AFRICA

Malabo, Equatorial Guinea | AFP |  Equatorial Guinea said Monday it has demanded 73 million euros from French oil giant Total over “fraud” in fuel sales made between 2010 and 2012. “Following an investigation, we found a suspicious and fraudulent situation,” said Finance Minister Miguel Egonga Obiang as he announced …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | A South African legal rights group on Monday took the government to court in a campaign pressing for new legislation to recognise Muslim marriages as legally valid. The Women’s Legal Centre (WLC) said it was lobbying against “unfair discrimination” as South African law does not …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Five South African men charged over suspected cannibalism appeared briefly in court on Monday as scores of angry protesters gathered outside, police said. The men from the rural town of Escourt, in KwaZulu-Natal province, were arrested over a week ago after one handed himself in …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP |  A Nigerian court seized $21 million on Monday from bank accounts linked to a former oil minister accused of corruption as investigators continue to claw back her fortune. Federal high court judge Abdulazeez Anka ordered the immediate forfeiture of 7.6 billion naira ($21 million, 17.9 …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Judges at Kenya’s Supreme Court on Monday began hearing an opposition petition challenging the result of the August 8 presidential election. The seven judges have until September 1 to rule in the case in which opposition leader Raila Odinga alleges computer hacking and fraud handed …

  Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  A ban on plastic bags came into force in Kenya on Monday in a bid to slow pollution, with offenders liable to jail time or hefty fines. The ban on the use, manufacture and importation of plastic carrier bags was carried through after the …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Authorities have banned imports of several popular consumer products in the west of the Democratic Republic of Congo for six months to fight smuggling, Trade Minister Jean-Lucien Busa said Monday. “We have decided on the temporary restriction of imports in the western part of …

Niamey, Niger | AFP | Authorities in Niger urged thousands of residents on Sunday to evacuate homes threatened by heavy rains that lashed Niamey, following floods that have killed 16 people in the capital since June. “I am calling on all residents to evacuate the flood zones and immediately leave homes …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP |  President Omar al-Bashir said on Sunday that the crisis in neighbouring Libya has impacted Sudan, with human traffickers using the East African country’s territories to commit “cross-border crimes”. Speaking at a joint press conference with visiting UN-backed Libyan premier Fayez al-Sarraj, Bashir also said security …

Paris, France | AFP |  Leaders from seven African and European countries meet in Paris on Monday for a mini-summit to discuss how to ease the EU’s migrant crisis. French President Emmanuel Macron has invited his counterparts from Niger and Chad as well as the head of the Libyan unity …