Kidal, Mali | AFP | Mali’s Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga made a landmark visit to the restive northern town of Kidal on Friday, the first since 2014 by a head of government to an area still in the hands of former rebels. Five French soldiers were wounded in Kidal …
Read More »Nine suspected FARC dissidents killed in Colombia military operation
Bogota, Colombia | AFP | Nine suspected FARC dissidents were killed Monday in a military operation in southern Colombia, the defense ministry said. The operation was carried out in the municipality of Calamar, in the southern central department of Guaviare, the ministry said on Twitter. Defense minister Luis Carlos Villegas …
Read More »FARC withdrawing from Colombian presidential race
Bogota, Colombia | AFP | Colombia’s FARC said Thursday it is pulling out of the country’s presidential race after its candidate, 59-year-old ex-guerrilla leader Rodrigo “Timochenko” Londono, suffered a heart attack. Ivan Marquez, a senate candidate and senior member of the political party formed by the former Revolutionary Armed Forces …
Read More »Trump nomination for Nobel Peace Prize possibly a fake
Oslo, Norway | AFP | Has Donald Trump really been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize? The Norwegian Nobel Institute said Wednesday it had filed a police report after receiving a seemingly fraudulent nomination for the US president. “We have good reason to believe that a nomination we received concerning Trump …
Read More »UN envoy sees possible South Sudan deal from talks in Ethiopia
United Nations, United States | AFP | The latest round of Ethiopia-led peace talks on South Sudan will wrap up on Friday with a possible agreement that could pave the way to further negotiations on ending the war, the UN envoy said. The talks that opened on February 5 in …
Read More »Do not ‘squander’ S.Sudan peace push, mediators told
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | African nations mediating South Sudan’s peace efforts must not “squander” the opportunity of a renewed push to end the country’s war, the head of an international ceasefire monitoring team said Saturday. Festus Mogae, a former president of Botswana who leads the Joint Monitoring and …
Read More »Congo rebels, government meet after ceasefire deal
Brazzaville, Congo | AFP | Congo’s government met with members of a key rebel group on Wednesday for the first time since a landmark ceasefire was signed after months of renewed armed conflict in the oil-rich nation. Fighters loyal to ex-rebel chief Frederic Bintsamou — seen as having disbanded after …
Read More »Latest clashes highlight fragility of South Sudan ceasefire deal
Aba, DR Congo | AFP | As South Sudan’s warring parties haggled over a ceasefire deal this week, dozens of refugees streamed into neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, fleeing what they said was a fresh government offensive. The apparent push to recapture the key rebel stronghold of Lasu came as …
Read More »South Sudan warring parties agree new ceasefire
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | South Sudan’s government and main armed groups on Thursday signed a ceasefire agreement during peace talks in Ethiopia, the latest push to end a devastating four year war in the country. “With effect from 00:01 hours (South Sudan local time) on the 24th day of …
Read More »Liberia’s wartime ghosts return to haunt election
Gbarnga, Liberia | AFP | Dekergar Duko, a lean father-of-two who crushes rocks for a living, often reminisces during his days of backbreaking labour about his life under Liberia’s warlord-turned-president, Charles Taylor. Living in a hovel metres (yards) away from the so-called “College of Knowledge” where the dreaded strongman trained child …
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