AFRICA

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The defence minister for the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday said the army was waging ‘war’ against two militia forces in the country’s troubled east. Crispin Atama Thabe told AFP that government forces were tackling rebels in both South Kivu province and neighbouring …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | A South African court on Friday struck down a long-running effort by late president Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela to claim ownership of his former rural home. The Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed her appeal against a lower court’s ruling that she was not …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | A former leader of a black tribal homeland that was one of the so-called Bantustans that helped to underpin South Africa’s apartheid system has died, local media reported on Friday. Lucas Mangope, 94, was president of Bophuthatswana until democracy in 1994 after which the …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP |  A general commanding military operations in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo was ambushed, army sources said on Friday, as rebels launched fresh attacks in the troubled region. A convoy that included General Philemon Yav, in charge of forces in the region, came under fire …

Niamey, Niger | AFP | At least seven Niger soldiers were killed and more than a dozen others wounded this week in an attack by suspected Boko Haram militants in the country’s southeast, the government said on Friday. “The provisional toll for the cowardly terror attack on Wednesday night in Toummour …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa wants international observers including UN officials to watch over the country’s upcoming elections, he said in a Financial Times interview. Mnangagwa has adopted a more diplomatic tone since taking over as leader in November, after the ousting of the authoritarian …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Britain is set to send helicopters to bolster a key French counter-terrorism operation in Mali in a package of measures to be agreed at a summit near London on Thursday. The commitment will come as Prime Minister Theresa May meets French President Emmanuel Macron …

Washington, United States | AFP | South Africa’s central bank chief Lesetja Kganyago will take over as chair of the International Monetary Fund’s policy advisory committee, the IMF announced Thursday. Kganyago, who has served as governor of the South African Reserve Bank since late 2014, takes on a three-year post …

Mogadishu, Somalia | THE INDEPENDENT |  The Federal Government of Somalia (FGS), in conjunction with the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), the UN, the European Union and other key international partners, have established a Transition Core Group, which is tasked with the responsibility of developing a transition plan for Somalia. …

Los Angeles, United States | AFP | Leading Zimbabwe opposition figure Roy Bennett, one of long-time president Robert Mugabe’s most outspoken critics, has died in a helicopter crash in a remote area of the US state of New Mexico, authorities said Thursday. He was 60. Bennett was killed along with …