Kigali, Rwanda | AFP | Rwanda, which has accused France of complicity in the 1994 genocide that killed some 800,000 of its citizens, said Tuesday it had invited President Emmanuel Macron to attend the 25th anniversary of the massacre on April 7. Kigali has long insisted that France supported the Hutu regime and helped train …
Read More »Algeria’s Bouteflika drops bid for fifth term after protests
Alger, Algeria | AFP | Algeria’s ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced Monday he is dropping his bid for a fifth term in office, scrapping the upcoming elections altogether after weeks of protests against his candidacy. “Peacefully, we have overthrown the puppet!” people sang in Algiers following the president’s decision. Celebratory honking …
Read More »Nigeria vote tensions rise as counting suspended in volatile state
Port Harcourt, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria’s election authorities announced the suspension of activities in volatile opposition-held Rivers State on Sunday citing violence and threats to its staff, as tensions rise in the wake of closely-watched regional elections. Counting is continuing across the country after Saturday’s elections for governors in 29 …
Read More »Boeings grounded as search on for clues to deadly Ethiopia crash
Tulu Fara , Ethiopia | AFP | Airlines in Ethiopia, China and Indonesia grounded Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets Monday as investigators recovered the black boxes from a brand-new passenger jet that crashed outside Addis Ababa a day earlier, killing all 157 people on board. The Nairobi-bound plane — the same …
Read More »Bouteflika ‘returns’ to strike-hit Algeria from Geneva
Algiers, Algeria | AFP | Thousands of students and public transport workers went on strike in Algeria Sunday against Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s bid for a fifth term, as the presidency confirmed the ailing leader had returned from Switzerland. The plane carrying Bouteflika from Geneva — where he has been in hospital for …
Read More »UN confirms 19 staff killed in Ethiopian airlines crash
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The United Nations Department of Safety and Security has confirmed that it lost 19 of its staff members in the Ethiopian Airlines crash which killed more than 150 people yesterday. Among the dead are seven staff of the World Food Programme and two from the …
Read More »BREAKING: Ethiopian Airlines plane crashes, 157 dead
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | All 149 passengers and eight crew on board an Ethiopian Airlines flight died when it crashed shortly after takeoff en route to Nairobi on Sunday, Ethiopian state media reported. Quoting Ethiopian Airlines, Fana Broadcasting Corporate said the plane, which departed the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa …
Read More »Buyoya appeals to Museveni over Burundi peace accord
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Former Burundi president Pierre Buyoya, the subject of a government arrest warrant, has urged the international community to intervene over what he termed breaches of the country’s peace accord. The warrant against him was one such violation of the Arusha agreement of 2000 that ended …
Read More »MTN gains 16 million clients despite scandals
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African telecommunications giant MTN on Thursday said its subscriber base grew by 16 million customers last year to 233 million, good news for the embattled mobile operator. MTN faces regulatory issues in some of the countries it operates in, including the largest, Nigeria. A …
Read More »Swiss court receives petition to protect Bouteflika from entourage
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | A lawyer acting on behalf of an unnamed Algerian citizen has filed a petition with a Swiss court requesting that Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in Switzerland for medical treatment, be placed under a trusteeship for his own protection. The petition came as tens of thousands of …
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