AFRICA

Luanda, Angola | AFP |  Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos’s daughter, reportedly Africa’s richest woman, has been cleared to head the national oil company Sonangol, after a court rejected a legal challenge. Isabel dos Santos was put in charge of Sonangol in June in a move some analysts said …

Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Its lower cost has made it popular in commercial food production, but after being blamed for deforestation in Asia, palm oil plantations are now getting a similar rap in Africa. The sheer scale of land required is having an impact in Gabon, Cameroon and the …

The US Mission in Kampala has tripled US food aid contributions to Uganda in 2016 by announcing a new $40 million emergency humanitarian package. Through the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and Office of Food for Peace (FFP), the aid provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide more than 44,000 …

Gambian president-elect tells Jammeh to transfer power like British Banjul, Gambia | AFP |  The Gambia’s president-elect Adama Barrow on Monday called on President Yahya Jammeh to step aside, saying that even colonial power Britain was able to hand over power peacefully. In a Christmas message, Barrow said Gambians should …

Beni, DR Congo | AFP | The official explanation for a two-year wave of massacres in a restive corner of DR Congo centres on a shadowy rebel group accused of having ties to the global jihadist underground. But some basic details about the alleged killers of more than 700 victims …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP |  Nigeria has struck off 50,000 “ghost workers” from the state payrolls this year, saving nearly 630 million euros, the presidency said Tuesday. The office of President Muhammadu Buhari, who was voted into power last year vowing to stamp out endemic graft in Africa’s most populous …

Twenty-two civilians killed in DR Congo bloodbath: official Goma, DR Congo | AFP |  At least 22 civilians were killed in a massacre in Democratic Republic of Congo’s restive North Kivu province over the weekend, an official said Sunday. The bloodshed occurred in Eringeti, a town 55 kilometres (35 miles) …

DR Congo crisis talks suspended, hopes for deal by year end Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Talks to end DR Congo’s dangerous political crisis were suspended on Saturday until after Christmas after a fruitless 48 hours of negotiations over President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to quit power. Kabila’s second and …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday claimed the military had routed Boko Haram in a key northeastern stronghold, a year after saying the Islamist militants had been “technically” defeated. A campaign lasting for months in the 1,300 square-kilometre (500 square-mile) forest in northeastern Borno state …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP |  A Zimbabwean court has ordered President Robert Mugabe’s wife to return three properties she seized from a local businessman in a messy dispute over a $1.35-million diamond ring, a lawyer said Thursday. Grace Mugabe was taken to court by Jamal Ahmed after she took over …