HARARE, ZIMBABWE | TASS | The United States may open new military bases in Benin, Ivory Coast or Ghana, the AES INFO news outlet reported. Commenting on this week’s trip to Africa by Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Brown, Jr., the news outlet pointed out that the purpose …
Read More »Former Benin PM to assess oil land compensation in Uganda
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Lionel Zinsou, a former Prime Minister of Benin, is set to undertake the evaluation of the land compensation processes carried out by TotalEnergies Exploration and Production in Uganda and Tanzania. The land acquisition paved the way for the development of the Tilenga oil and gas …
Read More »Benin starts testing school teachers for virus
Cotonou, Benin | AFP | Benin on Saturday was conducting mass coronavirus testing of teachers ahead of the reopening of schools as part of a plan to loosen measures against the pandemic. The West African nation of 11 million is set to end six weeks of travel restrictions to key …
Read More »Border closure leaves rice-loving Nigerians steaming
Badagry, Nigeria | AFP | The days of heaping 50-kilo sacks of rice across the saddle of their motorbike and slipping a few notes to a customs officer are now gone. With Nigeria having snapped its borders shut, the legions of motorbike riders who used to satisfy the nation’s hunger for …
Read More »Benin readies for return of treasures taken by France
Abomey-Calavi, Benin | AFP | The display cases at the royal palaces in Benin’s sleepy southern town of Abomey are coated in dust and the exhibition halls plunged in darkness. But local tourism chief Gabin Djimasse hopes all this will change with the return of 26 artefacts from former colonial master …
Read More »Benin leaps into 21st century with new national map
Cotonou, Benin | AFP | The last time that cartographers mapped Benin, Elvis Presley had just released “Jailhouse Rock,” the Soviets had launched Sputnik — and the country was still a colony named French Dahomey. Things in the West African state have sure changed since 1957, and the old maps were …
Read More »Holders Cameroon warn Group F rivals: ‘No easy time against us’
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Cameroon coach Clarence Seedorf has a message for Group F opponents at the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt this month: “no one is going to have an easy time against us.” He says the surprise winners of the last edition are “in good shape …
Read More »In Benin, president’s opponents claim political crackdown
Cotonou, Benin | AFP | Benin has a reputation as one of West Africa’s most stable democracies but a series of court cases against opponents of President Patrice Talon has led to accusations that his rivals are being targeted, forcing some to flee the country. One of those opponents is …
Read More »Opposition politician in Benin jailed for 20 years on drugs charges
Porto-Novo, Benin | AFP | A court in Benin on Thursday sentenced opposition politician Sebastien Ajavon to 20 years in prison on drugs charges and issued an international warrant for his arrest. The former presidential candidate was not at the hearing in the West African country’s administrative capital, Porto-Novo, which …
Read More »Benin opposition politician goes to African court
Cotonou, Benin | AFP | Benin opposition politician Sebastien Ajavon on Wednesday took the country’s government to court, demanding nearly $990 million in damages after a string of arrests and prosecutions. One of the failed presidential candidate’s four lawyers, Julien Bensimhon, told the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights …
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