Istanbul, Turkey | AFP | Aydin Sefa Akay is one of over 41,000 people arrested and awaiting trial in Turkey in the wake of the unsuccessful July 15 coup plot to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But Akay is no ordinary prisoner. A former Turkish ambassador, he is a top …
Read More »Ford recalls 4,500 cars in South Africa after fires
Pretoria, South Africa | AFP | US motor giant Ford on Monday recalled 4,500 1.6-litre Kuga cars in South Africa after nearly 40 incidents in which vehicles were reported to have burst into flames. Over recent years, the SUV model has been the focus of repeated accounts in South Africa …
Read More »Gambia’s president-elect to stay in ‘exile’ in Senegal until his inauguration
Dakar, Senegal | AFP | The inauguration of Gambia’s president-elect Adama Barrow will go ahead this week, his spokesman insisted Sunday, as he landed in neighbouring Senegal to wait out the final days of President Yahya Jammeh’s mandate. Jammeh has refused to cede power after disputing the result of a …
Read More »Museveni warns on foreign interventions in Africa
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has called on African countries to oppose foreign intervention in the continent if it lacks approval of appropriate and legitimate African bodies. Delivering a keynote address at the France-Africa Summit in Bamako-Mali on Saturday, Museveni said unilateral actions by international forces without the permission of the …
Read More »DRC opposition figure Lumbala arrives in Kinshasa
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | A DR Congo opposition leader accused of “high treason” returned to Kinshasa on Sunday two weeks after a key deal to end a political crisis in the vast African country. Roger Lumbala, head of the small opposition Rally of Congolese Democrats and Nationalists (RCD-N), …
Read More »DRC claims M23 rebels cross from Uganda, ‘clash with army’
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) officials have said that armed Congolese rebels crossed back overnight into the country from their longtime refuge in Uganda, prompting fears that a guerilla conflict put to rest in 2013 could be rekindled. At least 200 former members of …
Read More »Aubameyang scores but hosts Gabon held in AFCON opener
RESULT: Gabon held 1-1 by Guinea-Bissau in Africa Cup of Nations opener. Gabon’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored the tournament’s opening goal, before Guinea-Bissau equalized in the last minute. FULL TIME | Gabon – Guinea-Bissau 1-1 #CAN2017 #GABGNB pic.twitter.com/cA8Hvu1owd — CAF (@CAF_Online) January 14, 2017 **** Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabon …
Read More »Obama eases Sudan sanctions, prompting anger
Washington, United States | AFP | US President Barack Obama on Friday took the controversial step of easing economic sanctions against Sudan, trying to improve relations with a country whose leader is accused of war crimes and links to terror. Obama informed Congress that he will lift trade and investment …
Read More »Jammeh refuses to leave, Barrow flies out of country
Gambia’s Barrow to meet west African leaders in Mali Banjul, Gambia | AFP | President-elect Adama Barrow flew out of The Gambia late Friday to meet west African leaders attending a summit in Bamako with hopes of ending the country’s political crisis, Nigeria’s foreign minister said. “The ECOWAS team has …
Read More »Shots heard from inside military camp in I.Coast’s Abidjan
Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | Shooting was heard late Friday from inside the main military camp in Abidjan, Ivory’s Coast’s economic capital, witnesses said Friday, days after a brief mutiny by the armed forces. “There were shots, bursts of gunfire coming from the barracks. It stopped and started again,” …
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