AFRICA

Rome, Italy | AFP | Italy will be sending 470 soldiers to Niger to help the west African nation stem the flow of Europe-bound migrants, Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Thursday. Agadez, the main city in central Niger, has become a revolving door for economic migrants seeking to reach Europe via …

Accra, Ghana | AFP | Joseph Awuah-Darko sits on a stool at one of the world’s largest electronic waste dumps, watching polystyrene and insulation cables burn on the blackened ground. “It’s survival and dystopia,” says the 21-year-old British-born Ghanaian, surveying the stretch of wasteland around him as dense plumes of …

  Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe’s former army commander who led a military takeover that helped end Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule was Thursday sworn in as one of the country’s two vice presidents. Dressed in a black suit, General Constantino Chiwenga, 61, took the oath of office in Harare, pledging …

Monrovia, Liberia | AFP |  Initial results were expected Thursday in Liberia’s landmark presidential poll, the country’s first democratic transfer of power in decades, pitting former footballer George Weah against Vice President Joseph Boakai. Whoever wins will succeed Africa’s first elected female head of state, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who took …

Yaounde, Cameroon | AFP | A Cameroon court on Wednesday freed dissident author Patrice Nganang, accused of threatening President Paul Biya on social media, and ordered him to be expelled from the country, media reported. The court in the capital Yaounde ordered an end to legal proceedings against Nganang, which …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Long queues formed at petrol stations across Nigeria Tuesday, with motorists sometimes waiting up to 24 hours to fill up their tanks, as Africa’s number one oil producer faces a crippling fuel shortage. “I couldn’t travel. I would have loved to travel to Osun State …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | The United States carried out an air strike on Christmas Eve against the Shabaab Islamist group that left 13 dead, according to a statement released Wednesday. “In coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, US forces conducted an airstrike against al-Shabaab militants on the morning …

Monrovia, Liberia | AFP | Liberians were awaiting Wednesday the result of a presidential election they say represents far more than the choice of a successor to Africa’s first elected female head of state, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Sirleaf’s predecessor Charles Taylor fled the country in 2003 with hopes of avoiding …

Monrovia, Liberia | AFP |  Vote counting is under way in Liberia and first results are due on Thursday following a peaceful run-off election for a new president, pitting former international footballer George Weah against Vice-President Joseph Boakai. Voters were choosing a successor to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who is …

Juba, South Sudan | AFP | South Sudan’s government and main rebel group on Sunday accused each other of breaking a ceasefire that went into effect shortly after midnight. The ceasefire is the latest bid to end a devastating four-year war which broke out after a falling out between former …