AFRICA

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s ruling ANC party began voting in the early hours of Monday to choose their next leader after repeated delays to a ballot seen as a key moment in the country’s post-apartheid history. “Voting will go ahead now,” the party said in a …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s ANC party, the celebrated political force that led the struggle against apartheid rule and ushered in democracy, has begun electing a new leader — but it faces a perilous future. The risk of losing power at the 2019 general elections has loomed …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  Thousands of delegates from South Africa’s ruling ANC party prepared Sunday to elect their next leader in a vote widely seen as a decisive moment in the country’s post-apartheid history. Thousands of delegates from South Africa’s ruling ANC party will vote Monday to choose …

Lome, Togo | AFP | Protesters again took to the streets of Togo’s capital Lome on Saturday to demonstrate against the rule of President Faure Gnassingbe, who was in Nigeria chairing a summit of West African leaders. Anti-government marches have been held across the country nearly every week since August, attracting …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African President Jacob Zuma admitted Saturday that voters were “not happy” with the ruling ANC party as it began a five-day conference to elect his successor as party leader. Zuma said in his keynote conference address that the African National Congress’s poor local …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African President Jacob Zuma on Saturday blamed infighting and perceived corruption for the troubles of the ANC party, which risks losing power for the first time since the end of apartheid. Zuma, whose reign has been marred by graft scandals, spoke at a party …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo Saturday hailed as a “major advance” life sentences served this week on a provincial lawmaker and ten militiamen convicted of raping young girls. The group were jailed for life on Wednesday in the east of the …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | West African leaders on Saturday threatened to slap Guinea-Bissau with sanctions unless the country’s grinding political crisis was resolved within two months. In a summit in Nigeria, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said it was “disappointed with the absence of progress in …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is within touching distance of South Africa’s top job, previously had his presidential hopes dashed and opted for life in business that brought him spectacular wealth. After failing to clinch the ANC nomination to succeed president Nelson Mandela in 1999, …

The Hague, NETHERLANDS | AFP | International war crimes judges on Friday awarded $10 million in landmark reparations to “hundreds or thousands” of former child soldiers left brutalised and stigmatised after being conscripted into a ruthless Congolese militia. Warlord Thomas Lubanga, 56, was jailed for 14 years after being convicted …