AFRICA

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari signed an ambitious budget into law Monday, days ahead of the official start of his second term leading Africa’s largest oil producer. Buhari approved the spending plan worth 8.92 trillion naira — about $29 billion based on the official fixed exchange …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A commuter taxi has knocked dead four Kenyan pilgrims and injured ten others critically along Iganga-Tororo high way. The accident occurred around 5:30am on Sunday morning at Waina village in Mayuge district. The deceased Kenyan victims who were on their way to Namugongo Martyrs …

Why our everlasting obsession with the state, its leaders and politics as the problem is misguided THE LAST WORD | ANDREW M MWENDA | There is a near unanimous view that the problems of our nations in Sub Sahara Africa are a result of leaders, specifically our presidents. Others broaden …

Blantyre, Malawi | AFP |  Malawi’s electoral board on Friday said it was suspending updates of results from this week’s elections in order to resolve complaints raised by some of the parties. A count of votes tallied in three-quarters of the country’s polling stations, released Thursday, found incumbent president Peter Mutharika …

Pretoria, South Africa | AFP | Cyril Ramaphosa vowed a “new era” Saturday after he was sworn in as president of South Africa at a colourful ceremony in the capital, as he looks to revitalise his push to revive the economy and fight corruption. Foreign heads of state from more than …

Sipopo, Equatorial Guinea | AFP | Gleaming but eerily empty, the luxurious Sipopo resort with its five-star hotel and exclusive facilities rises from a tropical beach, symbolising the dilemma of Equatorial Guinea — a notoriously closed country that has turned to tourism to help fill its coffers. The purpose-built town was …

Kampala, Uganda | AFP | A President Yoweri Museveni  and Rwanda President Paul Kagame  tete-a-tete as Cyril Ramaphosa was sworn in as president of South Africa early on Saturday, has been overshadowed by accusations after two men at their border. Analysts had hoped the surprise ‘meeting’ in Pretoria, would signal a thaw in relations …

  Pretoria, South Africa | AFP |  Newly-elected South African President Cyril Ramaphosa faces herculean tasks after he gets down to work after Saturday’s inauguration. They include: – Fixing the economy – South Africa has the most advanced infrastructure in the continent, but its commodities-dependent economy has been in a …

Pretoria, South Africa | AFP |  Cyril Ramaphosa takes the oath of office today Saturday as president of South Africa, facing a brew of expectations and scepticism after vowing to reform the country and revive its economy. Foreign heads of state will be among 36,000 people expected to witness the ceremony …

Butembo, DR Congo | AFP | People in Ebola-hit eastern DR Congo are struggling to come to terms with high-security burials that are part of a hard-pressed strategy to roll back the disease. Anyone who dies of the highly infectious haemorrhagic fever has to be buried in carefully-controlled conditions designed …