AFRICA

Lome, Togo | AFP |  Stemming the astronomical losses caused by crime in the oceans surrounding Africa is the focus of a major continental summit on Saturday in the Togolese capital, Lome. “Over recent decades, the accumulated revenue losses resulting directly from illegal activities in the African maritime sector add …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP |  Kenya, Senegal and Chad will each nominate a candidate to become the new head of the African Union, which failed to choose a successor to Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in July. A list of candidates, obtained by AFP but not yet made public, includes Kenya’s foreign …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP |  South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar, a pariah for the West since his call last month for renewed civil war, headed to South Africa for medical check-ups on Wednesday, an AFP correspondent reported. In what he billed as his first media appearance since he fled …

The Hague, Netherlands | AFP |  “How do you calculate a lost childhood?” That was the question Tuesday before war crimes judges trying to set the amount of landmark reparations to be paid to former Congolese child soldiers. After years of hearings, trials and appeals before the International Criminal Court …

UNHCR, African host countries agree on final steps to resolve Rwandan refugee situation UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and delegations from African countries as well as the African Union, have agreed on the final steps to end the protracted Rwandan refugee situation after seven years of negotiations. This was at …

United Nations, United States | AFP | Burundi on Monday barred three United Nations rights experts who had accused the government in Bujumbura of being responsible for abuses and warned of a danger of genocide from the violence. In a letter sent by Foreign Minister Alain Aime Nyamitwe and seen …

Niamey, Niger | AFP | German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday announced a 27-million-euro aid package for Niger, her second stop in a three-nation Africa tour aimed at fighting terrorism and stemming the migrant influx to Europe. The German leader said the army of the arid west African country, one …

Bangui, Central African Republic | AFP | Pope Francis has brought fresh hopes of peace to the war-ravaged Central African Republic, with Christians and Muslims praising his decision to name Bangui’s archbishop a cardinal as a step to ending sectarian violence. Aged only 49, Archbishop Dieudonne Nzapalainga will be the …

Kigali, Rwanda | AFP |  Rwandan leader Paul Kagame warned Monday of a “showdown” with Paris after French investigators last week said they would reopen a probe into the genocide-triggering assassination of president Juvenal Habyarimana. The shooting down of Habyarimana’s French-crewed plane on April 6, 1994, kickstarted the genocide that …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | Nigerian judges will hold emergency talks Tuesday following the “deeply regrettable” detention of several judges by secret police in a corruption probe, the country’s chief justice said Monday. At least seven judges were detained by Nigerian security forces over the weekend in connection with allegedly …