria’s military has rejected a call for senior army officers to be investigated for possible war crimes in the fight against Boko Haram Islamists. Amnesty International named six serving or retired army officers whom it said should be probed to establish whether they were responsible …
Read More »Confusion in Lesotho as incoming PM’s wife shot dead
Maseru, Lesotho | AFP | Just days before his inauguration, Lesotho’s incoming prime minister was left shaken Thursday by the murder of his estranged wife in a shooting highlighting the political uncertainty which has long gripped the mountain kingdom. Thomas Thabane’s 58-year-old wife Lipolelo, was shot dead Wednesday in Ha …
Read More »CONFIRMED: 18 killed in Mogadishu restaurant attack
Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP | A suicide car bombing and assault by Shabaab militants on two neighbouring restaurants in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu ended Thursday morning with 18 dead, a government spokesman said. “The operation is over now and the gunmen were killed by the security forces,” said Mohamed Ahmed Arab, spokesman …
Read More »Warmer climate threatens malaria spread in Ethiopia
Paris, France | AFP | Cool, high-lying areas of Ethiopia hitherto shielded from heat-loving malaria mosquitoes are increasingly exposed to the disease as the climate warms, researchers said Thursday. Most Ethiopians live in the country’s highlands, and have long enjoyed natural protection against mosquitoes carrying the malaria-causing parasites Plasmodium falciparum …
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