AFRICA

Monrovia, Liberia | AFP | The presidents of Guinea and Togo held mediation talks Wednesday with all sides involved in Liberia’s disputed election, following a Supreme Court announcement it would summon the country’s electoral commission to explain alleged fraud and irregularities. Liberia’s top court has reviewed a legal complaint backed by …

Expanded Trump ‘Mexico City’ policy causing cuts in HIV, Reproductive Care in East Africa Washington, US | THE INDEPENDENT |  Early effects of United States restrictions to global health aid will include cuts to essential health services in Kenya and Uganda, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned. Human Rights Watch has …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | A Nigerian judge on Wednesday accused the country’s former oil minister of trying to “avoid justice” in Britain, as he dismissed an application for her to face corruption charges back home. Judge Rilwan Aikawa told the Federal High Court in Lagos that an attempt by Diezani …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | South Sudanese President Salva Kiir began Wednesday a two-day visit to Sudan aimed at resolving border disputes and addressing mutual accusations of supporting rebels in each other’s territory. It is Kiir’s third visit to Khartoum since the Christian majority south split from the Muslim north in …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday called for the return of the death penalty, after more than 50 people applied for the vacant position of hangman. Capital punishment is on the statute book in Zimbabwe, but no one has been executed since 2005 when the country’s …

Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Six countries in central and western Africa have breathed life into long-running plans to allow visa-free movement of people among their nations. At a summit in the Chadian capital of N’Djamena, the countries formally declared late Tuesday that the scheme had now been ratified by all …

Monrovia, Liberia | AFP |  Liberia’s Supreme Court said it will summon the country’s election commission on Thursday over a legal complaint backed by three political parties regarding the October 10 presidential election, potentially delaying a runoff vote. In a document released late Tuesday, the Supreme Court called on the …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Raila Odinga, Kenya’s veteran opposition leader and one-time prime minister, on Tuesday promised a campaign of civil disobedience and protest against a presidential election he boycotted last week, keeping alive his long-held dream of winning the nation’s top job. The 72-year-old has been a mainstay of …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria’s former president Goodluck Jonathan should be given the equivalent of $2.7 million to testify at the corruption trial of his party’s former spokesman, his lawyer said on Tuesday. The money would cover costs to enable him to attend the case, Mike Ozekhome told reporters outside …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga on Tuesday rejected outright the result of last week’s “sham” election, vowing to fight on after the protest-hit poll that handed President Uhuru Kenyatta a landslide win. “This election must not stand. If allowed to stand, it will make a …