AFRICA

Rome, Italy | AFP |  Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar asked Europe for helicopters and drones to fight rampant migration on the southern border of the war-wracked country. The request came after the commander, who backs a Tobruk-based administration that controls much of the east and south of Libya, travelled …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP |  The UN rights council voted Thursday to send experts to help authorities in crisis-wracked Burundi to investigate violations, casting doubt on whether an independent international probe would be allowed to continue. The resolution, presented this week by a group of African countries, was controversial since …

Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP |  At least seven people were killed and several others wounded after a car bomb exploded near a marketplace in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Thursday, a city official said. The blast occurred alongside a densely populated road near Hamarweyne market, an area where bombings claimed by …

Khartoum, SUDAN | AFP | President Omar al-Bashir said on Thursday that Washington’s “unjust” trade embargo on Sudan had weakened the African country and caused immense hardship for its people. His comments came just two weeks before US President Donald Trump is to decide whether to permanently lift the embargo that …

Abuja, NIGERIA | AFP | A leading Nigerian opposition politician on Thursday said he intended to run for president in 2019, becoming the first candidate to stake his claim for the country’s top job. Peter Ayodele Fayose, the governor of the southwestern state of Ekiti, formally launched his bid to be …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenya’s opposition on Thursday called for demonstrations against the government after the ruling party moved to change the electoral law ahead of next month’s re-run presidential poll. After a case brought by opposition leader Raila Odinga, Kenya’s Supreme Court annulled last month’s presidential election, won by …

Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Libya’s navy warned it will seize activists’ boats on migrant rescue missions that enter its waters unauthorised, after a run-in Wednesday with a German vessel during which a warning shot was fired. “This time we avoided an escalation. In future, we will seize the boats of …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Two people were killed when a convoy of civilian vehicles hit landmines in northeast Nigeria, a driver and a local militia member said on Wednesday. Babakura Kolo, from the Civilian Joint Task Force helping the military with security, said the blasts happened at Koibe village on …

Accra, Ghana | AFP | Hundreds of Togolese nationals have fled to neighbouring Ghana to escape reprisals after a wave of anti-government protests, a Ghanaian official said on Wednesday. Paddy Tetteh, from the Ghana Refugee Board, said the first batch arrived last Wednesday and although numbers had since fallen, more were …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Cameroon on Wednesday denied allegations by a human rights group that it had forcibly returned about 100,000 Nigerian refugees in breach of international agreements, putting them in danger from Boko Haram Islamists. Human Rights Watch said Nigerians who had sought refuge across the border because of …