Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudan on Friday welcomed the US decision to end its 20-year trade embargo against Khartoum as a “positive decision”. Earlier Friday, Washington announced it was ending the embargo, citing improvements made by Sudan in its human rights record. “The leaders of Sudan, the government of Sudan …
Read More »Nigeria: Cooperation ‘key’ to defeating jihadists
Maiduguri, Nigeria | AFP | Greater international cooperation is required to defeat Boko Haram and neutralise the threat from the Islamist militants in Nigeria and beyond, military commanders and politicians said this week. The jihadists, who are allied to the Islamic State group, have destroyed swathes of remote northeast Nigeria since …
Read More »Niger declares mourning after joint US patrol deaths
Niamey, Niger | AFP | Niger has declared three days of national mourning in memory of four of its soldiers killed alongside three US Green Berets in an ambush, state television said Friday. The joint patrol came under fire on Wednesday in southwestern Niger near the border with Mali, in what …
Read More »Zimbabwe’s poisoned struggle to succeed Mugabe
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe has been gripped by an escalating spat between the president’s wife and his senior vice-president over a bizarre poisoning incident that has laid bare the pair’s ambitions to succeed President Robert Mugabe. Though Mugabe has repeatedly condemned factionalism and refused to discuss his successor, his …
Read More »Plague-hit Madagascar bans jail visits
Antananarivo, Madagascar | AFP | Authorities in Madagascar Friday announced a ban on prison visits to prevent the spread of a plague epidemic that has killed 36 people in the Indian Ocean island. “In order to protect prisoners from the plague that is spreading outside the prison, we have decided to …
Read More »Kenya police use tear gas to disperse opposition protests
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Police in Kenya fired tear gas on Friday at crowds of opposition supporters marching in three main cities ahead of a tense presidential election re-run. Opposition leader Raila Odinga has called for biweekly protests to pressure the government to overhaul the Independent Electoral and Boundaries …
Read More »Gabon president wins libel case against French author
Paris, France | AFP | A Paris court on Thursday fined French journalist and writer Pierre Pean 1,000 euros ($1,170) and ordered him to pay a symbolic one euro in damages in a libel case brought by Gabonese President Ali Bongo. In a 2014 book called “Nouvelles affaires africaines” (“New African …
Read More »Zimbabwe vice president fights back over poisoning ‘lies’
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa on Thursday fought back against allegations by hos co-deputy that he lied about being poisoned, in a row that displays the growing political in-fighting ahead of next year’s election. Mnangagwa has been accused by fellow vice-president Phelekezela Mphoko of undermining …
Read More »Germany to probe origins of colonial-era Rwandan skulls
Berlin, Germany | AFP | Germany launched a two-year study Thursday to determine the origins of more than 1,000 human skulls, mostly from Rwanda, brought to Europe during the colonial era for racial “scientific” research. Billed as an important first step to understand the provenance of the remains, the study could …
Read More »Depleted Ghana squad prepares to face Uganda
▶️ Uganda vs Ghana Oct 7 ▶️ Egypt vs Congo Oct 7 ▶️ Congo vs Uganda Nov 6 ▶️ Ghana vs Egypt Nov 6 Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Ghana’s Black Stars left Kenya on Thursday for Uganda ahead of the crucial 2018 World Cup qualifier in the Ugandan capital Kampala …
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