RABAT, Morocco (AFP) — Israel and Morocco strengthened military ties during meetings Tuesday between the Jewish state’s army chief and Moroccan defense officials in the kingdom, amid tension with Rabat’s rival Algeria. Israeli army chief Aviv Kohavi, who arrived Monday, met with the Inspector General of the Royal Armed Forces Belkhir El Farouk, an Israeli army statement said. He also met with Morocco’s minister delegate in charge of defense administration, Abdellatif Loudiyi, and intelligence chief […]
Africa
Israel has ‘no objection’ to Red Sea island transfer to Saudi Arabia: officials
JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel has “no objection” to two strategic Red Sea islands being transferred to Saudi Arabia as a step towards any normalisation of ties between both countries, high-ranking officials said Thursday. The Jewish state hopes US President Joe Biden’s Middle East tour will hail the start of diplomatic ties between it and Saudi Arabia. After meeting Israeli officials on Wednesday and Thursday, Biden is on Friday to travel on to Saudi Arabia […]
Libyans at boiling point amid summer power cuts
by Hamza Mekouar Agence France-Presse TRIPOLI, Libya (AFP) — Mahmud Aguil has a comfortable house in Libya’s capital Tripoli, but chronic power outages in the war-battered country and roasting summer heat now force him to sleep in his air-conditioned van. “This is my bedroom,” the 48-year-old said pointing to the cramped vehicle, its back seats removed to make space for him and his two young children. “In the morning I wake up with a terrible […]
More means less for Zimbabweans battling hyperinflation
by Fanuel Jongwe Agence France-Presse HARARE, Zimbabwe (AFP) — With runaway inflation eating into incomes, staple foods have vanished from the tables of Zimbabweans like Emina Chishangwe, who lives in a poor dormitory town south of the capital Harare. “I can’t remember the last time I ate meat. It has become a luxury for some of us,” said the 57-year-old single mother of two adult sons. Zimbabwe has the highest inflation rate in the world, […]
34 killed in two jihadist attacks in Burkina Faso
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AFP) — Suspected jihadists killed at least 34 people in attacks on villages in northern Burkina Faso at the weekend, officials and sources said Monday. In the northwest of the country, 22 people, reportedly including children, were killed late Sunday at Bourasso in Kossi province, said Boucle du Mouhoun regional governor Babo Pierre Bassinga. “Armed men moved around the village at around 5:00 pm, firing in the air. They came back at […]
Mali welcomes lifting of ‘illegal, inhumane’ sanctions
BAMAKO, Mali (AFP) — Mali’s junta said Monday it was “satisfied” by the lifting of “illegal and inhumane” sanctions imposed by West African states in January after two coups in the country. The military-dominated government said in a statement it “notes with satisfaction a convergence of views that has allowed us to reach a compromise” that led to the lifting of the embargo against Mali. It thanked the Malian people for their “sacrifice and resilience” […]
Eight anti-coup protesters killed in Sudan mass rallies
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AFP) — At least eight Sudanese demonstrators were killed Thursday as security forces sought to quash mass rallies of protesters demanding an end to military rule, pro-democracy medics said. In one of the most violent days this year in an ongoing crackdown on the anti-coup movement, AFP correspondents reported security forces firing tear gas and stun grenades to disperse tens of thousands of protesters. “Even if we die, the military will not rule […]
Senegal court sentences opposition MP over banned protest
DAKAR, Senegal (AFP) — A Senegal court Tuesday handed an opposition MP a six-month suspended prison sentence for defying a ban on protests in the tense run-up to legislative elections and released another lawmaker and 82 other defendants tried in the same case. MPs Dethie Fall and Mame Diarra Fame were tried along with the 82 other defendants at the court in the capital Dakar. They were arrested on June 17 during a rally called […]
AU urges probe into deaths of Africans at Spain-Morocco border
NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) — The African Union Commission chief has voiced shock at the “violent and degrading” treatment of African migrants trying to cross from Morocco into Spain after 23 people died, and called for an investigation into the incident. About 2,000 migrants stormed the heavily fortified border between the Moroccan region of Nador and the Spanish enclave of Melilla on Friday. At least 23 migrants died and 140 police officers were wounded in the […]
Gunman kills seven villagers in northeast Cameroon
YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon (AFP) — A gunman on a rampage killed seven people and seriously wounded two others across four villages in northeastern Cameroon, a local administrator and state television said Thursday. This “lone gunman, carrying an AK47-type weapon and four magazines loaded on both sides of his belt, opened fire on the innocent populations” of four villages, according to a statement released by Yves Bertrand Awounfac Alienou, the prefect of Vina department in the northeastern […]
Death toll in Burkina jihadist massacre rises to 86
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AFP) — The death toll from a weekend attack in northern Burkina Faso rose by seven, taking the number killed to 86, authorities said on Wednesday. The massacre at the village of Seytenga is the second worst in the history of Burkina’s insurgency, which started in 2015 when jihadists launched cross-border raids from Mali. Attacks mainly by groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have since claimed thousands of […]
DR Congo condemns Rwanda’s ‘support’ for M23 rebels
KINSHASA, DR Congo (AFP) — The Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday condemned neighbor Rwanda for “supporting, financing and arming” the M23 rebel group that seized an important trading hub near the Ugandan border. “We will defend every centimeter of our territory,” added a Congolese communications ministry statement, which came a day after M23 rebels took the town of Bunagana in the eastern province of North Kivu. The statement cited 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner […]
