AFRICA

Cairo, Egypt | AFP |  Guards check drivers’ papers to keep out uninvited guests from gated compounds where Egypt’s rich can escape the chaos of Cairo’s streets in a country with a widening wealth gap. Built in the deserts around Cairo, some compounds offer amenities such as indoor and outdoor …

Pretoria, South Africa| BY PETER FABRICIUS| ISS TODAY| Later this month South Africa’s ruling party begins its five-yearly policy conference to determine the direction to be taken by the new African National Congress (ANC) president who will be elected in December. This is assuming that that person also becomes South Africa’s …

Luanda, Angola | AFP |  Angola’s government is preparing a golden parachute for the country’s president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, complete with first-class air travel and a chauffeur-driven car. And after 38 years in power, he will retire on a pension not far short of his current salary. A bill …

Tanzanian newspaper suspended for pointing finger at Mkapa, Kikwete Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Tanzanian weekly, Mawio, has been ordered to suspend publication for two years after pointing the finger at two former presidents in connection with huge revenue losses, the country’s interior ministry said Friday. The weekly, regularly critical of …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Four people were killed and 11 injured when a passenger bus struck a roadside bomb in northeast Kenya on Friday, officials said, the most recent in a string of such attacks. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, but in recent weeks …

Blantyre, Malawi | AFP |  Malawi on Friday deplored the violent clashes reportedly taking place between rival ethnic groups from Rwanda and Burundi at a refugee camp near the capital Lilongwe, and said they must stop. There have been clashes in recent weeks between Tutsi and Hutu refugees from Rwanda …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Burundi security forces and government-allied militia are continuing to torture and kill opponents, UN investigators said Thursday, allegations denied by the government. The investigators from the UN’s Commission of Inquiry on Burundi have been denied entry to the country said there was a “feeling of …

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP |  Nigeria’s military has rejected a call for senior army officers to be investigated for possible war crimes in the fight against Boko Haram Islamists. Amnesty International named six serving or retired army officers whom it said should be probed to establish whether they were responsible …

Maseru, Lesotho | AFP |  Just days before his inauguration, Lesotho’s incoming prime minister was left shaken Thursday by the murder of his estranged wife in a shooting highlighting the political uncertainty which has long gripped the mountain kingdom. Thomas Thabane’s 58-year-old wife Lipolelo, was shot dead Wednesday in Ha …

Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP | A suicide car bombing and assault by Shabaab militants on two neighbouring restaurants in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu ended Thursday morning with 18 dead, a government spokesman said. “The operation is over now and the gunmen were killed by the security forces,” said Mohamed Ahmed Arab, spokesman …