AFRICA

Libreville, Gabon | AFP |  Gabon on Sunday announced a ban on opposition leaders, including former top African Union official Jean Ping, from leaving the country in what it said was a “temporary, administrative measure”. “This measure follows inflammatory comments by Jean Ping on August 18 when he called for …

Luanda, Angola | AFP | Four opposition parties in Angola on Sunday called for a recount in last week’s general election, alleging “irregularities” during the vote that kept the ruling party in power. The MPLA party of former president Jose Eduardo Dos Santos won just over 61 percent of the …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Fourteen people have died of cholera in northeast Nigeria, with most of the victims living in a camp for people displaced by Boko Haram violence, the health ministry said Saturday. “Up to September 1, 14 deaths have been reported,” the health ministry said in a statement, …

Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP | More than 10 soldiers died on Sunday and several others were wounded when Al-Qaeda-aligned Shabaab militants stormed a base in southern Somalia, security sources said. The militants drove a truck loaded with explosives to the main entrance of the base in Bulogadud, about 70 kilometres (40 …

THE LAST WORD: How the obsession with our internal weaknesses has obscured the international dimension of Africa’s problems Andrew M. Mwenda | THE LAST WORD | Now in his 32nd year as president, Yoweri Museveni faces a dilemma. Uganda is still a very poor rural agricultural economy in spite of …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Sparks were flying in Kenya on Sunday as the main rival of President Uhuru Kenyatta called for the ousting of members of the country’s election commission, likening them to “hyenas”, while judges slammed “veiled threats” by the president after the shock annulment of his re-election …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenyan judges have slammed the “veiled threats” made by President Uhuru Kenyatta after the judiciary overturned his election on the ground that it was flawed. Calling it “an assault on the judiciary”, the Kenya Magistrates and Judges Association (KMJA) late Saturday asked people to ignore …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  Zambia overcame conceding a goal and having a player sent off inside 60 seconds to score a historic 3-1 World Cup qualifying victory over Algeria in Lusaka Saturday. Brian Mwila scored twice to give the “Chipolopolo” (Copper Bullets) a two-goal half-time advantage before a …

  Bulawayo, Zimbabwe | AFP |  Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai hailed on Saturday the decision by Kenya’s top court to order a new presidential election as a “step towards democracy”. Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has made three failed attempts at the presidency, losing …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Praise poured in Saturday for Kenya’s judiciary after a historic ruling annulling presidential poll results, as attention turned to how discredited officials will organise a new vote in only two months. Kenya’s press and diplomats hailed the Supreme Court decision to annul last month’s presidential poll …