AFRICA

Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabon’s presidency admitted for the first time on Sunday that President Omar Bongo, hospitalised for nearly three weeks in Saudi Arabia, is in a serious condition but said his health is improving. The 59-year-old leader was taken to hospital in the Saudi capital Riyadh on …

Bukavu, DR Congo | AFP | At least 10 stowaways were killed and 24 were injured when a freight train derailed in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a local official said Sunday. Rehema Omari, stationmaster in the town of Samba near where the accident occurred on Friday, said the …

Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Queueing up outside banks in Tripoli, Libyans say they have little hope of an end to the political and economic turmoil shaking their country, on the eve of international crisis talks in Italy. Accompanied by his five-year-old son, architect Mohamad Kredigh was hoping to get …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Hundreds of villagers fled their homes in Nigeria’s northeast late on Saturday after an attack by Islamist militants from the Boko Haram group, militia officials and witnesses said. The raid highlighted fragile security in Nigeria’s northeast, where the army is still battling to end a …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s government publicly denied claims on Sunday that its spy agency had attempted to kidnap main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa as he left a rally this weekend. Chamisa’s Movement for Democratic Change party tweeted Saturday that “Central Intelligence Organisation agents (participated) in a failed attempt …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | The presidential nominee of Nigeria’s main opposition party alleged Sunday that he was “intimidated” by armed government agents who searched his private plane at the Abuja airport. Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who will challenge incumbent Muhammadu Buhari in February, …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Seven opposition leaders from the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday picked little known lawmaker Martin Fayulu as their joint candidate for key and long delayed presidential elections at the end of December when Joseph Kabila stands down after ruling the country for 18 years. …

  Beni, DR Congo | AFP |  Suspected Ugandan rebels killed six people, hacking one woman to death, and kidnapped five others — mostly children — in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s restive east, officials said on Sunday. Officials blamed the two attacks in Beni near the country’s border with …

Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Libya has been mired in chaos since the ouster and killing of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with two rival authorities and a multitude of militias still vying for control of the oil-rich country. The capital Tripoli is the seat of an internationally-backed government led …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The death toll from an Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has risen to more than 200, the health ministry said on Saturday. The ministry said it had recorded 201 deaths from the virus and that 291 cases have been confirmed since …