AFRICA

Juba, South Sudan | AFP | At least 16 civilians were killed in fighting Monday between government troops and rebels in South Sudan’s second-largest city Wau, the United Nations peacekeeping mission (UNMISS) said in a statement. The violence stemmed from an ambush Sunday of government troops near the city, leading …

Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP | Somalia’s new army chief escaped a car bombing Sunday that killed at least 10 people in a bloody response by Shabaab militants to the president’s declaration of war on the group. A suicide bomber drove a car packed with explosives into Ahmed Mohamed Jimale’s convoy …

President launches Ecosystem of Pan-African transformation The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), in partnership with the Government of Rwanda, recently announced the launch of AIMS in Rwanda, a world class ecosystem of pan-African transformation through mathematical sciences. The official launch took place at the Kigali Convention Centre (KCC), with …

State of emergency in Egypt after IS church bombings kill 44 Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced a three-month state of emergency following twin church bombings by the Islamic State group that killed dozens on Palm Sunday, the deadliest attacks on the minority in recent …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | A bomb blast at a church north of Cairo killed at least 22 people and wounded dozens who had gathered for Palm Sunday mass, officials said, in the latest apparent attack on Egypt’s Coptic Christians. Some 71 people were wounded in the blast, which struck …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma on Saturday hit out at critics within his own camp telling them not to use events such as funerals or memorial services to attack each other. Speaking himself, however, at the inauguration of a former minister’s tombstone, Zuma told colleagues …

DR Congo president names new PM under power-sharing deal Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | President Joseph Kabila on Friday named an opposition leader as prime minister for the Democratic Republic of Congo, honouring a pledge made as part of a stalled power-sharing deal agreed in December. Bruno Tshibala, a …

Over 6,000 flee ‘terrifying’ violence in South Sudan town near Uganda: UN Juba, South Sudan | AFP | Fighting in the South Sudan town of Pajok sent over 6,000 people fleeing this week, with refugees recounting the slaughter of civilians by government forces, the UN refugee agency said Friday. Fighting …

The 136th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly chaired by Uganda’s Rebecca Kadaga, ended on Wednesday with the adoption of the Dhaka Declaration calling for urgent international action to save millions of people from famine and drought in parts of Africa and Yemen. The five-day assembly in Dhaka also took a resolution on …

Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP | A minibus hit a landmine in Somalia on Thursday, killing 19 people just hours after the new president of the troubled nation declared fresh war against Al-Shabaab militants. The minibus was travelling in the southern Lower Shebelle region when it hit the landmine near the …