Beni, DR Congo | AFP | At least five people, including four civilians, were killed in an attack by suspected Ugandan rebels in DR Congo, an AFP correspondent and witnesses said on Sunday. The attack by Uganda-based Allied Democratic Forces targeted the locality of Masiani in the Beni region of …
Read More »Zimbabwe’s economic crisis wipes out Christmas cheer
Chinamhora, Zimbabwe | AFP | At Solomon Chakauya’s grocery store in Zimbabwe’s Chinamhora district outside Harare, there’s no sign of the seasonal Christmas rush that he needs to keep his business afloat. Even in the country’s toughest times, sales rocketed in the days before Christmas, but this year few people …
Read More »27,000 Eritreans ‘seeking refugee status’ in Ethiopia
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | More than 27,500 Eritreans have filed for refugee status in Ethiopia since the two countries reopened their joint border in September, according to EU documents seen by AFP on Friday. More than 24,000 people from northern Eritrea have applied for refugee status at Endabaguna, …
Read More »Shabab blasts kill seven near Somalia presidential palace
Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP | Seven people were killed Saturday in a double car bomb attack claimed by the jihadist Shabaab group near the presidential palace in the Somali capital Mogadishu, police said. “We have confirmed seven people died in the two blasts and more than ten others wounded,” local …
Read More »Nearly 300 migrants rescued off Libya: aid group
Madrid, Spain | AFP | A migrant group said Friday it had rescued nearly 300 migrants off the coast of Libya over the previous 24 hours. “More than 300 people safe on board the #OpenArms,” the Proactiva Open Arms organisation tweeted. The organisation added that it had rescued people on …
Read More »Boko Haram mastermind of deadly Nigeria blasts arrested: police
Kano, Nigeria | AFP | A top Boko Haram leader accused of organising deadly twin blasts in the Nigerian capital Abuja that killed 18 people has been arrested, police said Friday. A police statement said Umar Abdulmalik and seven other jihadists were arrested, without giving details. Forty-one people were also …
Read More »EAC Burundi crisis summit postponed again
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | An East African summit scheduled for December 27 to help broker an end to Burundi’s political crisis has been postponed for a second time, according to a regional bloc organising the talks. Burundi has been caught up in crisis since President Pierre Nkurunziza sought a …
Read More »Fresh protests in Sudan after deadly bread clashes
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Fresh protests over the rising cost of bread broke out in Sudan on Friday, witnesses said, as troops deployed after two days of deadly clashes that left eight protesters dead. A government decision to raise the price of a loaf of bread this week from …
Read More »Zimbabwe says will not extradite Grace Mugabe
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe on Friday said it would not extradite Grace Mugabe, wife of former president Robert Mugabe, after an arrest warrant was issued in South Africa for her alleged assault of a model in 2017. The 53-year-old reportedly attacked Gabrielle Engels using an electrical extension cord …
Read More »DR Congo opposition hits at delay in problem-strewn election
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Opposition leaders in DR Congo lashed the third postponement in the country’s presidential elections on Friday as a deadly plane crash added to the ballot’s woes. An Antonov 26 chartered by the national electoral commission to deliver election material crashed on Thursday near Kinshasa, …
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