AFRICA

Cairo, Egypt | AFP |  The head of Egypt’s legendary Zamalek football club, Mortada Mansour, said Saturday he would be standing in the presidential election in March. “I will be a candidate in the presidential election and I will start to collect sponsors,” he wrote on Facebook. He also confirmed …

Beni, DR Congo | AFP |  The Congolese army on Saturday announced a new operation against armed groups, notably the ADF Ugandan Islamist rebels suspected of murdering 14 UN peacekeepers last month. Army vehicles transported some 300 troops to the operation’s headquarters near Beni in the restive eastern province of …

Tunis, Tunisia | AFP | Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi was to hold talks Saturday with political parties, unions and employers to discuss means to overcome unrest triggered by austerity measures. The North African country has been shaken by a wave of protests over poverty and unemployment during which hundreds have …

East London, South Africa | AFP | The new head of South Africa’s ruling ANC, Cyril Ramaphosa, pledged Saturday to “restore the credibility” of the party after a spate of graft scandals involving President Jacob Zuma. Zuma was replaced as party chief by his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa in December with the …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | An Ethiopian court has sentenced prominent dissident Bekele Gerba and three other opposition figures to six months in jail for singing a protest song in court, a defence lawyer told AFP on Friday. The four, all members of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), …

Banjul, Gambia | AFP | The Gambia has suspended permission for rallies and other public political events after clashes allegedly between supporters of President Adama Barrow and those of the former regime of Yahya Jammeh. Gambian police said in a statement issued late Thursday that permits for political parties to …

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia | AFP | Saudi Arabia allowed women to enter a football stadium for the first time to watch a match Friday, as the ultra-conservative kingdom eases strict decades-old rules separating the sexes. The new measure comes after Riyadh, long known for imposing harsh restrictions on women, announced …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Africans reacted angrily Friday after US President Donald Trump reportedly referred to their nations as “shithole countries”, with many lashing the US president for racism and ignorance. The 55-nation African Union condemned the remarks while the southern African state of Botswana hauled in the US …

Paris, France | AFP | Three French soldiers deployed in a counter-terrorism force in Mali’s restive northeast were injured, one seriously, in a suicide bomb attack, France’s army said Friday. The convoy was attacked while travelling between the Menaka and Indelimane regions on Thursday, the fifth anniversary of the launch …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Supported by throngs of worshippers and with western ambassadors in attendance, Catholic leaders in DR Congo hammered home a message of anger toward President Joseph Kabila on Friday at a mass to mourn victims of a crackdown. Police fired a couple of warning shots …