AFRICA

Rabat, Morocco | AFP | Moroccan authorities said Sunday they had seized nearly 541 kilos (1,200 pounds) of cocaine in a container from Latin America which arrived in Casablanca. Six people including a Brazilian suspected of being the “mastermind of a criminal network” were arrested, according to the Central Bureau …

Cape Town, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s ruling party leader Cyril Ramaphosa admitted Sunday to “disunity and discord” within the African National Congress as it struggled to remove scandal-tainted President Jacob Zuma from power. Ramaphosa, 65, said he wanted to replace “a period of difficulty, disunity and discord” …

Nairobi, Kenya | THE INDEPENDENT |  Miguna Miguna, the outspoken member of Kenya’s opposition who was deported to Canada last week, has narrated his ordeal. Government officials say Miguna Miguna denounced his Kenyan citizenship years back, acquired Canadian citizenship and never bothered to reclaim Kenyan citizenship in the legally prescribed manner. …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir Sunday replaced powerful intelligence chief Mohammed Atta, the official news agency SUNA reported, amid a security crackdown on opposition protests against rising food prices. Bashir issued a presidential decree announcing Salah Abdallah Mohammed Salih as the new head of the country’s …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Tanzanian authorities have stepped up an escalating war on cannabis by destroying 14 hectares (35 acres) of the crop in the northern province of Arusha in recent days. Saturday alone saw eight hectares laid waste at the Meru forest reserve following another six acres earlier …

Sydney, Australia | AFP | Papua New Guinea is responsible for the human rights of refugees sent to a remote island by Australia, the UN human rights chief has said, as advocates warn the men are living in fear of violence from local residents. Some 600 men were moved out …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | The top decision-making body of South Africa’s ruling ANC will meet on Monday following days of talks over President Jacob Zuma’s expected departure from office, a party spokeswoman said Sunday. “An NEC (national executive committee) meeting is scheduled for tomorrow in Pretoria,” ANC spokeswoman …

Cape Town, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s president-in-waiting Cyril Ramaphosa will address a major ANC party rally in Cape Town Sunday as the country is gripped by the deadlock over talks to oust scandal-hit President Jacob Zuma from office. With Zuma refusing a party request to resign, the …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Thousands of people joined an official demonstration in Burundi on Saturday, in response to criticism by the United Nations chief about a planned revision to the country’s constitution. The protest was called by the mayor of Bujumbura, the capital, after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres used …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Saturday said the country will not return land seized from former white commercial farmers almost two decades ago. “It will never happen,” Mnangagwa said in a speech to his ZANU-PF party supporters in central Zimbabwe, broadcast on television. His statement …