AFRICA

Banjul, Gambia | AFP |  The Gambia’s first ever female presidential candidate has withdrawn from the race and will endorse the single opposition candidate challenging President Yahya Jammeh, she said Saturday. In a statement sent to AFP, Isatou Touray said she was dropping out of the contest “so as to …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s embattled President Jacob Zuma put on a brave face Saturday at his first public appearance since the release of fresh evidence of alleged corruption at the top of the ANC government. “I have spent a lot of time in jail. I am …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP |  Police fired tear gas and fanned out across the capital of DR Congo on Saturday to prevent a banned opposition rally seeking the exit of President Joseph Kabila this year. DR Congo has been going through political turmoil which deepened last month after the …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudanese security agents arrested a senior opposition politician on Friday for giving a speech that criticised a government decision to raise fuel prices, his party said. Agents from the all-powerful National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) arrested Khaled Omar, deputy chief of the Sudanese Congress …

Monrovia, Liberia | AFP | A massive cyber attack targeting Liberia’s single broadband link has taken the country’s internet intermittently offline for the last week, web security experts said Friday. The characteristics of the attack point to the same type of cyber weapon that crippled several major websites based in …

United Nations, United States | AFP | African countries on Friday demanded that the appointment of a new UN expert on LGBT rights be suspended, saying his mission to report on anti-gay violence had nothing to do with human rights. The UN Human Rights Council in late September appointed international …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Kenya has deported the spokesman of South Sudan’s rebel chief Riek Machar, officials said Friday, despite rebels’ warning that forcibly returning him to the war-wracked country puts his life in danger. Senior rebel official Nyarji Roman said James Gatdet Dak had been arrested at his …

Bangui, Central African Republic | AFP |  The United Nations will do “everything in its power” to prevent further atrocities in the Central African Republic, a top UN official said on Thursday at the end of a three-day visit. UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson was addressing lawmakers in the capital …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African President Jacob Zuma on Thursday faced increasing calls to resign after a damaging probe unearthed further evidence of alleged corruption at the top of the ANC government. The country’s anti-graft watchdog ordered a judicial inquiry into possible criminal activity in Zuma’s relationship …

United Nations, United States | AFP |  Kenya on Thursday accused the United Nations of bowing to pressure from certain countries by setting up an investigation that pinned the blame for peacekeeping failures in South Sudan on the Kenyan force commander. Ambassador Macharia Kamau charged that “certain current and future …