AFRICA

Cairo, Egypt | AFP |  Egypt is building a major water treatment and desalination plant, the president said Monday, as the Nile-dependent nation plans for any fallout from an upstream dam being built by Ethiopia. The North African country is constructing “the largest wastewater treatment and desalination plant”, President Abdel …

Rwanda refugees: Cessation Clause on status implemented  Kigali, Rwanda | THE INDEPENDENT TEAM & AGENCIES | 2018 started with a major transformational change for thousands of Rwandans living as refugees in countries around the world. Effective Jan.01, a Cessation Clause on their refugee status instituted by the United Nations High Commission …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | A student was killed in Sudan on Sunday during protests against soaring bread prices, officials and witnesses said. Protests broke out in areas of war-torn Darfur and Blue Nile states as well as the capital Khartoum with demonstrators burning tyres and blocking roads and police …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s parliament indicated Sunday it would this week deliberate procedures for presidential impeachment, as pressure mounts on embattled incumbent Jacob Zuma. The move came just days after the Constitutional Court ruled that parliament had failed to hold Zuma accountable for using public money …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egypt’s former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq said on Sunday that he will not now be a candidate in this year’s presidential election, reversing a previous pledge to stand. His decision to step aside is likely to pave the way for the poll to be dominated …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP |  Police fired tear gas on Saturday at groups of students protesting in a central Sudanese town against soaring bread prices, witnesses said, as opposition parties called for anti-government demonstrations. Bread prices almost doubled on Friday across Sudan after flour manufacturers raised prices amid dwindling supply …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The morning light showed a scene of desolation as people in Ngaliema surveyed the wreckage of shanty homes swept away by killer floods and landslips. Among the 44 people who perished overnight Wednesday in Kinshasa, the capital of Democratic Republic of Congo, were a …

Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Equatorial Guinea has launched a dragnet for “mercenaries” behind an attempt to overthrow President Theodoro Obiang, Africa’s longest-serving leader, a senior government official said on Friday. Separately, Chad said an Equatorial Guinean, living in exile in Europe, is believed to have been behind the attempted coup. …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | A Zimbabwean court on Thursday set aside a case against an American journalist who was charged with insulting then-president Robert Mugabe on Twitter. Martha O’Donovan was charged with subversion and undermining or insulting Mugabe in an alleged tweet in October that described the ageing leader …

Lome, Togo | AFP | Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe broke his silence after months of protests against his rule, calling on the opposition to “dialogue” in his New Year address given late Wednesday. “Dialogue must remain the preferred way of resolving disagreements between political actors,” Gnassingbe said in an address on …