AFRICA

Rwanda President Paul Kagame has explained why many African countries are unhappy with the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying the Hague-based body has failed to offer international justice. He said the court was not serving justice but political interests disguised as international justice. “Rwanda did not become signatory to ICC because this …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Burundi’s foreign minister on Thursday summoned envoys for the EU and several European nations to rap them over the knuckles for skipping a diplomatic meeting he had invited them to, government sources said. Ambassadors for the EU, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands had been …

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | AFP |  Tanzanian authorities on Friday charged the editor of a whistle-blowing website for failing to reveal the identity of contributors to the site, court documents revealed. Maxence Melo, who co-founded the website Jamii Forums, was charged with operating a website without a local domain, …

Pretoria, South Africa | AFP | After 52 years, Mncedisi Tyopo finally stood beside his father’s grave, looking down at remains being exhumed as part of South Africa’s attempts to come to terms with its painful past. Tyopo’s father Bhonase Vulindlela was an anti-apartheid fighter who was hanged along with …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Traces of explosives have been found on victims’ remains from an EgyptAir plane that crashed into the Mediterranean in May killing all 66 people on board, Egypt’s aviation ministry said Thursday. An official investigative committee which made the discovery has referred the case to Egypt’s …

Paris, France | AFP | President Joseph Kabila and his family in the Democratic Republic of Congo have created a personal economic empire worth hundreds of millions of dollars, the Bloomberg News agency reported Thursday. “Together the Kabilas have built a network of businesses that reaches into every corner of …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have ordered that social networks including Facebook and WhatsApp be blocked soon before President Joseph Kabila’s mandate expires, three internet providers said Thursday. Congo’s telecoms regulator issued an order, seen by AFP, demanding that providers cut access …

United Nations, United States | AFP |  Incoming UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday announced the appointment of Nigeria’s Environment Minister Amina Mohammed to be the UN’s number two official and tapped two other women for key leadership posts. Guterres has made gender parity a priority of his tenure which …

Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa has called for international partnerships with Uganda’s Settlement Transformation Project (2016-2021) that aims to achieve self-reliance and local settlement of refugees. The Ugandan programme, officials say, aims to promote social development in the refugee hosting areas as a durable solution to challenges related to refugees, while protecting …

Juba, South Sudan | AFP | President Salva Kiir called Wednesday for a “national dialogue” to end the three-year-long civil war in South Sudan. In a speech to parliament, Kiir, whose wrangling for power with his former deputy Riek Machar plunged the world’s newest nation into a brutal, destructive and …