Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabon’s failed presidential candidate Jean Ping on Monday called for a general strike after days of violence following incumbent Ali Bongo’s disputed re-election, saying an economic blockage would “topple the tyrant.” But the centre of the capital Libreville was its usual bustling self on Monday, …
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 »Machar discharged from Khartoum hospital: aides
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | South Sudan’s former rebel leader Riek Machar has been discharged from hospital in Khartoum after being treated for a swollen leg, his aides told AFP on Friday. Machar was replaced by Taban Deng Gai as South Sudan’s first vice president after hundreds of people died …
Read More »Nine killed as militants raid Kabul’s American University
Kabul, Afghanistan | AFP | At least nine people were killed after militants stormed the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, officials said Thursday, in a nearly 10-hour raid that prompted anguished pleas for help from trapped students. Explosions and gunfire rocked the campus after the attack began Wednesday evening, …
Read More »Machar arrives in Khartoum for ‘medical treatment’
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | South Sudan’s former rebel leader Riek Machar has arrived in Khartoum for “medical treatment,” the Sudanese government said Tuesday, after he escaped to the Democratic Republic of Congo following deadly clashes last month. Machar was replaced by Taban Deng Gai as South Sudan’s first vice …
Read More »East Africa leaders to press for regional force in S. Sudan
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | East African leaders will gather in Ethiopia on Friday to discuss a regional intervention force to back up UN troops in South Sudan, an initiative vehemently opposed by President Salva Kiir. Regional bloc IGAD has raised the possibility of deploying an “intervention brigade” with …
Read More »Kiir announces Deng as new South Sudan vice-president
Riek Machar replaced as South Sudan vice-president Juba, South Sudan | AFP | South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir announced on Monday that former rebel leader Riek Machar had been replaced as vice president, confirming signs of serious divisions within the opposition. Kiir said he had appointed Taban Deng Gai to …
Read More »Armed group kills 17 soldiers at Mali base
Bamako, Mali | AFP | Seventeen soldiers were killed and 35 wounded in central Mali Tuesday in an assault on their base that authorities called a “coordinated terrorist attack”. “The toll has increased: we have lost 17 men and 35 are wounded,” Mali’s defence minister Tieman Hubert Coulibaly said. Authorities …
Read More »Uganda, Djibouti censured by ICC for failure to arrest Bashir
The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | The International Criminal Court on Tuesday said it is referring Uganda and Djibouti to the UN Security Council after the two east African countries’ failed to arrest wanted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. The Hague-based ICC’s judges said in a statement “the Republics of Uganda …
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