Nigeria’s air force said it had killed a number of senior Boko Haram fighters and possibly their overall leader in a briefing and statement on Tuesday (August 23). Government planes attacked the Islamist group inside the Sambisa forest in its northeast heartland on Friday (August 19), the air force said, adding that it had only just confirmed details of the impact of the raid. In a briefing to air force personnel Nigeria’s Chief of Air […]
Africa
Fraught DR Congo faces national strike over election row
KINSHASA, DR Congo (AFP) – by Bienvenu-Marie BAKUMANYA The tense DR Congo faces a nationwide shutdown Tuesday after the country’s main opposition alliance refused to join talks with President Joseph Kabila’s government in a stormy row over delayed presidential elections. The fractured opposition recently came together in a new coalition — “Rassemblement” (Gathering) — headed by veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi to demand Kabila end his 15-year rule and step down when his mandate expires on […]
Sudan floods kill 100, destroy villages: officials
by Ashraf Shazly KASALA, Sudan (AFP) — Thousands of houses have been destroyed and several villages submerged after flooding triggered by torrential rainfall killed 100 people across Sudan, officials and an AFP photographer said on Sunday. Thousands of people in the impoverished eastern state of Kasala bordering Eritrea fled their homes after the river Gash burst its banks, flooding entire villages inhabited by farmers. Many people were sheltering in makeshift grass huts on […]
Orphaned baby rhino resuscitated after its heart stops beating
SOUTH AFRICA (AFP) — Conservation workers in South Africa were quick to act when the heart of an orphaned baby rhino in their care stopped beating while it was being dehorned — a measure that deters poaching.
Nigerian protestors storm Chevron facility
WARRI, Nigeria (AFP) – Hundreds of protestors stormed a Nigerian facility owned by Chevron on Wednesday demanding better jobs and forcing staff to be airlifted out, community leaders said. Protestors from Ugborodo village, which is close to Chevron’s Escravos terminal, want the company to relocate more of its Nigerian offices to the southern Delta state to secure work for people living in the oil-producing swamplands. “Our people are casual workers in their own land,” Collins […]
Dozens killed in new wave of Ethiopia protests
ADDIS ADABA, Ethiopia (AFP) – Several dozen people were killed in weekend clashes in Ethiopia between police and anti-government demonstrators, as the authorities brutally suppressed a new wave of unrest in two key regions. Protests swept the vast state of Oromia and even reached the capital Addis Ababa, a rare event in a nation with a government considered among the most repressive in Africa. “We have reports of between 48 to 50 protesters killed in Oromia. […]
South Sudan army slams UN report alleging killings, rape
NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) – South Sudan’s army on Friday described a UN report alleging its troops carried out ethnically targeted killings and rapes as “baseless”, saying not one victim had lodged a complaint. The UN’s top human rights official on Thursday blamed Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) troops loyal to President Salva Kiir for deadly attacks on the Nuer people during a bout of unrest in the capital in early July. Kiir is from the Dinka […]
South Sudan minister resigns, calls for regime change
ADDIS ADABA Ethiopia (AFP) – A South Sudanese minister and opposition figure resigned on Monday saying a peace deal designed to heal the troubled young nation was dead, while calling for President Salva Kiir’s unity government to leave power. Lam Akol was agriculture minister in Kiir’s administration and also announced he was quitting as longtime leader of the opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-Democratic Change (SPLM-DC) party. “There is no more peace agreement to implement in […]
Twin suicide bombs kill 13 near Mogadishu airport
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AFP) – At least 13 people were killed on Tuesday in twin bombings near UN and African Union buildings adjoining Mogadishu’s airport, police said, in what the jihadist Shabaab group claimed as a suicide attack. The Al-Qaeda aligned Shabaab group is blamed for a string of bloody assaults in Somalia and neighbouring Kenya, and is fighting to overthrow Mogadishu’s internationally-backed government. “At least 13 people were confirmed to have died in two explosions, […]
Mali renews state of emergency after deadly attack
BAMAKO, Mali (AFP) — The Malian government on Wednesday declared a state of emergency, a day after an attack in the centre of the country left 17 soldiers dead and 35 wounded. In a statement, the government said a period of national mourning would begin on Thursday “in homage to the victims of the terrorist attack” in Nampala, and that the state of emergency would last “for a duration of 10 days”. In the hours […]
South African Ambassador visits Iglesia Ni Cristo Central Office
NEW ERA, Quezon City (Eagle News)– The Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa visited the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) Central office on Wednesday. His Excellency, Martin Slabber, arrived at the INC Central office complex at around 8:45 in the morning and was welcomed by INC Executive Minister, Bro. Eduardo V. Manalo. According to Bro. Joel V. San Pedro, INC minister, Slabber initiated the said visit. San Pedro adds that Slabber reached out to the […]
Morocco wants to rejoin African Union after 32 years: statement
RABAT, Morocco (AFP) — Moroccan King Mohammed VI on Sunday announced that his country wanted to rejoin the African Union, 32 years after quitting the bloc in protest at its decision to accept Western Sahara as a member. “For a long time our friends have been asking us to return to them, so that Morocco can take up its natural place within its institutional family. The moment has now come,” the monarch said in a […]
