NEWS ANALYSIS

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP |  Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday vowed to help to 82 schoolgirls who have been freed from more than three years of Boko Haram captivity after a prisoner swap. The girls — who were among more than 200 kidnapped in 2014 from the Government Girls …

Consumers want the cheap prices but local traders want the profits Hostility towards Chinese petty traders appears to be growing in Uganda but so is the dependence on Chinese imports. On April 19, the hostility erupted once again as hundreds of traders in the capital city, Kampala, staged a closed-shop …

Mbabazi court award hits Shs21bn: Attorney General’s office looks for ways of scaling back costly damages The Shs13billion court award granted to lawyer Severino Twinobusingye, known for representing Amama Mbabazi, in 2013 is probably the largest ever given out to an individual. He told The Independent recently that he has …

Palma, Mozambique | AFP |  The small, palm-fringed fishing town of Palma was meant to become a symbol of Mozambique’s glittering future, transformed by one of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas projects. But construction has fallen far behind schedule and the town’s fate is uncertain after gas prices fell …

Paris, France | AFP | Pro-EU centrist Emmanuel Macron takes on far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the second-round run-off of France’s presidential election on Sunday. – Why is it important? – France is the eurozone’s second-biggest economy as well as a global military and diplomatic heavyweight, with veto power as …

Durban, South Africa | AFP |  African countries are becoming increasingly repressive and causing more people to leave their homes, British charity Oxfam said this week, as Germany warned of the destabilising effect migration is having on the continent. Political freedom and the problem of Africa’s brain-drain were among the …

Johannesburg, South Africa |  Three former South African presidents for the first time issued a joint call for action Friday to end the nation’s “worsening” political crisis, the latest campaign targeting President Jacob Zuma. In an unprecedented move, the country’s living former heads of state — Thabo Mbeki, F.W. de …

Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP |  An American soldier has been killed in a night-time raid in Somalia, in what is believed to be the first US military death in combat there since the infamous events of “Black Hawk Down” 24 years ago. The death occurred three weeks after the US …

Lokichar, Kenya | AFP |  Kenya plans to export its first oil in June, but analysts say the test phase faces major challenges and appears motivated primarily by political considerations just months ahead of elections. British company Tullow announced the discovery of oil in Kenya in March 2012, when prices …

Accept decision of voters, President Kenyatta urges Jubilee primaries losers NAIROBI | PSCU | Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has urged losers in the Jubilee Party primaries to accept the decision of voters, saying it confirms the level of entrenchment of democracy in the country. Kenyatta said Kenya will be a success as …