United Nations, United States | AFP | The UN Security Council is expected to vote on Friday on deploying a UN police force to Burundi to monitor human rights and help quell violence in the African country. France requested a vote on a draft resolution presented two weeks ago to …
Read More »Mugabe fights back after Zimbabwe protests
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday launched a blistering attack on anti-government activists, foreign embassies and disaffected war veterans as he sought to assert his grip on power following recent protests. Mugabe addressed thousands of supporters outside the headquarters of the ruling ZANU-PF party, issuing …
Read More »Congo opposition chief comes home as crisis looms
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Congo’s veteran opposition chief Etienne Tshisekedi returned home after a two-year absence to a warm welcome from large crowds Wednesday as the mineral-rich African nation heads into fresh turbulence. Thousands of supporters sporting Tshisekedi T-shirts and waving party flags who had gathered at the …
Read More »No hawking. No trading. Lagos bans street selling
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Every morning, Mama Biliki prepares small bags of popcorn outside her ramshackle house in Ajegunle, one of Lagos’ poorest neighbourhoods, to sell by the roadside for 50 naira each. On a good day, she reckons she can earn about 5,000 naira ($16, 15 euros) hawking …
Read More »I’m voting Trump, says Obama’s Kenyan half-brother
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | US President Barack Obama’s half-brother said Tuesday he was going to vote for Republican candidate Donald Trump in this year’s American election, saying he felt let down his sibling’s neglect of his Kenyan family. Obama was born in Hawaii to an American mother and a …
Read More »Kiir announces Deng as new South Sudan vice-president
Riek Machar replaced as South Sudan vice-president Juba, South Sudan | AFP | South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir announced on Monday that former rebel leader Riek Machar had been replaced as vice president, confirming signs of serious divisions within the opposition. Kiir said he had appointed Taban Deng Gai to …
Read More »DR Congo vows to jail opposition leader if he returns
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s justice minister on Monday vowed to jail opposition leader Moise Katumbi if he returned home after leaving the country for medical treatment. Katumbi was seen as the leading challenger to President Joseph Kabila in elections due to be held this year, but left the country …
Read More »Nigeria hails major step towards polio-free Africa
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria on Sunday celebrated two years without a new case of polio, in a major stride towards Africa being declared free of the devastating disease. If no new case is reported by July 2017, Nigeria will be certified free of the virus, which mainly affects …
Read More »Zambia show cancelled, Koffi Olomide apologizes
Lusaka, Zambia | AFP | Zambian authorities said on Sunday they had called off a planned show by Congolese singer Koffi Olomide following his deportation from Kenya for kicking one of his female dancers. Olomide was scheduled to perform at the annual agricultural trade show in Lusaka this week. “Following …
Read More »Kenya jails ivory ‘kingpin’ for 20 years
Mombasa, Kenya | AFP | A Kenyan court sentenced an ivory trafficking “kingpin” to 20 years in jail Friday, a symbolically heavy penalty in a nation where major poachers are rarely punished. Feisal Mohamed Ali, a Kenyan national, must be made an “example (of) for those behind the poaching menace …
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