AFRICA

Juba, South Sudan | AFP | South Sudan’s vice president, former rebel Taban Deng Gai, on Monday formally folded his party into the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) of President Salva Kiir. The move is aimed at bolstering the legitimacy of Kiir’s regime and undermining rebel leader Riek Machar, …

United Nations, United States | AFP | UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday urged the Democratic Republic of Congo’s government to lift a ban on demonstrations that threatens to scupper chances for credible elections. The December 23 elections in the vast resource-rich country are to pave the way to a …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said on Monday he is travelling to the United Kingdom to see his doctor. “I will be travelling to the United Kingdom tomorrow, to see my doctor, at his request,” said Buhari on his official Twitter account. Buhari said he will …

ON BOARD THE AQUARIUS, Undefined | AFP | The Libyan coastguard on Sunday prevented a rescue ship belonging to two NGOs from approaching a boat in distress carrying migrants, an AFP photographer witnessed. The Aquarius, chartered by SOS-Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), was informed by the Italian coastguard of …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | A South African film-maker was killed by a giraffe while filming on a reserve outside Johannesburg, the game lodge’s owner has said, adding that he died after being air-lifted to hospital. The giraffe hit Carlos Carvalho in the head at the Glen Afric Country …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Forty-five people died in an attack by armed bandits in northern Nigeria, civilian militia members said on Sunday, amid growing levels of rural violence often involving cattle theft, robbery and kidnappings for ransom. “The 45 bodies were found scattered in the bush. The bandits pursued …

N’Djamena, Chad | AFP | Six people were killed, including four government officials and a soldier, in an attack by Boko Haram jihadists on a Chadian army checkpoint on an island in Lake Chad, a military source told AFP Sunday. The overnight killings, which cost the life of a civilian …

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf accepts prize for African leadership Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Pictured), the former President of Liberia, accepted the 2017 Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership at a special leadership ceremony in Kigali, Rwanda on April 27. Speaking to guests from Rwanda and …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Black market fuel prices surged on Saturday in Khartoum and other Sudanese towns as petrol and diesel shortages forced residents to queue for hours outside gas stations. Fuel supplies began dwindling in early April, with officials blaming maintenance delays at a key refinery, although foreign …

Beira, Mozambique | AFP | Mozambique’s Renamo opposition party on Saturday named Ossufo Momade as its interim leader after veteran chief Afonso Dhlakama, who had headed the party for 39 years, died unexpectedly. Momade, a former secretary general of the party, will take over until Renamo’s next congress, which has …