AFRICA

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 …

   Juba, South Sudan | AFP |  An American journalist has been killed while covering clashes between government and rebel forces in restive South Sudan, local officials and the US mission in Juba said on Sunday. A spokesman confirmed the clashes had resulted in 19 deaths. Christopher Allen, a freelance reporter …

President aims at industrialising Rwanda in new 7-year term President Paul Kagame on Aug.18 pledged to work for Rwandans with pride and honour as he made his inauguration speech at Amahoro National Stadium in the country’s capital, Kigali. The major highlight of the inauguration, which came 14 days after Kagame …

  Denys Reva | ISS TODAY | The recent liberation of Mosul in Iraq is just one of many setbacks for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Military upsets, territorial losses and financial pressures have reportedly decreased the number of active fighters in the group from an estimated …

Luke Patey | AFRICAN ARGUMENTS |  It was not long ago that East Africa was the shining frontier of the continent’s oil scene. Uganda sparked the rush in 2006 after wildcatters ventured deep inland and made Africa’s largest onshore discoveries in decades. And Kenya’s north­western Turkana region continued the run with new oilfields found …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The family of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s late independence hero, Patrice Lumumba, said their Kinshasa home was burgled by soldiers on Friday and his daughter Juliana attacked and injured. “Five soldiers managed to get through the barrier” at the Lumumba family residence at 1:00 …

Farming in Nigeria is not for the fainthearted. Ilorin, Nigeria | AFP | Intermittent electricity means generators are needed half the time. Chronically potholed roads make transport slow and expensive. Fake fertiliser has previously devastated crops, while toxic feed ruined one dairy farm. But for a group of 13 hardy farmers …

Lusaka, Zambia | AFP |  The Zambian presidency on Saturday condemned as “regrettable” a police decision to halt a prayer meeting this week at which the main opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema was due to appear. On Thursday heavily armed police blocked entry to the capital’s Anglican cathedral where the United …