AFRICA

Kampala, Uganda | ISAAC KHISA | The European Investment Bank (EIB) has extended US$29.6million (€24million) loan to two local banks for financing small and medium sized firms in Rwanda. The bank signed the US$19million loan with the Development Bank of Rwanda and another one with I&M Bank of Rwanda at US$10milllion. …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | A suicide bomber on a bicycle killed three people late on Monday when he detonated his explosives on the outskirts of the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, civilian militia told AFP. Eighteen people were also injured in the attack, which happened in the Muna Dalti …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, under fire because of mounting security threats, including Boko Haram, is to tour states worst-hit by the violence, his office said Monday. “From today, March 5, he will visit Taraba, and subsequently Benue, Yobe, Zamfara and Rivers states,” the presidency said …

Luanda, Angola | AFP | Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos, daughter of former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, on Monday denied claims that she presided over corruption when she ran state oil giant Sonangol. Prosecutors opened an investigation on Friday into possible graft at Sonangol and will probe “irregular financial …

Washington, United States | AFP | A graphic video apparently captured by the helmet camera of one of the US soldiers killed in an Islamic State ambush in Niger highlights the jihadists’ depravity, the Pentagon said Monday after IS released the footage. The Defense Department “is aware of alleged photos …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Four countries in southern Africa on Monday took steps against m imports made at a factory found to be the origin of the world’s worst-ever listeria outbreak. Mozambique and Namibia announced they were immediately suspending imports of the products. Botswana said it was recalling …

Milan, Italy | AFP | A trial for oil giants Eni and Shell over bribery and corruption allegations in the purchase of an offshore oilfield in Nigeria was delayed for two months on Monday. The trial had been set to start in a Milan court, but the judge said that, …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | At least 10 people were killed in several days of violence between herdsmen and farmers in eastern Nigeria, police said on Monday, but the cattle drivers gave a higher toll. Clashes broke out in a number of remote herding villages in the Mambilla district of …

Burayu, Ethiopia | AFP | Businesses closed in Ethiopia’s capital and its largest region on Monday to protest a state of emergency declared after the prime minister’s resignation last month. Shops were shut and roads deserted in parts of the capital Addis Ababa and in towns in the surrounding Oromia …

Freetown, Sierra Leone | AFP | Sierra Leone holds a general election on Wednesday with uncertainty over the impact of new movements vying to break the stranglehold of two parties which have ruled since independence from Britain in 1961. President Ernest Bai Koroma is stepping down after a decade and …