Monrovia, Liberia | AFP | Former football star George Weah has waited 12 years to become president of Liberia, and with his dream now within touching distance fans danced and sang in support in a Monrovia stadium on Saturday. Weah goes head-to-head with Vice-President Joseph Boakai on December 26 in …
Read More »One-year countdown and high hurdles to elections in DR Congo
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | With one year until long-delayed elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the countdown officially begins Saturday for a vote which is supposed to bring about the belated departure of President Joseph Kabila. But it remains unclear if the 45 million Congolese voters who registered …
Read More »Six anti-Trump inauguration day protesters not guilty
Washington, United States | AFP | Free speech activists and opponents of Donald Trump on Friday welcomed the acquittal of six protesters charged over unrest on the US president’s inauguration day. They were among more than 200 people accused in connection with the January 20 protests, some of whom have …
Read More »Liberia court denies ruling party’s vote delay request
Monrovia, Liberia | AFP | Liberia’s ruling United Party said Friday it would not appeal the top court’s rejection of its legal challenge to delay an upcoming presidential run-off vote, seen as a crucial test to the crisis-hit country’s stability. The party of Vice-President Joseph Boakai, one of the two …
Read More »Puigdemont: the ousted Catalan president who scored a comeback
Barcelona, Spain | AFP | Catalonia’s ousted separatist leader Carles Puigdemont saw his independence drive vindicated after he led the separatist bloc to a big win in a crucial election on Thursday from exile in Belgium. “The Spanish state has been defeated,” he told supporters in Brussels after his Together for …
Read More »UN votes 128-9 to reject US decision on Jerusalem
United Nations, United States | AFP | The UN General Assembly on Thursday adopted by a decisive vote of 128 to nine, with 35 abstentions, a motion rejecting the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. President Donald Trump had warned ahead of the vote in the 193-nation assembly that …
Read More »Liberia’s wartime ghosts return to haunt election
Gbarnga, Liberia | AFP | Dekergar Duko, a lean father-of-two who crushes rocks for a living, often reminisces during his days of backbreaking labour about his life under Liberia’s warlord-turned-president, Charles Taylor. Living in a hovel metres (yards) away from the so-called “College of Knowledge” where the dreaded strongman trained child …
Read More »Egypt colonel gets 6 years after announcing presidential bid
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | An Egyptian military court sentenced a colonel to six years in prison on Tuesday after he announced plans to stand in the 2018 presidential election, his lawyer said. Ahmed Konsowa was given the jail term for “stating political opinions contrary to the requirements of military …
Read More »Billionaire Pinera to return as Chile’s president
Santiago, Chile | AFP | Billionaire Sebastian Pinera will return to power as Chile’s president next year, according to virtually complete results from a runoff election held Sunday. Electoral authorities said the 68-year-old conservative, who previously led the South American nation from 2010-2014, had 55 percent of the vote, with 98 …
Read More »Could the ANC lose power in S.Africa?
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s ANC party, the celebrated political force that led the struggle against apartheid rule and ushered in democracy, has begun electing a new leader — but it faces a perilous future. The risk of losing power at the 2019 general elections has loomed …
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