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 …
Read More »Libya threatens to seize NGO migrant rescue boats
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 …
Read More »Two killed in landmine blast in Nigeria
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 …
Read More »Hundreds of Togolese seek sanctuary in Ghana
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 …
Read More »Cameroon accused over Nigerian Boko Haram refugees
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 …
Read More »Chad condemns ‘injustice’ of US travel ban
N’Djamena, Chad | AFP | Chad expressed to its United States ambassador the “injustice” of being added to the list of countries targeted by its travel ban, the acting foreign minister said Tuesday. The landlocked African country was included in the newest version of President Donald Trump’s order, which cited Chad’s …
Read More »Ghanaian villagers profit from monkey business
Tafi Atome, Ghana | AFP | The villagers of Tafi Atome, in Ghana’s Volta Region, grew up listening to tales of their spiritual links to the 1,000 or so mona monkeys that inhabit the surrounding lush forest. But they have also turned that reverence into revenue, by making the cheeky primates …
Read More »Zimbabwe court orders release of activist pastor
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | A Zimbabwean court on Tuesday ordered the release of an activist pastor and government critic who was detained over a video on social media lamenting the country’s worsening economic crisis. A Harare magistrate ruled that Evan Mawarire be freed immediately after the prosecution delayed taking him …
Read More »Kenya police fire tear gas to disperse election protesters
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenyan police on Tuesday used tear gas to disperse opposition protesters outside the headquarters of the election commission a month before a scheduled re-run of the annulled presidential poll. Opposition leader Raila Odinga is insisting on widespread reforms of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission …
Read More »Angola swears in Lourenco, first new president for 38 years
Luanda, Angola | AFP | Jose Eduardo dos Santos’s 38-year reign over Angola finally came to an end Tuesday when his hand-picked successor Joao Lourenco was inaugurated as president at a ceremony in Luanda. Lourenco read an oath in which he vowed “on my honour to devote myself” to the …
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