Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Tanzanian President John Magufuli has ordered the army to buy up the entire country’s crop of cashew nuts after private companies refused to pay the price fixed by his government. The move comes just days after Magufuli fired Agriculture Minister Charles Tizeba and Trade Minister …
Read More »Army court drops lawsuit against Cameroon journalist: lawyer
Douala, Cameroon | AFP | A Cameroon military tribunal has dropped a lawsuit against a TV presenter from the country’s restive anglophone region who was detained for several days last week accused of “attacking state security”, her lawyer said Monday. Mimi Mefo, who heads English news for privately-owned Equinoxe broadcasting, …
Read More »Madagascar ex-president denies election bribery claims
Antananarivo, Madagascar | AFP | Madagascar’s former president Andry Rajoelina on Monday rejected allegations by EU observers that he bribed local officials in return for their support in last week’s presidential vote. A European Union observer mission said in a report Monday that it had “noted candidates committed breaches” ahead …
Read More »Ethiopia arrests senior military and intelligence officers
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | Ethiopia has arrested 63 senior military and intelligence officers accused of corruption and human-rights abuses, the country’s attorney general, Berhanu Tsegaye, said Monday. The arrests are a rare move against the country’s powerful security apparatus. They represent a further flexing of power by reformist …
Read More »Zimbabwe govt denies opposition kidnap claims
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s government publicly denied claims on Sunday that its spy agency had attempted to kidnap main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa as he left a rally this weekend. Chamisa’s Movement for Democratic Change party tweeted Saturday that “Central Intelligence Organisation agents (participated) in a failed attempt …
Read More »PICTORIAL: Bobi Wine Kyarenga concert
Bobi Wine performs concert in Uganda as police watch on Kampala, Uganda | AFP | Ugandan pop star turned opposition MP Bobi Wine appeared on stage on the outskirts of the capital Kampala on Saturday, in a concert attended by several members of the opposition and watched on by a …
Read More »Nigeria’s new minimum wage: too much to ask?
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | On the campaign trail for re-election in February, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari may have spoken too soon when he backed an initiative to hike his country’s minimum wage by a whopping two thirds. Buhari, who had been advised on the wage by a negotiating committee …
Read More »IN THE INDEPENDENT: What next for Kayihura?
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The top stories in this week’s THE INDEPENDENT. COVER STORY What next for Kayihura?: Charges bogus, says Museveni But ISO says it has new charges THE LAST WORD The destiny of nations: Why some nations prosper and others stagnate and what we cannot …
Read More »Michelle Obama slams Trump in new book
Washington, United States | AFP | Former US first lady Michelle Obama says she can “never forgive” Donald Trump for questioning her husband’s American citizenship, saying the president and other “birthers” put her family at risk, in her hotly anticipated new memoir. Obama also says she was surprised that so …
Read More »Burundi refuses to register key opposition party
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Burundian authorities have refused to register a new political party by main opposition leader Agathon Rwasa, according to a letter seen by AFP Thursday. Rwasa had attempted to create a new party, the National Freedom Front – Hope of the Burundians (FNL – Amizero y’Abarundi), …
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