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 …
Read More »Investigators probe deadly twin attacks in Ouagadougou
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 …
Read More »Cameroon bans nighttime driving in restive southwest
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 …
Read More »Mali insecurity continues, migrating to country’s center: UN
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 …
Read More »UN concedes training ‘gaps’ after DR Congo deaths
United Nations, United States | AFP | The United Nations on Friday conceded that an attack that killed 15 peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo late last year exposed “gaps” in how UN troops are trained. The December 7 attack in the Beni territory of North Kivu province was …
Read More »AMISOM warns UN against hasty withdrawal from Somalia
East African nations urge UN to review pullout of Somali peace mission Kampala, Uganda | AFP | East African representatives said Friday the drawdown of an African Union mission fighting jihadists in Somalia could “reverse gains” and urged the United Nations to reconsider plans to withdraw troops by December 2020. …
Read More »Suicide car bombing caused blast at Burkina army HQ: minister
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso | AFP | A suicide car bombing caused the deadly blast at Burkina Faso’s military headquarters on Friday, the government said, adding that a regional anti-terrorism meeting may have been the target. Eight members of the armed forces were killed by the blast and a parallel attack …
Read More »49 dead in new flare-up of ethnic unrest in DR Congo’s Ituri
Bunia, DR Congo | AFP | At least 49 people were killed in a fresh outbreak of ethnic violence overnight in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s troubled Ituri province, a senior charity official said on Friday. The latests killings were part of a cycle of unrest between the Hema and …
Read More »Dozens dead or injured in attacks on Burkina military HQ, French embassy
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso | AFP | Armed men attacked the French embassy in Burkina Faso and the country’s military headquarters on Friday before being repelled in a battle that left dozens dead or injured. A government source said 16 attackers and defenders died, while other sources reached by AFP from …
Read More »Arrests after Burundi president ‘roughed up’ on football field
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Two Burundi officials have been arrested after their town’s football team allegedly “roughed up” President Pierre Nkurunziza who was playing during a match with his personal team, legal sources and witnesses said Friday. A legal source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the administrator …
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