AFRICA

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | AFP |  Some 60 Tanzanian Muslims say they have been held for four years without trial on terror charges and have threatened to boycott any future hearings, local media reported Wednesday. The majority of the suspects, who include preachers, were arrested in the mainly Christian …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | The funeral of celebrated South African anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada on Wednesday was transformed into a rally against President Jacob Zuma, who had been barred from the event. The family of the African National Congress (ANC) stalwart, one of Nelson Mandela’s closest colleagues in …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenya’s High Court on Wednesday gave parliament 60 days to enact legislation that would make it obligatory to have more female lawmakers, or face dissolution. The 2010 constitution requires that no more than two thirds of lawmakers should be men, a principle hailed at the …

NAIROBI (PSCU) – Direct flights between Mogadishu and Nairobi resumed Wednesday with the first commercial plane carrying 49 passengers from the Somali capital landing at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) shortly after 1.00 p.m. The re-launch of direct flights between Nairobi and Mogadishu was agreed upon at bilateral talks between …

Accra, Ghana | AFP | Ghana’s new government is looking to fix a crippling power crisis with a complete overhaul of its deficit-ridden energy sector including a boost for solar energy. Intermittent power supply issues have dogged the west African nation since the 1980s and became particularly acute in the …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | President Jacob Zuma will not attend the funeral on Wednesday of celebrated South African anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, who in recent years had become fiercely critical of the government. While most of the country’s leadership will be present, Kathrada’s family asked Zuma to skip the …

Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP |  An Ivory Coast jury on Tuesday acquitted former first lady Simone Gbagbo of crimes against humanity during the 2010-11 post-election crisis in a stunning verdict after the prosecution had sought to jail her for life. “A majority of the jury declared Simone Gbagbo not …

Lusaka, Zambia | AFP | Zambia opened public consultations this week on the government’s plan to leave the International Criminal Court, as several other African countries re-assess their membership. South Africa recently revoked its planned departure from the ICC, based in The Hague, and The Gambia’s new president, Adama Barrow, reversed …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Celebrated South African anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, one of Nelson Mandela’s closest colleagues in the struggle against white rule and a fellow Robben Island prisoner, died Tuesday aged 87. Kathrada was among those tried and jailed alongside Mandela in the 1964 Rivonia trial, which …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Two foreign UN experts who were kidnapped in DR Congo have been found dead, one of them decapitated, the government said Tuesday, as spiralling violence in the vast country sparked international condemnation. The bodies of American Michael Sharp and Swedish national Zahida Catalan were …