AFRICA

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Ugandan rice farmers and dealers have cried out to government to rethink a policy encouraging more rice imports, which they say is pushing them from the marketplace. In a two-page appeal published in The Daily Monitor, the Rice Association of Uganda-AU, says it is …

Moroni, Comoros | AFP | Comoros President Azali Assoumani is considering announcing and contesting nationwide elections in 2019 if a controversial constitution-altering referendum is passed in July, one of his advisers said Monday. Assoumani is believed to be seeking to consolidate his power with the constitutional changes so that he …

N’Djamena, Chad | AFP | Chadian lawmakers vote Monday on a controversial change to the constitution that will bolster President Idriss Deby’s powers and which opposition groups warn will damage democracy in the landlocked African state. The text, which received the green light from the government earlier this month, must …

Antananarivo, Madagascar | AFP | Madagascar’s President Hery Rajaonarimampianina on Sunday refused to yield to opposition demands that he resign from office, following eight days of anti-government protests in the capital. “I am president by the will of the Malagasy people. There are millions of people who voted for me, it …

Domasi, Malawi | AFP | Malawi’s former president Joyce Banda said Sunday she was not afraid of being arrested despite an outstanding warrant over corruption allegations, a day after she returned home from four years in self-imposed exile. “I am not afraid. If they want they can come and arrest me …

Paris, France | AFP | A spectacular probe into French tycoon Vincent Bollore over suspected graft in Africa marks a rare exception among corporate titans doing business south of the Sahara. Bollore — charged on Wednesday over contracts to operate ports in Guinea and Togo — is by far the …

Bangui, Central African Republic | AFP | Nearly three weeks after more than two dozen people were killed in the worst fighting in the Central African Republic’s capital since 2015, what happened on that fateful day remains clouded by contradictions. On April 10, hours-long clashes unfolded in a mainly Muslim …

Nampula, Mozambique | AFP | Mozambique is going nuts about cashews, and they’re boosting the economy’s health. The country’s cashew nut industry, one of the world’s biggest, was dealt a body blow first by the 1977-1992 civil war and then by a controversial World Bank assistance package. Now, the government …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is to meet President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday, the first African leader to be received by Trump’s White House administration. All eyes will be on Trump after he earlier called African nations “shithole” countries, a damaging remark he has …

Kampala, Uganda |THE INDEPENDENT | I would like to announce that from today onwards, our country will be known as the Kingdom of eSwatini, King Mswati III of Swaziland announced at the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Swazi independence. Africa’s last absolute monarch who was also celebrating his …