Lilongwe, Malawi | AFP | A Malawi court has blocked parliament debating a contested bill critics say would hamper charities and NGOs while giving government control over their work in the aid-reliant country. Judge Charles Mkandawire ruled on Monday in favour of activists who had sought the injunction of the …
Read More »Nigeria confirms eight soldiers killed in Boko Haram attack
Kano, Nigeria | AFP | The Nigerian Army on Tuesday said eight soldiers have been confirmed dead in a Boko Haram attack on a military base over the weekend in the country’s restive northeast. Gunmen from the self-styled Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) faction of Boko Haram attacked the …
Read More »Angola president holds unprecedented talks with civic groups
Luanda, Angola | AFP | Angolan President Joao Lourenco, elected last year as the country’s first new leader in nearly four decades, met civic groups on Tuesday in unprecedented talks as part of his reforms. The meeting was marred by presidential staff refusing entry of investigative journalist Rafael Marques …
Read More »South Africa names first female top prosecutor
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | President Cyril Ramaphosa named a respected female lawyer on Tuesday to head South Africa’s prosecuting authority which had been accused of improperly protecting former president Jacob Zuma. His appointment of Shamila Batohi further distances him from Zuma’s scandal-tainted rule during which several top jobs, …
Read More »Gabon top officials join ailing president in Morocco
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabon’s top government officials gathered Tuesday in Rabat where President Ali Bongo is recovering after treatment for an illness that has not been officially revealed, his office said. The 59-year-old leader, who fell ill on October 24 at an economic forum, arrived in Morocco last …
Read More »ARTS: Value of our old buildings
Exhibit rediscovers modernistic architecture in five African cities Kampala, Uganda | DOMINIC MUWANGUZI | The conversation on the preservation of old building in Kampala has been recently renewed in an itinerary photography exhibition titled `Africa Modernism’ showing at the MakerereArt gallery in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. The exhibition documents over …
Read More »More than 150 women, girls raped in South Sudan: UN
United Nations, United States | AFP | More than 150 women and girls have come forward in the past 12 days to seek help in South Sudan after they were raped or suffered other forms of sexual violence, the heads of three UN agencies said Monday. Armed men, many in …
Read More »Egypt’s Sisi opens first arms exhibition in Cairo
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday inaugurated the first arms fair organised in Cairo, with hundreds of companies exhibiting. Sisi cut the ribbon along with French Defence Minister Florence Parly to open Egypt Defence Expo (EDEX 2018), held on the outskirts of the capital. …
Read More »Army clashes kill 18 in east DR Congo as election tensions rise
Bukavu, DR Congo | AFP | Clashes between the army and rebels loyal to a renegade former general in eastern DR Congo have killed 18 people, military sources said Monday, in the latest violence before crucial elections to replace President Joseph Kabila this month. Fighting killed 14 rebels and …
Read More »Morocco king meets Gabon president Bongo in hospital
Rabat, Morocco | AFP | Morocco’s King Mohammed VI on Monday visited Gabon’s President Ali Bongo at a military hospital in Rabat where the Gabonese leader is recovering from an illness, an official source said. During the visit, the king said he was pleased about the state of Bongo’s health …
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