AFRICA

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | A former South African minister was convicted on Wednesday of brutally beating two women at a Johannesburg nightclub after one of them called him gay. Ex-deputy higher education minister Mduduzi Manana pleaded guilty to three counts of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm …

Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP |  The chocolate industry is indirectly driving massive and illegal deforestation in Ivory Coast, fuelling a catastrophic decline in wildlife, a green group said Wednesday. “In several national parks and other protected areas, 90 percent or more of the land mass has been converted to …

Luanda, Angola | AFP |  Angola’s constitutional court on Wednesday upheld the ruling party’s landslide win in last month’s election which will usher in the MPLA’s fourth decade in power and rejected opposition claims the poll was flawed. The ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola won 61.7 percent …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  A 14-year-old Kenyan girl was charged Wednesday with multiple counts of murder for allegedly starting a fire at a Nairobi school dormitory that left nine other schoolgirls dead. According to a source inside the court, where proceedings were held in camera due to the age …

ANALYSIS: What made Kenya’s Supreme Court ruling possible. Why it cannot happen in Uganda Kampala, Uganda | IAN KATUSIIME | Minutes after the historic Supreme Court ruling in Kenya that nullified the Aug. 8 presidential election, someone tweeted a quick thought, “It is not an understatement to say that Kenya’s Supreme Court has taught …

Cost of democracy: Uganda democracy activists jubilate over court annulment of Kenya election Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | On Oct.17, Kenyans will get back into the long queues to vote again after the Supreme Court annulled the last presidential election which saw incumbent, Uhuru Kenyatta, declared winner. The next election will be exactly …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP |  Zimbabwe produced enough food to feed its people for the first time since adopting a controversial policy to strip land from white farmers, President Robert Mugabe told parliament on Tuesday. From the year 2000, hundreds of white farmers were evicted from their farms, often violently, …

Lome, Togo | AFP |  Opposition lawmakers in Togo forced the adjournment of parliament on Tuesday in protest at a constitutional reform bill being left off the day’s agenda, despite days of anti-government protests. The president of the National Assembly, Dama Dramani, agreed to suspend the extraordinary session as lawmakers …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Accused of glossing over flaws in Kenya’s election which later caused the result to be overturned, international observers are under a harsh spotlight ahead of a re-run next month. The August 8 poll, which saw President Uhuru Kenyatta reelected, was annulled by Kenya’s Supreme Court earlier …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Tanzania’s main opposition party claimed Tuesday that the government of President John Magufuli played a role in the gun attack last week that wounded an outspoken politician and shocked the country. The lawmaker, Tundu Lissu, has had a series of run-ins with the government and …