AFRICA

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP |  Nigeria’s electoral agency has suspended more than 200 officers for accepting bribes to influence the outcome of the 2015 vote won by the opposition. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said late Tuesday that 205 staff were found guilty of corruption after an investigation by …

Lusaka, Zambia | AFP | Zambian opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema has been charged with treason after allegedly refusing to give way to President Edgar Lungu’s motorcade on a main road, police said. Hichilema, who says he does not recognise Lungu as president, was accused of deliberately endangering his life in …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | A bloody clash between the army and police in Nigeria’s restive northeastern Yobe state on Wednesday left one soldier and three police dead, a security source told AFP. The police confirmed the fracas in the state capital of Damaturu, but did not say if there were …

Banjul, Gambia | AFP | The Gambia’s first female barrister was sworn in Tuesday as National Assembly speaker, days after the African country’s United Democratic Party (UDP) emerged from decades in opposition to win an absolute parliamentary majority. Mariam Jack Denton, the first woman to be called to the Gambian Bar, …

Lusaka, Zambia | AFP | Zambian opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema, who has refused to accept the result of last year’s presidential election, was detained Tuesday on treason charges, his lawyer said. Police were not immediately available to confirm the charges, which came after a dispute over Hichilema’s vehicles allegedly obstructing President …

Why African countries banning imports of fruit and veg is a blunt tool Zambia’s government has just banned the imports of some farm produce as a way of promoting the growth of the agriculture sector. The Conversation Africa’s Samantha Spooner asked Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development, …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | South Sudanese villagers are eating leaves from trees and precious seed stocks as food runs out in areas where famine has not been declared, a humanitarian aid group said Monday. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said villages outside Aweil Centre County in the north of …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Corruption watchdogs alleged Monday that Shell executives knew that money earmarked for a controversial oil deal was being used to bribe senior Nigerian officials, a claim rebuffed by the petroleum giant. The allegations by Global Witness and Finance Uncovered refer to the 2011 purchase by oil …

Juba, South Sudan | AFP | At least 16 civilians were killed in fighting Monday between government troops and rebels in South Sudan’s second-largest city Wau, the United Nations peacekeeping mission (UNMISS) said in a statement. The violence stemmed from an ambush Sunday of government troops near the city, leading …

Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP | Somalia’s new army chief escaped a car bombing Sunday that killed at least 10 people in a bloody response by Shabaab militants to the president’s declaration of war on the group. A suicide bomber drove a car packed with explosives into Ahmed Mohamed Jimale’s convoy …