Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP |  The chocolate industry is indirectly driving massive and illegal deforestation in Ivory Coast, fuelling a catastrophic decline in wildlife, a green group said Wednesday. “In several national parks and other protected areas, 90 percent or more of the land mass has been converted to …

Luanda, Angola | AFP |  Angola’s constitutional court on Wednesday upheld the ruling party’s landslide win in last month’s election which will usher in the MPLA’s fourth decade in power and rejected opposition claims the poll was flawed. The ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola won 61.7 percent …

Entebbe, Uganda  | THE INDEPENDENT |  President Yoweri Museveni wraps up the first leg of his land education campaign with a national press conference at State House, Entebbe on Wednesday night. He has so far been to west, south and eastern Uganda. The Entebbe press and national briefing is live on radios and …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  A 14-year-old Kenyan girl was charged Wednesday with multiple counts of murder for allegedly starting a fire at a Nairobi school dormitory that left nine other schoolgirls dead. According to a source inside the court, where proceedings were held in camera due to the age …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  South Africa said they accepted a FIFA order to replay a 2018 World Cup qualifier against Senegal that was manipulated by a Ghanaian referee. “Following extra information from FIFA, we resolved on moral and ethical grounds that we cannot benefit from corrupt activities,” a …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP |  Zimbabwe produced enough food to feed its people for the first time since adopting a controversial policy to strip land from white farmers, President Robert Mugabe told parliament on Tuesday. From the year 2000, hundreds of white farmers were evicted from their farms, often violently, …

COMMENT | By Amos Wekesa | After reading The Daily Monitor yesterday and seeing Justice Stephen Kavuma back, I told a business friend of mine that we urgently need to form a task force that will educate Ugandan politicians, civil servant basics of investment while one can. If we don’t do …

Lome, Togo | AFP |  Opposition lawmakers in Togo forced the adjournment of parliament on Tuesday in protest at a constitutional reform bill being left off the day’s agenda, despite days of anti-government protests. The president of the National Assembly, Dama Dramani, agreed to suspend the extraordinary session as lawmakers …

Singapore, Singapore | AFP |  Singapore got its first female president Wednesday, but the milestone was overshadowed by criticism that her selection was undemocratic after she was handed the job without a vote. Halimah Yacob, a former speaker of parliament from the Muslim Malay minority, did not have to face …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Accused of glossing over flaws in Kenya’s election which later caused the result to be overturned, international observers are under a harsh spotlight ahead of a re-run next month. The August 8 poll, which saw President Uhuru Kenyatta reelected, was annulled by Kenya’s Supreme Court earlier …