Beni, DR Congo | AFP | The official explanation for a two-year wave of massacres in a restive corner of DR Congo centres on a shadowy rebel group accused of having ties to the global jihadist underground. But some basic details about the alleged killers of more than 700 victims …
Read More »ADF blamed as 22 killed in DRC
Twenty-two civilians killed in DR Congo bloodbath: official Goma, DR Congo | AFP | At least 22 civilians were killed in a massacre in Democratic Republic of Congo’s restive North Kivu province over the weekend, an official said Sunday. The bloodshed occurred in Eringeti, a town 55 kilometres (35 miles) …
Read More »Christmas brings some relief for Kabila and DRC
DR Congo crisis talks suspended, hopes for deal by year end Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Talks to end DR Congo’s dangerous political crisis were suspended on Saturday until after Christmas after a fruitless 48 hours of negotiations over President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to quit power. Kabila’s second and …
Read More »Nigerian army ‘crushes’ Boko Haram in key stronghold
Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday claimed the military had routed Boko Haram in a key northeastern stronghold, a year after saying the Islamist militants had been “technically” defeated. A campaign lasting for months in the 1,300 square-kilometre (500 square-mile) forest in northeastern Borno state …
Read More »Nigerian troops rescue 1,880 civilians from Boko Haram in one week
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Nigerian troops have rescued 1,880 civilians from a Boko Haram redoubt in the restive northeast in the past week and arrested hundreds of insurgents, a military commander said on Wednesday. The Sambisa forest, covering about 1,300 square kilometres (500 square miles), is a stronghold of …
Read More »KABILA: Young, enigmatic and still around
Joseph Kabila: DR Congo’s young, enigmatic leader Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Still relatively young after 16 years leading the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila is a secretive president at the centre of a political crisis in his vast, conflict-ravaged nation. Tuesday marks the end of the second …
Read More »Burundi summons EU envoys for skipping Nyamitwe meeting
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Burundi’s foreign minister on Thursday summoned envoys for the EU and several European nations to rap them over the knuckles for skipping a diplomatic meeting he had invited them to, government sources said. Ambassadors for the EU, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands had been …
Read More »Buhari, Mahama in Gambia to talk to Jammeh
African leaders in showdown with Gambia’s Jammeh Banjul, Gambia | AFP | Four African heads of state landed in The Gambia on Tuesday with a mission to persuade President Yahya Jammeh to leave office, as the country’s election commission was locked down by police. Jammeh’s party has vowed to challenge the …
Read More »ELECTIONS: Lawyer of Gabon’s Ping reported missing
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | A lawyer for the Gabon opposition leader Jean Ping, who is still disputing the re-election of President Ali Bongo, has been missing for three days, according to Ping’s team. Eric Iga Iga, one of two lawyers who represented Ping in Constitutional Court in September when …
Read More »At least 25 dead in blast at Cairo church
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | A bombing in a Cairo church on Sunday near the headquarters of the Coptic pope killed at least 25 people, state media reported. It was the deadliest suspected attack on the country’s beleaguered Christian minority in recent memory. The explosion ripped through the church around …
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