AFRICA

Freetown, Sierra Leone | AFP | A key third party in Sierra Leone announced Wednesday it would not ask supporters to back either contender in a March 27 presidential run-off, after police warned violence has plagued campaigning. With the margin between the opposition Sierra Leone Peoples’ Party (SLPP) and ruling All …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | On the streets of Cairo’s Shubra district, many Coptic Christians — but not all — say they will support President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in his re-election bid on Monday. Pro-Sisi banners hang overhead in the neighbourhood where many Copts reside, often showing the president standing …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Tanzanian police said Wednesday they had arrested a driver and a farmer accused of urging fellow citizens to protest against the increasing authoritarianism of President John Magufuli on social media. A call for nationwide protests on April 26, first launched by an opposition activist, has …

Countries and Signatories: 1.Niger – President Mahamadou Issoufou 2.Rwanda – President Paul Kagame 3.Tchad – President Idriss Deby 4.Angola – President Joao Lourenço 5.Central African Republic – President Faustin-Archange Touadéra 6. Comoros – President Azali Assoumani 7. The Republic of Congo – President Denis Sassou Nguesso 8. Djibouti – President …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Boko Haram Islamists who kidnapped more than 100 schoolgirls in Dapchi, northeast Nigeria, just over a month ago have returned the students to the town, two parents told AFP on Wednesday. A senior government source in Abuja and police in Yobe state also confirmed the …

United Nations, United States | AFP | Five peacekeepers from South Africa face allegations of sexually exploiting women in the Democratic Republic of Congo who are now seeking child support, a UN spokesman said Tuesday. One of cases involves a minor who was allegedly sexually abused when the incidents took place …

Dimona, Israel | AFP | Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that an electronic fence along the Israel-Egypt border has saved the Jewish state from jihadist attacks or what he believes would be worse — a tide of African migrants. “Were it not for the fence, we would be faced …

Banjul, Gambia | AFP | Ten members of Gambia’s former spy agency have been detained on suspicion of murdering a political activist who led a protest during ousted strongman Yahya Jammeh’s rule, police said Tuesday. Solo Sandeng, organising secretary of the United Democratic Party, was arrested in April 2016 for fronting …

  N’Djamena, Chad | AFP | Civil servants in Chad returned to work on Tuesday after a strike over austerity measures paralysed the impoverished country’s public sector for seven weeks. Trade unions had called the strike in late January after the government slashed civil servants’ pay, and the whole public sector …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have exposed more than 200 unqualified magistrates, an official source said Tuesday. A commission of enquiry formed in October to probe the qualifications and recruitment conditions of more than 3,000 magistrates found that hundreds “should not be …