AFRICA

Trial to open of former child soldier turned LRA warlord The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | Dominic Ongwen, the former child soldier who became a Lord’s Resistance Army warlord, will go before war crimes judges on Tuesday in a trial which presents the International Criminal Court with its “most difficult …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria and Morocco are in talks over a huge project to extend a West African gas pipeline to stretch up towards Europe, officials say. Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama said in a government video posted on Twitter on Friday that the pipeline would “go along …

Algiers, Algeria | AFP |  Algeria’s premier said Saturday regional trade in Africa was much lower than in other continents as the oil exporter seeks to diversify its revenue stream because of low crude prices. Regional trade makes up only 10 to 12 percent of international commerce for African countries …

Bobigny, France | AFP |  A French court on Saturday upheld a 25 year prison sentence handed to a former Rwandan intelligence agent jailed in France’s first trial over the African country’s 1994 genocide. Pascal Simbikangwa was found guilty of genocide and complicity in crimes against humanity in a landmark …

Banjul, Gambia | AFP | The Gambia’s President-elect Adama Barrow held talks with his team Saturday to plot his transition to power, with the release of political prisoners emerging as a top priority for the new administration. Barrow’s shock election victory ended the iron-fisted 22-year rule of Yahya Jammeh on …

  Kasese, Uganda | AFP |  Outside the mortuary in Kasese, grief-stricken families wait to find out if their missing relatives were among scores killed by Ugandan security forces at the weekend. Huddling in groups, some pull clothes over their mouths and noses to mask the sickening stench of the …

Luanda, Angola | AFP | Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who has ruled for 37 years, will stand down before next year’s general election, state radio said Friday citing sources in the ruling MPLA party. The autocratic Dos Santos, 74, became president in 1979, making him Africa’s second-longest serving …

Adama Barrow: Gambia’s estate agent of change Banjul, Gambia | AFP | He is quiet, understated and until recently unknown, but now presidential election winner Adama Barrow has become the flagbearer for a new era of change in The Gambia. A political novice whose lack of baggage has endeared him …

Gambian president Jammeh ‘concedes’ defeat in election Banjul, Gambia | AFP | Gambian President Yahya Jammeh has conceded defeat to the opposition, the chairman of the electoral commission said Friday, bringing a dramatic end to his 22 years in power. “It’s really unique that someone who has been ruling this …

Juba, South Sudan | AFP |  UN human rights experts on Thursday said “ethnic cleansing” was under way in South Sudan after visiting the country where violence has soared since a peace deal collapsed in July. “There is already a steady process of ethnic cleansing underway in several areas of …