AFRICA

Tanzanian newspaper suspended for pointing finger at Mkapa, Kikwete Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Tanzanian weekly, Mawio, has been ordered to suspend publication for two years after pointing the finger at two former presidents in connection with huge revenue losses, the country’s interior ministry said Friday. The weekly, regularly critical of …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Four people were killed and 11 injured when a passenger bus struck a roadside bomb in northeast Kenya on Friday, officials said, the most recent in a string of such attacks. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, but in recent weeks …

Blantyre, Malawi | AFP |  Malawi on Friday deplored the violent clashes reportedly taking place between rival ethnic groups from Rwanda and Burundi at a refugee camp near the capital Lilongwe, and said they must stop. There have been clashes in recent weeks between Tutsi and Hutu refugees from Rwanda …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Burundi security forces and government-allied militia are continuing to torture and kill opponents, UN investigators said Thursday, allegations denied by the government. The investigators from the UN’s Commission of Inquiry on Burundi have been denied entry to the country said there was a “feeling of …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP |  Nigeria’s military has rejected a call for senior army officers to be investigated for possible war crimes in the fight against Boko Haram Islamists. Amnesty International named six serving or retired army officers whom it said should be probed to establish whether they were responsible …

Maseru, Lesotho | AFP |  Just days before his inauguration, Lesotho’s incoming prime minister was left shaken Thursday by the murder of his estranged wife in a shooting highlighting the political uncertainty which has long gripped the mountain kingdom. Thomas Thabane’s 58-year-old wife Lipolelo, was shot dead Wednesday in Ha …

Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP | A suicide car bombing and assault by Shabaab militants on two neighbouring restaurants in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu ended Thursday morning with 18 dead, a government spokesman said. “The operation is over now and the gunmen were killed by the security forces,” said Mohamed Ahmed Arab, spokesman …

Paris, France | AFP |  Cool, high-lying areas of Ethiopia hitherto shielded from heat-loving malaria mosquitoes are increasingly exposed to the disease as the climate warms, researchers said Thursday. Most Ethiopians live in the country’s highlands, and have long enjoyed natural protection against mosquitoes carrying the malaria-causing parasites Plasmodium falciparum …

A narrative trapped between elite pseudo optimism and hard realities of citizens By Elijah Kisembo Africa is not one country. It is a collection of many countries. A good defence put forward when one writes a story about the continent that is deemed damaging and retrogressive by the political elites …

Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP | At least six people were killed after a suicide car bomber targeted a popular restaurant in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Wednesday evening, security officials said. “The suicide bomber drove a car loaded with explosives into the building,” said Ali Mohamed, a police official, identifying the …