AFRICA

Bukavu, DR Congo | AFP | A rapper critical of President Joseph Kabila was abducted in the eastern DR Congo overnight, his father said Sunday amid rising tensions two weeks ahead of landmark elections. Akim Bufole Corneille, 26, was taken by unidentified kidnappers as he left a party in Bukavu, …

Tervuren, Belgium | AFP | Belgium’s Africa Museum reopened on Saturday after a five-year restoration to repackage its looted treasures with a critical view of the country’s brutal colonial past. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander De Croo hailed a “historic moment” and said it would open “a new chapter” in Belgian-African …

Lome, Togo | AFP | Togo’s opposition has accused the government of deploying police and soldiers in a brutal crackdown in which two protesters were killed during a rally against upcoming elections. Security forces fired teargas and fought running battles on Saturday with demonstrators in the capital, Lome, and several other …

Maputo, Mozambique | AFP | Lawyers in Mozambique are suing US fossil fuel giant Anadarko to block its planned $20 billion gas project, arguing the land was illegally taken from locals, according to a statement published Friday. Anadarko is one of the global companies investing billions of dollars to exploit …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP |  Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday refused to sign off on plans to overhaul the country’s electoral laws, judging that new rules would cause “disruption and confusion” so close to an election. Africa’s most populous nation goes to the polls to elect a new president …

Blantyre, Malawi | AFP |  Malawi’s parliament has approved steps to draft a bill for the legalisation of marijuana for medical use, which could be ready for scrutiny as early as next week. Deputies agreed to let independent deputy Boniface Kadzamira draw up the bill. It would propose licensing farmers …

Malabo, Equatorial Guinea | AFP |  Equatorial Guinea’s army chief-of-staff, who was only appointed to the post in October, has been sacked by the president, state television has reported. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the oil-rich country with an iron fist for 39 years, fired Colonel Ruslan Hermes …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa said Friday that a landmark minimum wage bill to bridge the country’s notorious inequality will become law from January 1 as he eyes elections due in 2019. The bill legislates that the lowest paid workers receive a minimum of …

Kananga, DR Congo | AFP | A DR Congo army officer suspected of involvement in the 2017 murder of two UN experts has been arrested by a military tribunal trying the case, the prosecutor said Friday. “Colonel Jean de Dieu Mambweni was arrested Thursday on suspicion of having prepared the …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | In Democratic Republic of Congo, they call him “Doctor Miracle” for his surgical skill and dedication in helping women overcome the injuries and trauma of sexual abuse and rape. Denis Mukwege is a crusading gynaecologist who has spent more than two decades treating appalling …