AFRICA

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African police Thursday said they had arrested a Hong Kong-bound Chinese man found with 18 rhino horns hidden in his luggage. He was detained on Wednesday at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport after an anonymous tip-off. “The 28-year-old male, who was in transit …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said he supports the Syrian military, a position at odds with his country’s Gulf benefactors like Saudi Arabia. The former army chief, who has overseen a warming of ties with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s main backer Russia, made the …

Butembo, DR Congo | AFP | The question is so absurd that Butembo’s deputy mayor misses a beat before answering. What is the town’s unemployment rate? “Unemployment is the norm around these parts,” says Godefroid Kambere Matimbya. “There aren’t any businesses.” Butembo is no ghost town, but a city of …

Malabo, Equatorial Guinea | AFP |  Morocco and several Arab countries walked out of an Africa-Arab nations summit in Equatorial Guinea on Wednesday to protest the presence of a delegation from the Polisario Front, media reports said. Morocco, which is a big investor in Africa, quit the fourth Africa-Arab World …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  The chairman of Kenya’s Olympic committee appeared in court on Tuesday after police uncovered boxes of Nike kits at his apartment which had gone missing during the Rio Games. Bernard Ekumbo is the latest official from the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) to be …

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP |  Five prominent Zimbabwe war veterans arrested earlier this year in a crackdown on critics of President Robert Mugabe, appeared in court Tuesday for insulting the 92-year-old leader. The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) spokesman, Douglas Mahiya, and four executives briefly appeared before a …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | An Egyptian appeals court Tuesday quashed one of two life sentences handed down to Mohamed Morsi since his 2013 overthrow, in the Islamist ex-president’s second appeals victory in a week. The Court of Cassation, Egypt’s highest appeals court, issued the verdict, Morsi’s lawyer and a …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP |  Around a dozen opposition groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo united Tuesday in a campaign urging President Joseph Kabila to quit when his mandate officially ends on December 20. The “Bye-Bye Kabila” movement wants the president, who has been accused of delaying election …

Paris, France | AFP |  Borussia Dortmund’s Gabonese goal king Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang remains in the running to defend his African Player of the Year crown after making the final shortlist of five players on Tuesday. But the 27-year-old faces competition from Leicester’s Algerians Riyad Mahrez and Islam Slimani, Senegal’s Sadio …

United Nations, United States | AFP | A bid by African countries to delay the appointment of the first-ever UN expert on LGBT rights was defeated on Monday, clearing the way for the investigations of anti-gay violence. A draft resolution demanding talks on the legality of the new expert’s mandate …