AFRICA

Kambia, Sierra Leone | AFP | Sierra Leone’s outgoing leader has defended the presidential candidate widely seen as his handpicked successor on amid accusations of personal interference, and hit out at opponents of an election day vehicle ban. The West African nation goes to the polls on Wednesday to choose …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egypt’s military said on Sunday four soldiers and 10 jihadists were killed in a military operation in Sinai against Islamic State group jihadists. The deaths raise military casualties to at least 16 dead, along with more than 100 jihadists, since the start of the operation …

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso | AFP | A suspected key figure in the deadly Burkina Faso attacks has been arrested, a government source said Sunday. Saying the person held could be “one of the brains” behind Friday’s attacks, the source told AFP there were “very strong suspicions” that “army infiltrators” had …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Radical South African opposition leader Julius Malema launched on Sunday his campaign to be elected president in 2019 by aggressively distancing his party from a one-time coalition partner. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader used a speech at a packed arena in Johannesburg to …

Douala, Cameroon | AFP | Talking fast and dreaming big, William Elong shows off the first “made in Cameroon” drone at his sixth-floor workshop in downtown Douala, minutes from the economic capital’s Atlantic seafront. The 25-year-old, known as a high-flyer after being named one of Forbes’ most promising young Africans …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Fishing boats look like specks alongside Egina, which has been moored for the last month in Lagos. Even the container ships that normally dominate the port look like small boats. The floating production storage and offloading facility (FPSO), developed by the French group Total, looks …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egypt’s constitutional court on Saturday voided contradictory lower court rulings on the controversial transfer of two islands to Saudi Arabia, state media reported. The ruling on the transfer of the Tiran and Sanafir islands in the Red Sea, which sparked protests in Egypt, effectively ends …

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso | AFP | Authorities in Burkina Faso were on Saturday hunting for clues about the masterminds behind Friday’s deadly twin attacks on the French embassy and the country’s military HQ. The coordinated attacks in Ouagadougou, which coincided with a meeting of regional anti-jihadist forces, underlined the struggle …

Yaoundé, Cameroon | AFP | Drivers in one of Cameroon’s restive English-speaking provinces have been banned from driving at night for a month, as tensions run high between government forces and separatists. Vehicles in five of the Southwest Region’s six districts are not allowed on the road between 7:00 pm …

United Nations, United States | AFP | Insecurity in Mali “continues to rage” and is progressing toward the center of the country, according to an interim UN report. Members of Plateforme, an armed pro-government coalition, and the CMA rebel alliance, who were signatories to a 2015 peace deal, are seeing …