AFRICA

Juba, South Sudan | THE INDEPENDENT REPORTER | The Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Council of Ministers chaired by the Ethiopian Minister of Foreign Affairs Workney Gebeyehu has hailed Uganda’s Presdient Yoweri Museveni for his efforts to unite the factions of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM). In a statement, after the 58th …

GUIDER, Cameroon | AFP |  The two big maps show the districts of the northern Cameroonian town of Guider along with its brothels, nightclubs and other seedy spots to identify places from where AIDS could spread among adolescents. Cameroon, a country of 23 million that hugs Africa’s Gulf of Guinea, …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta was a no-show Monday at a televised debate ahead of August 8 elections, leaving his main rival Raila Odinga alone to field questions. Both candidates had initially pulled out of the final debate, but after a change in format Odinga agreed …

Paris, France | AFP |  The three-decade-old quest for an AIDS vaccine received a shot of hope Monday when developers announced that a prototype triggered the immune system in an early phase of human trials. Tested in 393 people in the United States, Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa and Thailand, the …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  A new book detailing Nelson Mandela’s last days has been withdrawn after it was condemned by his outraged widow, publisher Penguin Random House said Monday. The book by Mandela’s physician Vejay Ramlakan was released last week to coincide with the late anti-apartheid leader’s birthday …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | An apparent photo of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari was posted on Twitter Sunday, offering a rare glimpse of the ill leader since his departure for London for medical treatment in May. Posted from the official Twitter account of the Nigerian presidency, the picture shows the …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria’s former oil minister faces charges only at home but her name crops up in a growing number of international cases that lift the lid on the scale of alleged corruption in the country’s oil sector. Since leaving office in 2015, Diezani Alison-Madueke has been implicated …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP |  The Congolese opposition on Saturday unveiled a rolling programme of strikes and civil disobedience aimed at forcing President Joseph Kabila from power. The announcement was made after two days of opposition talks in Kinshasa amid concerns that Kabila, in power since 2001, is seeking …

South Asia heritage Kenyans formally recognised Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Kenya said Saturday it had granted formal recognition to citizens of Indo-Pakistani origin, with President Uhuru Kenyatta making them a 44th tribe. “I do hereby recognize, proclaim and order, 1.that Kenyans of Asian Heritage constitute a Community that is …

  S.Africa circumcision ritual: a dangerous route to manhood Coffee Bay, South Africa | AFP |  Naked, covered in white clay mud, and with his penis wrapped in leaves, Abongile Maqegu, 20, sits in a hut in South Africa recovering from his circumcision — a traditional ritual that can prove …