AFRICA

Gondar, Ethiopia | AFP | The presidents of Somalia and Eritrea met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Friday to cement regional economic ties as relations warm between the once-rival nations. Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki arrived in the northern Ethiopian city of Gondar …

Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabon’s official media watchdog on Friday said it had suspended a newspaper for three months for an article saying the country was on “autopilot” after the hospitalisation of President Ali Bongo in Saudi Arabia two weeks ago. Lack of official news — along with memories …

United Nations, United States | AFP | A national conference will be held in Libya in the first weeks of 2019 to push for elections that could take place next year, the UN envoy told the Security Council on Thursday. UN envoy Ghassan Salame said the conference will provide “a …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | New measures taken to combat an Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have had a “positive impact”, but the virus remains dangerous and unpredictable, the World Health Organization and United Nations said Thursday. Since the outbreak began in August, 191 people …

Kananga, DR Congo | AFP | Seventeen members of an insurgent group in the central DR Congo region of Kasai were killed Wednesday and others captured in an army ambush, police said. Local police captain Desire Bidwaya said Thursday the prisoners were being held at army headquarters pending their transfer …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Two press freedom advocates taken from their hotel in Tanzania by security officers and questioned were released on Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) campaign group said. South African journalist Angela Quintal, who is the CPJ’s Africa programme coordinator, and her Kenyan colleague Muthoki …

Libreville, Gabon | AFP |  Senior figures in Gabon’s ruling party on Thursday called on the government to clarify the condition of President Ali Bongo, whose hospitalisation in Saudi Arabia has fuelled speculation that he is incapacitated. The consultative committee of the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) said clarity was necessary …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Burundian authorities have refused to register a new political party by main opposition leader Agathon Rwasa, according to a letter seen by AFP Thursday. Rwasa had attempted to create a new party, the National Freedom Front – Hope of the Burundians (FNL – Amizero y’Abarundi), …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudan on Thursday welcomed a US announcement that Washington was willing to remove Khartoum from its blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism and said it was ready to cooperate. The US State Department Wednesday said Washington was prepared to “initiate the process of rescinding Sudan’s …

Gaborone, Botswana | AFP | More than 400 buffaloes believed to have been chased by lions drowned in a river in northern Bostwana this week, the government said. The mass drowning occurred in Chobe River near the border with Namibia. Early investigations by authorities in both countries “suggest that an …