AFRICA

Paris, France | AFP | The death rate among women undergoing a C-section to deliver a baby is about 50 times higher in Africa than in most wealthy nations, researchers said Friday. One in 200 women perished during or soon after a caesarean in a sampling of nearly 3,700 births …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Former South African president Jacob Zuma will not seek a place in parliament in the May 8 elections, the ruling party has said, surprising those who expected him to try to stage a comeback. Zuma, who has had a fraught relationship with his successor Cyril Ramaphosa and his anti-graft …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Attacks on Ebola treatment centres in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), risk reversing the gains made during the current outbreak in the north-east of the country, the head of the UN health agency Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said. Dr Tedros resounded …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | The deposed leader of an IS-backed faction of Boko Haram has been detained by more radical elements who seized control of the group, three well-informed sources have told AFP. Uncertainty has surrounded the fate of Abu Mus’ab Al-Barnawi after he was replaced as leader of the …

  Berlin, Germany | AFP |  Germany has agreed to speed up the return of human remains and artwork from former African colonies where the country carried out brutal massacres and pillaged indigenous heritage. The German culture and foreign ministries as well as regional and local cultural authorities signed a …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | With the world’s forests increasingly under threat from climate change and logging, leaders and top bank chiefs pledged billions on Thursday to help reverse the steep decline in Africa’s woodland areas. So far this century East Africa alone has lost around 6 million hectares of …

Tulu Fara, Ethiopia | AFP | From a quiet farmland at the base of rolling hills outside Ethiopia’s capital, the sound of wailing rang through the air. Devastated mourners flung themselves onto a ground littered with business cards, seat covers and shards of aluminium. They cried the names of loved …

AMISOM announces three days of mourning in honour of the late Acting Police Commissioner Mogadishu, Somalia | THE INDEPENDENT | The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), is observing three days of mourning in honour of the late Acting Police Commissioner Christine Alalo, who perished in the ill-fated Ethiopian Airlines flight …

Algiers, Algeria | AFP | Algeria’s new prime minister sought to calm tensions Thursday ahead of planned demonstrations that could be decisive for the protest movement calling for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to step down. Noureddine Bedoui was speaking ahead of the first round of Friday rallies since Bouteflika’s surprise announcement earlier this week that he …

Governments have only just awoken to the digital economy but are stifling not supporting startups Project Syndicate | Perseus Mlambo | Africa is the youngest place in the world. But because African heads of state tend to be older – with an average age of 62 – they are out of …