AFRICA

Former Angolan president rejects he left state coffers ’empty’ Luanda, Angola | AFP |  Former Angolan president Jose Eduardo dos Santos on Wednesday refuted allegations by his successor Joao Lourenco that he left the country’s finances “empty”. The row comes just over a year after Dos Santos stepped down in …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | An armed gang abducted an Italian woman from a village in southeast Kenya, shooting and wounding five residents in the raid, police said Wednesday. “The attackers fired indiscriminately at residents” before kidnapping the 23-year-old, who worked as a volunteer for an Italian charity, during the …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | After two years of setbacks, broken promises and delays, the Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday effectively opened the starting gates for a crucial election that could alleviate — or perhaps worsen — the decades-long crisis gripping the vast central African nation. “May the …

Juba, South Sudan | AFP | South Sudan said Wednesday that the country’s latest peace deal had helped revive its war-battered oil sector, with an increase of 20,000 barrels per day in the past two months. The country’s warring parties in September signed a new peace deal to end five …

Luanda, Angola | AFP | “Things are going badly,” said Delta, sitting on a stool and glancing at a bag stuffed with Chinese mobile phones. As one of scores of traders trying to legally sell her wares in one of Luanda’s most famous markets, known as “The Congolese”, the 32-year-old …

The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | A former Central African militia leader Alfred Yekatom, also known as “Colonel Rambo” will face international war crimes judges for the first time Friday, the International Criminal Court said. “The initial appearance of Alfred Yekatom… is scheduled for Friday, November 23, at 11 am …

Libreville, Gabon | AFP | The United Nations on Tuesday warned of “worsening violence” in Cameroon’s restive English-speaking regions, where it said eight students and 13 nuns had recently been abducted and released for ransom. The francophone-majority central African country has seen a surge of violence in its anglophone Northwest …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP |  President Joseph Kabila’s chosen successor on Monday unveiled his platform ahead of a landmark election in the Democratic Republic of Congo next month. Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary set out an $86 billion (75 billion euro) five-year development plan for the sprawling central African country. Making his first public remarks …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma on Tuesday threw his weight behind the ex-head of the country’s tax collection agency who was recently sacked by President Cyril Ramaphosa. The move pitted Zuma directly against his successor Ramaphosa, who came to power in February when …

Lusaka, Zambia | AFP | Zambian police on Tuesday questioned opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema for allegedly fuelling attacks on Chinese nationals, in a sign of growing political tension in the country. Hichilema, of the United Party for National Development, was last year detained for four months for alleged treason in …