AFRICA

Libreville, Gabon | AFP |  Senior figures in Gabon’s ruling party on Thursday called on the government to clarify the condition of President Ali Bongo, whose hospitalisation in Saudi Arabia has fuelled speculation that he is incapacitated. The consultative committee of the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) said clarity was necessary …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Burundian authorities have refused to register a new political party by main opposition leader Agathon Rwasa, according to a letter seen by AFP Thursday. Rwasa had attempted to create a new party, the National Freedom Front – Hope of the Burundians (FNL – Amizero y’Abarundi), …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudan on Thursday welcomed a US announcement that Washington was willing to remove Khartoum from its blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism and said it was ready to cooperate. The US State Department Wednesday said Washington was prepared to “initiate the process of rescinding Sudan’s …

Gaborone, Botswana | AFP | More than 400 buffaloes believed to have been chased by lions drowned in a river in northern Bostwana this week, the government said. The mass drowning occurred in Chobe River near the border with Namibia. Early investigations by authorities in both countries “suggest that an …

Washington, United States | AFP | The United States on Wednesday announced $550 million in assistance to Senegal to help the fast-growing country meet rising demand for electricity The Millennium Challenge Cooperation, a US government body created in 2004 that awards grants to countries that commit to good governance and …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Gunmen have abducted four Catholic priests in southern Nigeria, a local state official told AFP Wednesday. The kidnapping happened on Tuesday at a border community between Edo and Delta States in the south, said Andrew Aniamaka, a spokesman for Delta State. “They were abducted on …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Forty-seven people were killed in Zimbabwe Wednesday when two buses collided on a road between the capital Harare and the eastern town of Rusape, police told AFP. “We confirm 47 people have died in a road traffic accident at the 166-kilometre peg along the Harare-Mutare …

Antananarivo, Madagascar | AFP | Election officials began counting ballots in Madagascar after Wednesday’s vote for a new president in which three former heads of state ran as the Indian Ocean island seeks to defuse a political crisis. Attempts by the most recent president Hery Rajaonarimampianina to change the island’s …

Washington, United States | AFP |  The United States said Wednesday it was willing to remove Sudan from its blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism if the country undertakes further reforms. In a statement released after talks in Washington, the State Department called on Sudan to step up anti-terrorism cooperation …

Yaoundé, Cameroon | AFP | Seventy-nine school pupils abducted by gunmen this week in a troubled English-speaking region of Cameroon have been freed, the country’s communications minister told AFP Wednesday. The kidnappings on Monday were the first such mass abductions seen in Cameroon and coincide with an upsurge of political …