NEWS ANALYSIS

Mugabe: Liberation hero turned despot Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP |  Zimbabwe’s veteran leader Robert Mugabe once quipped that he’d rule his country until he turned 100. But the 93-year-old’s decades-long grip on power was slipped on Sunday after his own party told him to resign or face impeachment.  Sources close to …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Tens of thousands of overjoyed protesters flooded Zimbabwe’s streets Saturday celebrating President Robert Mugabe’s slipping power on the eve of crunch talks with the military to determine the veteran leader’s fate. In scenes of public euphoria not seen since independence in 1980, huge crowds marched, danced …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe appeared publicly Friday for the first time since the military takeover in a defiant gesture, but faces pressure to step down from his party ahead of weekend protests. Leaders of eight of ten regional branches of the 93-year-old’s ruling ZANU-PF party …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe was facing an uncertain future Friday after President Robert Mugabe made a defiant public appearance and the army said negotiations with the 93-year-old head of state were continuing. AFP asked Anthoni van Nieuwkerk, a politics professor at Wits University in Johannesburg, to analyse the …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Emmerson Mnangagwa appeared well-placed to reprise his leading role in Zimbabwe after returning to the country in the wake of the army’s takeover, prompted by his sacking by President Robert Mugabe. Nicknamed “Ngwena” (The Crocodile) because of his fearsome power and ruthlessness, the 75-year-old has …

Monrovia, Liberia | AFP | The European Union on Tuesday joined an international chorus urging Liberian political parties and its electoral commission to end “unnecessary delays” and elect a new president. A second round of voting to choose a successor to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was suspended indefinitely by the …

Lome, Togo | AFP | Togo opposition leaders on Tuesday said President Faure Gnassingbe “declared war on the Togolese people” by accusing them of orchestrating violence in massive anti-government protests across the West African country. At least 16 people have been killed and more than 200 injured since late August in …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Military vehicles took to the streets of the Zimbabwean capital and prolonged gunfire was heard near the presidential residence early Wednesday as questions mounted over Robert Mugabe’s grip on power, even as the army denied a coup in a state broadcast. Tensions between the 93-year-old …

How coffee marketing arrangement is putting more money in farmers pockets, improving quality Kampala, Uganda | ANDREW S. KAGWA | 80-year old widow Anna Kyamulabi grows coffee on her half acre farm in Bulwanyi village, near Kyengera in Wakiso District. She is a Fairtrade producer, although it unclear if she knows …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP |  Zimbabwe was reeling Tuesday after the army warned it could intervene if President Robert Mugabe continued to purge veteran ruling party figures in an apparent effort to help his wife succeed him. Both the ruling party’s youth wing and the main opposition party called for …