Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | President Yoweri Museveni has received a special message from President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi. The message was delivered to the President today at State House, Entebbe by Burundi Foreign Affairs Minister, Ezechiel Nibigira, who was accompanied by Burundi’s Ambassador to Uganda, Jean Bosco Barege, …
Read More »Ramaphosa tweaks South Africa cabinet ahead of May election
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African President Cyril Ramaphosa unveiled a limited cabinet reshuffle Thursday ahead of elections in May when the ruling ANC party will seek to turn around its decline in popularity. In the most significant of three appointments, Siyabonga Cwele, 60, was moved from the …
Read More »BUDGET: Zimbabwe to cut govt salaries to curb spending
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s new finance minister Mthuli Ncube announced a five-percent cut to senior government officials’ salaries on Thursday in a bid to mend the shattered economy. Ncube’s budget also set out plans for the biometric registration of civil servants to weed out “ghost” workers who …
Read More »Uganda rebels fire on UN helicopter in eastern DR Congo
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Ugandan rebels on Thursday fired on a UN helicopter in an attack in the volatile east of DR Congo, though there were no victims, UN sources said. “One of our helicopters was fired on in Semuliki valley by rebels — we reacted in legitimate …
Read More »Female opposition leader named Ethiopia poll chief
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | Ethiopia’s former opposition leader Birtukan Mideksa, who recently returned from exile, was on Thursday named as head of the country’s election body ahead of the 2020 polls. Birtukan’s appointment makes her the latest woman to be appointed to a high-profile role and the most …
Read More »Africans cheer call for France to return treasures
Paris, France | AFP | African museum directors on Wednesday welcomed an expert report calling on France to allow the return of thousands of African treasures and artworks, a radical policy shift that could put pressure on other former colonial powers. Calls have been growing in Africa for restitution, but …
Read More »Kenyan priest killed in Cameroon’s anglophone region
Yaoundé, Cameroon | AFP | A Kenyan priest was killed in francophone Cameroon’s volatile English-speaking Southwest region where violence has surged after separatists declared an independent state, church sources told AFP on Thursday. “A Kenyan priest was shot dead in Kembong yesterday,” one source said. “There was no fighting, he …
Read More »African great Drogba retires from football
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Ivory Coast and Chelsea great Didier Drogba announced his retirement on Wednesday after a 20-year career. The 40-year-old scored 164 goals in 381 appearances for Chelsea, winning four Premier League titles, four FA Cups and the 2012 Champions League, while he is also Ivory …
Read More »Niger to move protected giraffes as habitat shrinks
Niamey, Niger | AFP | Part of a group of a rare giraffes that has become a Niger tourist attraction is to be moved to a reserve 600 kilometres (400 miles) away owing to encroaching desert, farmland and increasing instances of them being struck by vehicles, officials said Wednesday. “It’s …
Read More »Armed Dogon hunters group reject ceasefire in central Mali
Bamako, Mali | AFP | An armed group of ethnic Dogon hunters have rejected a recent ceasefire with Fulani herders in central Mali, arguing they need to protect fellow tribe members after several were killed by Mali army troops, a military-wing spokesperson said Wednesday. The armed group, known as Dan …
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