AFRICA

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Political drama, corruption allegations and even wedding party controversies — the Gupta family, one of South Africa’s wealthiest, has been accused of wielding undue influence behind the scenes. Now the immigrant family is at the centre of a row battering President Jacob Zuma after …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Participants in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s “national dialogue” agreed Monday, in the absence of the main opposition coalition, to push back to April 2018 the presidential election due to take place before the end of the year. The accord was announced after the …

Kenya’s parliament threatens sanctions on Machar after renewed South Sudan fighting Malakal, South Sudan | AFP | At least 56 rebels and four government troops were killed in heavy weekend clashes in northeastern South Sudan, in a worrying surge of violence in the world’s youngest nation. Sudan People’s Liberation Army …

Kigali, Rwanda | AFP | The last king of Rwanda, Kigeli V, who ruled the east African nation for less than a year before being forced into exile, finally settling in the United States, died early Sunday according to his official website. He was 80. Born Jean-Baptiste Ndahindurwa, King Kigeli …

Rwanda’s Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Claver Gatete, has been named Finance Minister of the Year in the Sub-Saharan category by Global Capital, an international news, opinion, and data service Gatete’s honour was announced on Oct.04 together with winners from Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, and …

Blantyre, Malawi | AFP |  Malawian President Peter Mutharika returned home Sunday after an unexplained trip to the United States that lasted several weeks, sparking rumours over his health. Mutharika flew to New York to give a speech at the UN General Assembly on September 25 but there had been …

Muhanga, Rwanda | AFP |  “Three, two, one, launch!” And with that, catapulted from a ramp, the small fixed-wing drone buzzes into the air towards its pre-programmed destination, the Kabgayi hospital two kilometres away. On Friday Rwanda inaugurated a drone operation that its backers hope will kickstart a revolution in …

Lome, Togo | AFP |  Stemming the astronomical losses caused by crime in the oceans surrounding Africa is the focus of a major continental summit on Saturday in the Togolese capital, Lome. “Over recent decades, the accumulated revenue losses resulting directly from illegal activities in the African maritime sector add …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP |  Kenya, Senegal and Chad will each nominate a candidate to become the new head of the African Union, which failed to choose a successor to Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in July. A list of candidates, obtained by AFP but not yet made public, includes Kenya’s foreign …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP |  South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar, a pariah for the West since his call last month for renewed civil war, headed to South Africa for medical check-ups on Wednesday, an AFP correspondent reported. In what he billed as his first media appearance since he fled …