AFRICA

Kigali, Rwanda | AFP |  Former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Friday accepted the prestigious $5 million Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. “As the first woman to receive this Mo Ibrahim Foundation Prize award, it is my hope that women and girls across the continent are inspired …

Mbandaka, DR Congo | AFP | Forty civilians drowned when their boats capsized on a storm-swollen river as they fled fighting in northwest Democratic Republic of Congo, a senior local official said Friday. “As of Wednesday night, we recovered the bodies of 40 people” after their boats capsized, Jean Bakatoye, …

Dadaab, Kenya | AFP | The children can’t believe their luck: storms and showers have turned their dirt football pitch into a lake. Youngsters scamper and splash through the murky water, chasing one another, leaping and laughing. Any entertainment is welcome in Dadaab, one of the biggest refugee bases in …

United Nations, United States | AFP | Ivory Coast will send 450 troops to the Central African Republic to serve as UN peacekeepers in one of the most demanding missions, the foreign minister said Thursday. The announcement from Ivorian Foreign Minister Marcel Amon-Tanoh came after Gabon last month announced that …

Maiduguri, Nigeria | AFP | At least four people were killed when Boko Haram suicide bombers attacked northeast Nigeria’s biggest city, the emergency services said on Friday, as residents returned home. Violence broke out on the outskirts of Maiduguri on Thursday night, with indications the jihadists were attempting to reach …

Cape Town, South Africa | AFP | Seven people were killed in South Africa on Friday when a train ploughed into a pickup truck at a crossing where 10 children were killed in a similar accident in 2010, officials said. The seven victims, all men in their 30s, were reportedly …

Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | Nine youths died Thursday after having been swept away by flash floods in southern Israel during a hiking trip near the Dead Sea, the Magen David Adom rescue service said. Rescue efforts were ongoing to find a missing girl from a group of youths taking …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | A UN report said Thursday what appears to be five mass graves have been discovered in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo where recent intercommunal violence has killed more than 260 people. The UN’s joint office for human rights has identified five “probable mass graves” …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Clashes between cattle herders and farmers pose a threat to countries across West Africa and the Sahel, the UN warned on Thursday, after Nigeria’s parliament summoned President Muhammadu Buhari over escalating violence. Lawmakers from Nigeria’s lower chamber of parliament, the House of Representatives, called for …

Juba, South Sudan | AFP | The UN in South Sudan said Thursday a convoy including 10 aid workers had gone missing in the southwest of the war-torn country, presumed kidnapped. The convoy disappeared after departing from the town of Yei, in Central Equatoria, early Wednesday heading for Tore, according …