AFRICA

Gaborone, Botswana | AFP |  A court in Botswana on Friday ruled that a transgender man who has been identified as a woman since birth should be allowed to change gender on his identity document, his lawyers said. The court in the southern town of Lobatse ordered the country’s registrar …

Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP |  Shabaab jihadists attacked an army base in the southern Somali town of Barire on Friday, killing at least 20 soldiers and looting equipment, local sources said. The assault on the Somali National Army military camp in Barire, around 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of the …

Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP |  The cocoa crop of Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest producer, increased 28.5 percent to a record 2.15 million tonnes in the 2016-17 season, the national Coffee and Cocoa Council said Friday. Exports increased by 23.3 percent to 1.9 million tonnes, helping to raise the …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  The director of a Burundi radio station said Friday his outlet is being temporarily taken off air after criticising the government over the killings of dozens of refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). CCIB FM+, which is run by Burundi’s chamber of commerce, …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  Government shutdowns of the internet have cost sub-Saharan Africa about $237 million since 2015, according to a study released Friday, as authorities increasingly implement planned disruptions. At least 12 countries have had internet shutdowns, often before elections or when protests erupt, with mobile internet …

Rome, Italy | AFP |  Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar asked Europe for helicopters and drones to fight rampant migration on the southern border of the war-wracked country. The request came after the commander, who backs a Tobruk-based administration that controls much of the east and south of Libya, travelled …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP |  The UN rights council voted Thursday to send experts to help authorities in crisis-wracked Burundi to investigate violations, casting doubt on whether an independent international probe would be allowed to continue. The resolution, presented this week by a group of African countries, was controversial since …

Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP |  At least seven people were killed and several others wounded after a car bomb exploded near a marketplace in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Thursday, a city official said. The blast occurred alongside a densely populated road near Hamarweyne market, an area where bombings claimed by …

Khartoum, SUDAN | AFP | President Omar al-Bashir said on Thursday that Washington’s “unjust” trade embargo on Sudan had weakened the African country and caused immense hardship for its people. His comments came just two weeks before US President Donald Trump is to decide whether to permanently lift the embargo that …

Abuja, NIGERIA | AFP | A leading Nigerian opposition politician on Thursday said he intended to run for president in 2019, becoming the first candidate to stake his claim for the country’s top job. Peter Ayodele Fayose, the governor of the southwestern state of Ekiti, formally launched his bid to be …