AFRICA

Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Thousands of Libyans on Saturday marked the seventh anniversary of the start of protests that ousted dictator Moamer Kadhafi, with rallies and concerts despite the country’s political and economic morass. In the capital Tripoli, and across many cities in the North African country, thousands packed …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Hundreds thronged Zimbabwe’s main airport Saturday as the body of opposition icon Morgan Tsvangirai, who died of cancer in neighbouring South Africa, arrived home for burial. Tsvangirai, a fearless opponent to the ruling ZANU-PF party, died on Wednesday at the age of 65 after a …

Goma, DR Congo | AFP | Five people were killed Saturday in an ambush by suspected Ugandan Islamist rebels in the Beni region of Democratic Republic of Congo’s chronically troubled east, officials said. Local official Leon Bahungako said the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) group were behind the attack in which …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Tanzania’s main opposition party Saturday accused police of shooting dead a female university student and seriously injuring at least four other people while trying to disperse a peaceful demonstration in the country’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam. The local police have admitted a person was …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | Ethiopia said Saturday that a state of emergency will remain in place for six months, as the authorities move to quell “chaos and unruliness”. The council of ministers declared the country’s second emergency decree in two years on Friday evening. It capped a tumultuous …

Ikom, Nigeria | AFP | For the first time in his life, Victor Obi believes that the only way to win freedom in Cameroon is with a gun. “I don’t want to die, but the only future is our independence, and they will not give it to us,” said the …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Three suicide bombers killed 19 people at a fish market in northeast Nigeria, civilian militia leaders said on Saturday, in an attack blamed on Boko Haram jihadists. The blasts happened at about 8:30 pm (1930 GMT) on Friday in Konduga, some 35 kilometres (20 miles) …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwean anti-corruption investigators said Friday they had arrested a university professor over the suspected fraudulent awarding of a doctorate to former first lady Grace Mugabe. Levi Nyagura, the vice chancellor of the University of Zimbabwe, was arrested by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission following an investigation …

Cape Town, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s freshly-appointed president, Cyril Ramaphosa, on Friday hailed “a new dawn” for the country in his first policy speech after Jacob Zuma’s bruising nine-year term came to an end. “We should put all the negativity that has dogged our country behind us …

Cape Town, South Africa | AFP |  South Africa’s freshly-appointed president, Cyril Ramaphosa, on Friday hailed “a new dawn” as he pledged to tackle corruption that his predecessor Jacob Zuma is accused of fostering. In his first major speech after Zuma’s bruising nine-year term ended, Ramaphosa outlined a grand vision to …