Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | The last foreign reporter living in South Sudan said Wednesday he had been deported from the war-torn country after a series of articles critical of the government. In a statement posted on his Twitter account, Justin Lynch, 25, said he was “arrested and deported” by …
Read More »South African court rules against right-to-die
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal on Tuesday overturned a ruling that granted a man the right to medically-assisted death and could have opened the way to legalise euthanasia. Last year, the High Court in Pretoria had ruled that a doctor could help retired …
Read More »Gambia election recount awards Barrow slimmer win
Banjul, Gambia | AFP | The Gambia’s shock election result awarded president-elect Adama Barrow extra votes by mistake but a recount showed he still won outright, the country’s electoral commission told AFP Tuesday. Alieu Momar Njie, chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, said correct counting on the spot in one …
Read More »Over 100 psychiatric patients escape as Kenya doctors strike
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | More than 100 patients escaped from Kenya’s only psychiatric hospital on Monday as doctors and nurses joined a national hospital strike for pay rises. Nairobi Police Commander Japheth Koome told AFP that police had launched an operation to return the patients to the hospital, as …
Read More »How fake US embassy in Ghana issued visas for 10 years
Washington, United States | AFP | Fraudsters posing as consular officers operated a fake American embassy in the Ghanaian capital Accra for about a decade and printed counterfeit visas, a US official said Monday. US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said no one was believed to have entered the United …
Read More »Uganda’s brutal Lord’s Resistance Army, past and present
Kampala, Uganda | AFP | One of Africa’s longest-surviving rebel groups, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has terrorised parts of central Africa for 30 years. Its leaders are violent pariahs and fugitives from international justice, hunted by US special forces and African armies. Founder Joseph Kony remains on the loose, …
Read More »Nigeria’s Soyinka hits back at ‘imbeciles’ in green card row
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Nobel prize-winning author Wole Soyinka hit back Monday at critics from his native Nigeria, denouncing the “slugs, barbarians and imbeciles” who derided him for tearing up his US residency card after Donald Trump’s election win. “I don’t want people we fought for to have the …
Read More »President-elect Barrow to reverse ICC pull-out, opposition figures out on bail
Senior Gambia opposition figures freed on bail Banjul, Gambia | AFP | Gambian opposition leader Ousainou Darboe, who had been jailed for taking part in a protest, was freed on bail with 18 others Monday, days after a shock opposition election win. The head of his defence team said …
Read More »Why Jammeh lost: Gambian leader’s downfall in five points
Banjul, Gambia | AFP | President Yahya Jammeh scored only half his previous box office tally in last week’s election, handing victory to opposition coalition leader Adama Barrow. But why did Gambians turn against Jammeh after 22 years in power? Economic crisis A triple blow has been dealt to the …
Read More »Ghana election: what you need to know
Accra, Ghana | AFP | Two old foes are stepping back into the ring to fight in Ghana’s hotly contested presidential election on December 7. This is the second time that President John Mahama of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) faces off against Nana Akufo-Addo, leader of the New …
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