Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | As Kenya prepares to close the world’s largest refugee camp, a rights watchdog said the repatriation of Somalis from the sprawling Dadaab camp is based on misinformation and violates international standards. Human Rights Watch, which interviewed scores of people in the vast camp last month, …
Read More »Zimbabwe to print substitute US dollars as cash runs out
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe announced Thursday it will introduce next month “bond notes” equivalent to the US dollar, sparking fears of a return to the hyperinflation that wrecked the economy several years ago. The country, led by authoritarian President Robert Mugabe, adopted the US dollar and South African …
Read More »South Sudan paper shut down after it headlines govt corruption
Juba, South Sudan | AFP | The South Sudan government has shut down the country’s main English-language daily, which headlined news on a war profiteering report commissioned by actor George Clooney, the paper’s editor told AFP on Wednesday. Nation Mirror editor Simon Aurelious said officials from the National Security Service …
Read More »It’s ‘Dallas’ in Gabon as country awaits key vote ruling
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | The head of Gabon’s top court, which has the pivotal task of ruling if President Ali Bongo’s contested re-election is valid, is a former beauty queen whose affair with the leader’s father produced two children. Marie-Madeleine Mborantsuo is in the limelight in this oil-rich Central …
Read More »ANALYSIS: Rwanda shines at TGAIS
Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his Ugandan counterpart President Yoweri Museveni on Sept.05 launched the inaugural Global African Investment Summit in Kigali, Rwanda. Dubbed the Global African Investment Summit COMESA & Government of Rwanda (TGAIS-Rwanda), the meeting brought together African leaders, heads of State, senior policymakers and influential business leaders …
Read More »IGAD in historic one-day summit in Somalian capital Mogadishu
Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP | Somalia on Tuesday agreed to lift a week-old ban on imports of Kenyan khat after a storm of controversy from angry growers of the leafy narcotic in neighbouring Kenya. The decision was made on the margins of a historic one-day summit in the Somali capital, …
Read More »South Africa’s Zuma pays back $500,000 bill over house scandal
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African President Jacob Zuma has paid back $542,000 of public money spent refurbishing his private home, his office said Monday, in a controversy that has dominated his second term in office. The country’s highest court found earlier this year that Zuma had violated …
Read More »South Sudan’s ‘violent kleptocrats’ profit from deadly war
Washington, United States | AFP | South Sudan’s warring leaders and their cronies have amassed fortunes — including foreign properties and stakes in international firms — while prosecuting a murderous conflict, George Clooney charged Monday. After presenting the results of a detailed two-year inquiry to the media, Hollywood stars Clooney …
Read More »Buhari vows to lead Nigeria out of recession
Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday pledged to reverse the country’s economic slump as his government also tackles endemic corruption and the security threat from Boko Haram Islamists. Recession was officially confirmed in Africa’s most populous nation last month, after a second successive quarter of …
Read More »Nigerian Ebola movie extols moment of heroism
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Hollywood plague movies are usually about a fictional viral outbreak, unleashing chaos and anarchy that can only be stopped by heroes who transcend the panic. That’s not true for “93 Days”, a Nollywood film premiering on Tuesday, which dramatises the story of Nigeria’s …
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