AFRICA

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The kidnappers of a Catholic priest abducted in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo at the weekend are demanding $500,000 for his release, the church said on Tuesday. Father Celestin Ngango was taken away by armed men on Sunday shortly after he had celebrated Easter …

Conakry, Guinea | AFP | Guinean opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo on Monday called for an end to protests over disputed local election results that has left at least 15 people dead after violent confrontations with the security services. Former prime minister Diallo earlier met President Alpha Conde to discuss how …

Bamako, Mali | AFP | Amnesty International on Tuesday called on authorities in Mali to investigate extrajudicial killings following the discovery last week of a mass grave containing six bodies. The rights group said it had collected evidence that “the six bodies found in a mass grave on 25 March had …

Beijing, China | AFP | Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa was due to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday as he seeks economic support from a major partner that previously backed his ousted predecessor Robert Mugabe. Mnangagwa, who received military training in China when he was a young liberation fighter decades …

United Nations, United States | AFP | The United Nations on Monday disputed claims by Morocco that the Polisario Front had carried out incursions in a buffer zone of Western Sahara, where a UN mission is monitoring a ceasefire. Morocco wrote to the Security Council on Sunday to report that …

Meeting raises hope for improved relations between Kampala and Kigali Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | A recent one-day state visit by Rwandan President Paul Kagame to Uganda on March.25 has raised hopes that relations between the two countries might return to normalcy again after several months of heightened tensions. …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi swept to a second term with 97 percent of valid votes, official results showed Monday, dominating an election last week that saw him face no serious rivals. The head of the election authority Lasheen Ibrahim said at a press conference that …

Zintan, Libya | AFP | Nearly a year after a Libyan militia announced it had set free the son and heir apparent of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi, the fate of Seif al-Islam remains a mystery. His reported release from detention by the Abu Bakr al-Sadiq Brigade which once controlled the …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Winnie Mandela, the former wife of South African anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela, died on Monday aged 81, triggering an outpouring of tributes to one of the country’s defining and most divisive figures. She died in a Johannesburg hospital, her family said in a statement, adding …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | Ethiopia’s new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, apologised to people harmed in recent political unrest and reached out both to the political opposition and longtime rival Eritrea at his swearing-in on Monday. Abiy is the first ethnic Oromo to be selected by the ruling Ethiopian …