AFRICA

Sephareng, Lesotho | AFP |    For farmer Mohlakoane Molise, the view of the enormous Katse dam from his smallholding high in the mountains of Lesotho taunts him daily. His country is suffering through its worst drought in 35 years, but the vast and vital water reserves remain out of …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP |  Nigeria coach Samson Siasia said on Friday that he will support players boycotting Saturday’s football quarter-final against Denmark over unpaid allowances. “We have only been paid allowances for 11 days. There is no match bonus. What about all the months we have been training in …

Kampala, Uganda | AFP |  Uganda announced Friday it would not contribute troops to a regional brigade designed to bolster the UN mission in South Sudan, hours before a Security Council vote authorising the deployment. A key ally of South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, Uganda’s government said it did not …

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | AFP |  Kenya on Thursday withdrew a second athletics coach from the Rio Olympics in five days over a doping cheat bid. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it had launched disciplinary proceedings against the coach who media reports said had impersonated an athlete for …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudanese authorities on Wednesday warned people living near the banks of the Nile to be wary of flooding, after two weeks of heavy rainfall killed dozens across the country. Authorities said water levels were rising on the Blue Nile along border with Ethiopia after continuous …

Lusaka, Zambia | AFP | The front-runners in Zambia’s presidential election on Thursday are incumbent Edgar Lungu and rags-to-riches businessman Hakainde Hichilema — two adversaries who battled it out only last year. Lungu won that election by fewer than 28,000 votes, securing the right to complete the final months of …

Douala, CAMEROON | AFP |  Four employees of a Cameroon bank have been detained on suspicion of stealing millions of euros, sources told AFP on Tuesday. The four staff members of BICEC, a local subsidiary of French bank BPCE, have been placed in detention in the economic capital Douala after …

Lusaka, ZAMBIA | AFP | Election officials and candidates in Zambia’s presidential vote on Tuesday condemned fresh outbreaks of violence between rival supporters, as concerns grow that the relatively stable country could face worsening unrest. Just 18 months after President Edgar Lungu narrowly won a snap election, he and the …

The United States has asked the UN Security Council to send a 4,000-strong regional force to South Sudan’s capital of Juba and to impose an arms embargo if the government blocks the deployment. A draft resolution presented to the council would establish the regional protection force and authorize it to …

N’Djamena, Chad | AFP | Chad’s President Idriss Deby took the oath of office Monday for a fifth term in power, facing dogged resistance from an opposition that alleges his re-election was a “political hold-up”. With tensions high a day after the death of a protester during an opposition march, …