Accra, Ghana | AFP | Respect Ruvimbo Topodzi was 15 and walking home from school in her native Zimbabwe when a 22-year-old man asked her out. She turned him down but it was too late. Her father saw them and assumed they were already together. He told her she had …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | The Burundi government has ordered the United Nations Human Rights Council to shut its office in the country within two months, foreign ministry and UN sources told AFP. The government on Wednesday sent a verbal note to resident UN coordinator Garry Conille to transmit the …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Boko Haram jihadists have attacked two military bases in Nigeria’s restive northeast, killing one soldier and injuring two, security sources told AFP Wednesday, in a week that saw insurgent assaults on troops intensify. Riding in trucks fitted with anti-aircraft guns, fighters from the self-styled Islamic …

Beni, DR Congo | AFP | A key opposition candidate in DR Congo presidential elections launched his campaign Wednesday in a city caught between an Ebola epidemic and militant attacks in one of the country’s most dangerous regions. Martin Fayulu, vying to replace President Joseph Kabila in the pivotal December …

Luweero, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Departed Asians Property Custodian Board has embarked on a verification exercise of people occupying property formerly owned by Asians in Luweero district. There are 38 properties in Luweero district formerly owned by Asians before they were expelled by President Idi Amin from Uganda in …

Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Libya is set to launch a campaign overseen by the World Health Organization to vaccinate more than 2.7 million children after months of shortages, the health ministry said Wednesday. The “national immunisation campaign”, organised with the United Nations children fund UNICEF, is expected to begin …

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung offers suggestions ahead of new policy launch Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | Policy documents alone will not industrialise Uganda. The government should lead this agenda by acting and learning from the mistakes and failures. Also industrial development should become a political priority in action and funding, not in …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Cultural institutions in Acholi and Bunyoro sub regions are calling for protection of their heritage inside Murchison Falls National Park as Uganda moves into the development of oil production facilities. The two kingdoms say that they possess valuable cultural sites and heritage materials inside the …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Legislators have questioned the move by government to introduce the new international East African electronic passport to replace the current passports. The Minister of State for Internal Affairs, Mario Obiga Kania, said that following an East African Community (EAC) directive by Heads of State, the …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga plans to waive a requirement for a mandatory certificate of Financial Implication, to allow legislators present private members bills. Kadaga accuses the Ministry of Finance of using the requirement to deliberately frustrate private bills. Parliament Rules of Procedure provide …