Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | The absence of South Sudan’s rebel leader Riek Machar should not delay the implementation of a peace deal, an envoy to the UN Security Council said on Monday. Former vice president and rebel leader Machar is undergoing medical treatment in Khartoum after being chased …
Read More »Five things to take away from the G20 summit
Hangzhou, China | AFP | This year’s most exclusive and closely-watched diplomatic party –- the G20 summit –- saw presidents and prime ministers from countries representing 85 percent of the global economy gather in the Chinese city of Hangzhou. How did the first China-hosted G20 go? While analysts correctly foresaw …
Read More »Security Council urges South Sudan to acccept ‘protection force’
Juba, South Sudan | AFP | The UN Security Council on Saturday urged South Sudan to drop its opposition to the deployment of a regional protection force to beef up a large UN peacekeeping mission in the war-scarred country. Echoing a call made earlier Saturday by South Sudanese religious leaders, …
Read More »Where next for South Sudan and rebel chief Machar?
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | War-torn South Sudan’s slide into chaos resumed last month with fresh fighting in the capital Juba that forced rebel leader turned vice president and peace deal signatory Riek Machar to flee. With the spike in clashes came a surge of abuse of civilians by armed …
Read More »Portugal’s Guterres still leads race to be next UN chief
United Nations, United States | AFP | Portugal’s former prime minister Antonio Guterres is still the frontrunner to become the next secretary-general of the United Nations following a third straw poll held Monday, diplomats said. Guterres, who served as UN refugee chief for 10 years, received 11 votes of encouragement, …
Read More »Japan PM pledges to invest $30 bn in Africa by 2018
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Japan will pour $30 billion of investments into Africa by 2018, including $10 billion in infrastructure development, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Saturday at a summit in Nairobi. Abe is using the conference to meet dozens of leaders from across Africa, among them Kenya’s President …
Read More »Kerry to travel to East Africa, the Gulf on counterterrorism tour
Washington, United States | AFP | US Secretary of State John Kerry will travel next week to Kenya, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia on a three-nation tour focused on counterterrorism, the State Department said Thursday. The top US diplomat arrives in Nairobi on Monday for talks with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta …
Read More »Uganda declines to send troops to UN South Sudan mission
Kampala, Uganda | AFP | Uganda announced Friday it would not contribute troops to a regional brigade designed to bolster the UN mission in South Sudan, hours before a Security Council vote authorising the deployment. A key ally of South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, Uganda’s government said it did not …
Read More »Putin and Erdogan pledge reset after diplomatic rift
Saint Petersburg, RUSSIAN FEDERATION | AFP | Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday pledged to reinvigorate ties after their first meeting since Ankara shot down a Russian warplane last November. Erdogan’s visit to Putin’s hometown of Saint Petersburg is also his first foreign trip …
Read More »PHOTOS: Museveni, US ambassador Malac and Ankole cattle
PHOTOGRAPHS: US ambassador to Uganda Deborah Malac on Friday visited President Yoweri Museveni at his countryside home in Rwakitura. The ambassador and President Museveni reportedly discussed issues of mutual interest to the US and Uganda. Thereafter, Malac was taken on a tour of Museveni’s farm, where the president showed her …
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