Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | A protest march by opponents of DR Congo President Joseph Kabila looked set to go ahead Sunday after authorities and organisers failed to agree an official route, after two similar rallies were brutally put down last month. Kinshasa governor Andre Kimbuta on Saturday invited …
Read More »Ethiopia ruling party to pick new PM next week
Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA | AFP | Ethiopia’s ruling coalition will meet to choose a new prime minister next week, a party official said on Saturday. Hailemariam Desalegn resigned as prime minister last week after ordering a mass prisoner amnesty and days of protest in Africa’s second most-populous country. A state …
Read More »Philippine Catholics protest bill to legalise divorce
Manila, Philippines | AFP | Around 2,000 Roman Catholic Filipinos protested in Manila on Saturday against a push to legalise divorce, with church groups also using the “Walk for Life” march to slam President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly drugs war. The pre-dawn protest was organised by church groups worried about the …
Read More »EU warns violent attacks threaten Tanzania’s democracy
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | A recent spate of violent attacks in Tanzania threaten the country’s democracy, the European Union has said. “We note with concern the recent developments which threaten democratic values and the rights of Tanzanians,” the EU said in a statement Friday. The EU said it was …
Read More »E.Guinea’s attorney general says opposition party ‘must be dissolved’
Malabo, Equatorial Guinea | AFP | Equatorial Guinea’s main opposition party “must be dissolved”, the attorney general has said during the trial of 147 of its activists who are accused of “rebellion”. “The Citizens for Innovation (CI) party should be dissolved, there is violence wherever it holds meetings,” said David …
Read More »DR Congo braces for new anti-Kabila rally
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Efforts to force DR Congo President Joseph Kabila to quit face a key test on Sunday when protestors, backed by the Catholic church, return to the streets after two demonstrations that the authorities bloodily repressed. Fifteen people were killed by security forces on New …
Read More »Museveni tells EAC, ‘We are on the right side of history’
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT| Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has urged East African leaders to push for political integration in order to secure the future prosperity of the region. “I am happy that the negotiators have agreed on the initial step of the confederation and on the framing of …
Read More »Trump, gun lobby chief push armed citizens as solution to shootings
Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump and America’s powerful gun lobby on Thursday cast citizens with weapons as a solution to shootings, as it emerged an armed deputy was on campus during a deadly Florida rampage but failed to act. National Rifle Association chief Wayne LaPierre hit …
Read More »Cameroon’s main opposition leader rules out presidential run
Bamenda, Cameroon | AFP | Cameroon’s veteran opposition leader and perennial presidential hopeful John Fru Ndi said Thursday he will not challenge the long-ruling President Paul Biya in this year’s elections. Fru Ndi, 76, hailing from the troubled anglophone west of the country, has lost to Biya three times — …
Read More »Twitter sets crackdown on automated and fake account
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Twitter announced Wednesday a crackdown on accounts powered by software “bots” which can artificially amplify a person or cause and which have been accused of manipulating the social network during the 2016 US election. The San Francisco messaging platform said the move was …
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