AFRICA

  Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Traffic jams may clog the city and the beaches look like garbage dumps, but for the Lagos state government developing tourism is now a do or die matter. Nigeria has survived almost exclusively on oil revenues for decades, but the plunge in crude prices …

Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabon’s President Ali Bongo said Friday that he had not used or encouraged the violence which erupted in his country after he won re-election last month by a wafer-thin margin. “I have not employed or triggered the violence,” Bongo said in an interview with AFP, …

Lusaka, Zambia | AFP | Zambia’s high court on Friday ruled that the inauguration of President Edgar Lungu should go ahead next Tuesday, after the opposition brought an application seeking to block the event. “The inauguration of president Edgar Lungu will go ahead as planned… the court has ruled in …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Civil society activists who met with UN Security Council diplomats during last week’s visit to South Sudan are fleeing a government crackdown, groups said Friday. Around a dozen activists met with the UN delegation when it visited South Sudan to push for peace after an …

Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabon opposition leader Jean Ping on Thursday appealed to the country’s highest court Thursday in an attempt to have a wafer-thin presidential election loss overturned. Ping insists he was the winner of the August 27 presidential election — which gave incumbent Ali Bongo a narrow …

United Nations, United States | AFP |  A UN panel of experts has concluded that heavy fighting that engulfed South Sudan’s capital Juba in July, forcing vice president and ex-rebel leader Riek Machar to flee, was “directed by the highest level” of the country’s military. The confidential report seen by …

United Nations, United States | AFP | The UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo has transported more than 100 supporters of South Sudan’s rebel leader Riek Machar to health facilities for emergency medical treatment, the UN said Wednesday. The rebel fighters had crossed into the DRC and “were …

The situation in South Sudan and Burundi will be top of the agenda as the 17th Extra-Ordinary Meeting of the Summit of the EAC Heads of State takes place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on Thursday. The two day extraordinary summit of the East African Community (EAC) will also consider the …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s high court on Wednesday overturned a two-week ban on protests in the capital Harare after a challenge from activists involved in a surge of demonstrations against President Robert Mugabe. Mugabe has vowed to crack down on the protests, which have erupted over recent months …

Libreville, Gabon | AFP |  Pressure mounted on President Ali Bongo of Gabon on Tuesday over a disputed election win after EU observers reported a “clear anomaly” in the vote and former colonial power France and his ex-justice minister urged a recount. Bongo claimed victory in the August 27 poll …