Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | A Kenyan court fined the interior minister and police chief Thursday after they defied orders to produce an opposition politician in court, who was instead deported for the second time in two months. A prominent but unelected politician with the National Super Alliance (NASA), Miguna Miguna …
Read More »Egypt’s Sisi wins second term with 92% of vote: state media
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been re-elected for a second term with about 92 percent of the vote, preliminary results showed on Thursday, with just over 40 percent of voters casting ballots. Twenty-five million of the 60 million registered voters, or some 41.5 percent, …
Read More »Samura Kamara: man of the shadows eyeing S. Leone presidency
Freetown, Sierra Leone | AFP | Veteran politician Samura Kamara, seen as a shrewd political operator, hopes to take up the mantle of outgoing president Ernest Bai Koroma as his hand-picked successor. An economist by training, the 53-year-old Kamara was foreign minister until last year when he stepped down to pursue …
Read More »Sierra Leone cut down by war and Ebola
Freetown, Sierra Leone | AFP | The West African nation of Sierra Leone, among the world’s poorest countries despite significant mineral wealth, has been scarred by a brutal civil war and the deadly Ebola virus. Here is some background as Freetown prepares to hold a delayed presidential runoff on Saturday to …
Read More »Liberia struggles with past as UN peacekeepers exit
Monrovia, Liberia | AFP | As UN peacekeepers leave Liberia after 14 years, headway in reforming the security forces is being undermined by lack of progress in tackling the country’s traumatic legacy of war crimes, officials say. Liberia’s 1989-2003 conflict killed around a quarter of a million people, while government forces …
Read More »Botswana president steps down with 57-date ‘farewell tour’
Serowe, Botswana | AFP | President Ian Khama of Botswana this week wrapped up a national “farewell tour” before he stands down on Saturday in a power transfer designed to stress his statesmanship and the country’s stability. Khama has visited all of Botswana’s 57 constituencies since December, bidding a long goodbye …
Read More »Kenya expels opposition firebrand Miguna Miguna, again
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | An outspoken member of the opposition alliance was Wednesday expelled from Kenya for the second time in two months, his lawyer told AFP. Miguna Miguna, a firebrand member of the National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition, was forced onto an international flight to Canada last month. …
Read More »Egypt votes for third day with eyes on turnout
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egyptians voted Wednesday on the third day of a presidential election guaranteed to hand a second term to Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, leaving turnout as the only contest. The election commission announced that voting was being extended by an hour to 2000 GMT after warning people who …
Read More »Uganda rebel, 10 civilians killed in DR Congo’s restive east
Beni, DR Congo | AFP | Ten civilians and a Ugandan militant died when Congolese troops clashed with rebels in the flashpoint town of Beni in Democratic Republic of Congo’s troubled east, an army spokesman said Wednesday. The violence took place on Tuesday evening when rebels attacked military positions around …
Read More »Ghana protestors rally against US military deal
Accra, Ghana | AFP | Hundreds of people took to the streets of Accra, Ghana’s capital, on Wednesday to protest against a controversial military deal with Washington which was passed by parliament last week. The agreement was approved by President Nana Akufo-Addo’s government on Friday but has come under heavy …
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