AFRICA

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe has legalised production of cannabis for medicinal or scientific use, according to new regulations seen by AFP Saturday. A statutory instrument entitled Production of Cannabis for Medicinal and Scientific Use Regulations, said prospective producers can apply to the health ministry for a licence to …

Blantyre, Malawi | AFP | Malawi’s former president, Joyce Banda, returned home on Saturday after four years of self-imposed exile, despite facing the threat of arrest over corruption allegations. Banda, 68, fled the country in 2014 when she lost power after being embroiled in the so-called Cashgate scandal, in which …

Kigali, Rwanda | AFP | Congolese opposition leader Moise Katumbi, in exile for two years, said from Rwanda on Friday that he was not afraid of President Joseph Kabila. “Now that am in Rwanda, they will come up with some more fake charges because they don’t like Rwanda,” he said …

Blantyre, Malawi | AFP | Malawi’s former president, Joyce Banda, is expected to fly home on Saturday after four years of self-imposed exile, despite facing the threat of arrest over corruption allegations. Banda fled the country in 2014 when she lost power after being embroiled in the so-called Cashgate scandal, …

Kigali, Rwanda | AFP |  Former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Friday accepted the prestigious $5 million Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. “As the first woman to receive this Mo Ibrahim Foundation Prize award, it is my hope that women and girls across the continent are inspired …

Mbandaka, DR Congo | AFP | Forty civilians drowned when their boats capsized on a storm-swollen river as they fled fighting in northwest Democratic Republic of Congo, a senior local official said Friday. “As of Wednesday night, we recovered the bodies of 40 people” after their boats capsized, Jean Bakatoye, …

Dadaab, Kenya | AFP | The children can’t believe their luck: storms and showers have turned their dirt football pitch into a lake. Youngsters scamper and splash through the murky water, chasing one another, leaping and laughing. Any entertainment is welcome in Dadaab, one of the biggest refugee bases in …

United Nations, United States | AFP | Ivory Coast will send 450 troops to the Central African Republic to serve as UN peacekeepers in one of the most demanding missions, the foreign minister said Thursday. The announcement from Ivorian Foreign Minister Marcel Amon-Tanoh came after Gabon last month announced that …

Maiduguri, Nigeria | AFP | At least four people were killed when Boko Haram suicide bombers attacked northeast Nigeria’s biggest city, the emergency services said on Friday, as residents returned home. Violence broke out on the outskirts of Maiduguri on Thursday night, with indications the jihadists were attempting to reach …

Cape Town, South Africa | AFP | Seven people were killed in South Africa on Friday when a train ploughed into a pickup truck at a crossing where 10 children were killed in a similar accident in 2010, officials said. The seven victims, all men in their 30s, were reportedly …