AFRICA

Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP |  An Ivory Coast jury on Tuesday acquitted former first lady Simone Gbagbo of crimes against humanity during the 2010-11 post-election crisis in a stunning verdict after the prosecution had sought to jail her for life. “A majority of the jury declared Simone Gbagbo not …

Lusaka, Zambia | AFP | Zambia opened public consultations this week on the government’s plan to leave the International Criminal Court, as several other African countries re-assess their membership. South Africa recently revoked its planned departure from the ICC, based in The Hague, and The Gambia’s new president, Adama Barrow, reversed …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Celebrated South African anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, one of Nelson Mandela’s closest colleagues in the struggle against white rule and a fellow Robben Island prisoner, died Tuesday aged 87. Kathrada was among those tried and jailed alongside Mandela in the 1964 Rivonia trial, which …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Two foreign UN experts who were kidnapped in DR Congo have been found dead, one of them decapitated, the government said Tuesday, as spiralling violence in the vast country sparked international condemnation. The bodies of American Michael Sharp and Swedish national Zahida Catalan were …

The extraordinary Nile Council of Ministers (Nile-COM) meeting in Entebbe has rejected demands by Egypt for greater control of activities related to the flow of the river Nile. Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and Sudan were unanimous on Monday in seeking a revision of  proposals that Egypt, led by …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Congolese national police accused rebels Monday of massacring 39 of their officers in the violence-wracked Kasai region. The victims were killed in an “ambush” early Friday and buried in a mass grave by supporters of late militia leader Kamwina Nsapu around 75 kilometres north …

Pope begs God’s forgiveness for Church sins in Rwanda genocide President Paul Kagame on March 10 held talks with the head of the Catholic Church; the Holy Father, Pope Francis, at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. After the meeting, the Vatican said in a statement that the pontiff “conveyed …

Cotonou, Benin | AFP | Benin’s defence minister announced his resignation on Monday to protest President Patrice Talon’s plans to overhaul the constitution. Candide Armand-Marie Azannai wrote on his Facebook page that he had decided to quit because of “recent developments in this country’s politics”. Businessman Talon, who was elected last …

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | AFP |  A popular Tanzanian rapper said Sunday that he had been arrested over a song allegedly insulting President John Magufuli, seen as increasingly authoritarian and unwilling to brook any dissent. “It is true I am under arrest. Right now I am being taken to …

Refugees not the problem, wrong ideology is – Museveni tells summit on Somalia President Yoweri Museveni in one of his most radically candid addresses on refugees has told a special IGAD summit on Somalia at the weekend that refugees are not the problem but the wrong ideology of sectarianism where …