AFRICA

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Boko Haram’s latest abduction of schoolgirls in northeast Nigeria has evoked painful memories for Yagana Yamane and Saraya Amos — and for good reason. In 2014, the pair were among 276 girls kidnapped from their boarding school in Chibok, in an attack that brought world …

Washington, United States | AFP | The United States took action Monday against several Maltese, Libyan and Egyptian firms, traders and ships allegedly involved in smuggling oil out of Libya in violation of UN sanctions. Libya has been gripped by chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator …

  Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  A Tanzanian court on Monday handed five-month jail terms to two regime opponents, including a lawmaker, for defaming President John Magufuli, their defence counsel said. Joseph Mbilinyi, a lawmaker with main opposition party Chadema in the southern town of Mbeya, was sentenced with party …

United Nations, United States | AFP | Forty-six UN peacekeepers from Ghana have been recalled from their base in northwestern South Sudan following allegations of sexual exploitation of women sheltering at the site, a UN spokesman said Monday. The 46 police were confined to barracks in Juba on Saturday after a …

United Nations, United States | AFP | Burundi is not ready to hold credible elections because the ruling party and its allies remain firmly in control of political life and tensions remain high, a UN envoy said Monday. In power since 2005, Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza is leading a push for …

Pretoria, South Africa | AFP |  South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a sweeping reshuffle Monday that saw Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma named Minister in the Presidency responsible for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation. She is one of up to 12 women ministers named in the cabinet reshuffle (making 45% of ministers and …

Pretoria, South Africa | AFP |  South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who took office 11 days ago, has reshuffled cabinet Monday as he draws a line under his graft-tainted predecessor Jacob Zuma. Ramaphosa announced his new ministers in a televised address from the Union Buildings in Pretoria, the seat of …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African state prosecutors on Monday said they would next month release their decision on whether or not to prosecute former president Jacob Zuma for corruption. Zuma faces the risk of jail over 18 criminal charges linked to 783 payments totalling four million rands …

Uganda, Somalia trade blame over deadly Mogadishu shoot-out Kampala, Uganda | AFP | The Ugandan army said Monday its troops had shot dead three Somali soldiers in Mogadishu, accusing them of opening fire on a military convoy carrying Uganda’s peacekeeping commander. Uganda’s army said Somali troops opened fire on the …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Experts gathered in Nigeria’s capital on Monday to discuss ways to stop Africa’s Lake Chad from drying up, after years of environmental decline that has hit livelihoods and security. The two-day conference, organised by the government in Abuja and the Lake Chad Basin Commission, aims …