Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday pledged to reverse the country’s economic slump as his government also tackles endemic corruption and the security threat from Boko Haram Islamists. Recession was officially confirmed in Africa’s most populous nation last month, after a second successive quarter of …
Read More »Nigerian Ebola movie extols moment of heroism
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Hollywood plague movies are usually about a fictional viral outbreak, unleashing chaos and anarchy that can only be stopped by heroes who transcend the panic. That’s not true for “93 Days”, a Nollywood film premiering on Tuesday, which dramatises the story of Nigeria’s …
Read More »Now or never for Lagos tourism sector
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Traffic jams may clog the city and the beaches look like garbage dumps, but for the Lagos state government developing tourism is now a do or die matter. Nigeria has survived almost exclusively on oil revenues for decades, but the plunge in crude prices …
Read More »‘I haven’t used violence’: Gabon leader Bongo
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabon’s President Ali Bongo said Friday that he had not used or encouraged the violence which erupted in his country after he won re-election last month by a wafer-thin margin. “I have not employed or triggered the violence,” Bongo said in an interview with AFP, …
Read More »Zambian court rules Lungu inauguration to go ahead
Lusaka, Zambia | AFP | Zambia’s high court on Friday ruled that the inauguration of President Edgar Lungu should go ahead next Tuesday, after the opposition brought an application seeking to block the event. “The inauguration of president Edgar Lungu will go ahead as planned… the court has ruled in …
Read More »South Sudan hunts activists after UN Security Council visit
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Civil society activists who met with UN Security Council diplomats during last week’s visit to South Sudan are fleeing a government crackdown, groups said Friday. Around a dozen activists met with the UN delegation when it visited South Sudan to push for peace after an …
Read More »Gabon’s Ping goes to court over poll defeat
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabon opposition leader Jean Ping on Thursday appealed to the country’s highest court Thursday in an attempt to have a wafer-thin presidential election loss overturned. Ping insists he was the winner of the August 27 presidential election — which gave incumbent Ali Bongo a narrow …
Read More »UN: Malong and Kiir to blame for Juba violence
United Nations, United States | AFP | A UN panel of experts has concluded that heavy fighting that engulfed South Sudan’s capital Juba in July, forcing vice president and ex-rebel leader Riek Machar to flee, was “directed by the highest level” of the country’s military. The confidential report seen by …
Read More »UN helicopters rescue Machar troops in DRC forests
United Nations, United States | AFP | The UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo has transported more than 100 supporters of South Sudan’s rebel leader Riek Machar to health facilities for emergency medical treatment, the UN said Wednesday. The rebel fighters had crossed into the DRC and “were …
Read More »Burundi, South Sudan on agenda as EAC leaders head to Dar
The situation in South Sudan and Burundi will be top of the agenda as the 17th Extra-Ordinary Meeting of the Summit of the EAC Heads of State takes place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on Thursday. The two day extraordinary summit of the East African Community (EAC) will also consider the …
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The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price