AFRICA

N’Djamena, Chad | AFP | Chad’s legislative elections, originally due to take place in 2015, “should take place in November”, President Idriss Deby told opposition parties Friday, state radio reported. Deby, named in a US corruption probe, had already promised earlier that the elections would finally take place this year. The …

Goma, DR Congo | AFP | Kidnappers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have freed a priest in exchange for a ransom but three other people abducted in the troubled region have been killed, sources said Friday. Father Celestin Ngango was taken away by armed men on Sunday shortly after …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Friday inaugurated a 24-kilometre (15-mile) around the country’s tanzanite mines to prevent smuggling of the precious violet-blue stones, which are unique to the East African country. Magufuli in September ordered the army to build the wall around the mines, located …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwean police investigating an ivory-smuggling racket will soon question former ruler Robert Mugabe’s wife Grace, who is accused of arranging shipments abroad, a government-owned newspaper reported Friday. The Herald newspaper, once the mouthpiece of the Mugabe regime, said police were making progress in their probe into …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Thirteen people have died of cholera in the northeast Nigerian state of Yobe in the past week, the state health commissioner said Friday, blaming the outbreak on contaminated water. Yobe is among the three states worst-hit by the Boko Haram insurgency, with many people living …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Millions of duplicates have been found among people registered to vote in Democratic Republic of Congo elections slated for December, the head of the country’s electoral commission told AFP Thursday. “We were able to register around 46 million voters,” Corneille Nangaa said, a day …

  Durban, South Africa | AFP | South African former president Jacob Zuma appeared in court Friday on corruption charges over a multi-billion dollar 1990s arms deal, with the judge adjourning the case after a 15-minute hearing. Zuma, 75, smiled broadly and gave a thumbs-up as he walked into the …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Global watchdog Human Rights Watch on Thursday urged Zimbabwe to take urgent steps to stem child labour and other rights abuses on the country’s tobacco farms. In a report titled “Bitter Harvest”, the HRW revealed that children as young as 11 were working on tobacco …

Kano, Nigeria | AFP | At least 1,200 of the more than 100,000 people displaced by Boko Haram violence in Nigeria’s northeastern town of Bama have returned, officials and returnees said Thursday. Bama, a major trading hub on the road to Cameroon and home to 270,000 people, was captured in …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Nigerian former President Goodluck Jonathan “wasn’t aware” of any use of Cambridge Analytica in his 2015 bid for re-election, his spokesman said Thursday. The Nigerian government is probing claims that Cambridge Analytica, a British-based political consultancy, illegally used Facebook data in past election campaigns. In …