Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | South Sudan’s warring parties will hold talks in Addis Ababa on Thursday, in a bid to salvage a stalled peace deal, with just days to go until a unity government is meant to be formed. President Salva Kiir, rebel leader Riek Machar and a …
Read More »IGAD summons Kiir and Machar to Addis talks
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | The rivals in South Sudan’s conflict have been invited to hold talks in Ethiopia’s capital next week to nudge along a fragile peace deal that has suffered repeated setbacks, according to a letter seen Thursday by AFP. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional …
Read More »From comic to commander-in-chief: challenges for new Ukraine leader
Kiev, Ukraine | AFP | Ukraine’s election has catapulted Volodymyr Zelensky, a 41-year-old standup comedian and television star with no political experience, into the nation’s top job. As leader of a country dependent on international aid and battling separatists, Zelensky will have to deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, deep …
Read More »New limbs, new life for South Sudan amputees
Juba, South Sudan | AFP | Stephen, 12, romps confidently around the sunlit courtyard, weaving in between wheelchair-bound patients as he plays with the other children, his prosthetic leg barely a hindrance. When he was five years old, the car he and his family were travelling in hit a landmine …
Read More »Roads deadlier than guns in Libya
Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Roads in conflict-riddled Libya, where petrol is cheaper than mineral water, rank among the deadliest in the world. Disregard for traffic rules, a dilapidated infrastructure and cars that fail to meet safety standards combine to make road accidents in Libya more lethal than incidents involving …
Read More »Libya in chaos since 2011 overthrow of Kadhafi
Tripoli, Libya | AFP | Libya has been mired in chaos since the ouster and killing of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with two rival authorities and a multitude of militias vying for control of the oil-rich country. Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar on Thursday ordered his troops to “advance” on …
Read More »S.Sudan holds breath as fragile peace faces crucial test
Udier, South Sudan | AFP | Chol Deng, her husband and five children sit, exhausted, under a tree, having journeyed back to South Sudan five years after fleeing their corpse-strewn hometown Malakal. Encouraged by a six-month lull in fighting as a peace deal holds for the first time since 2015, …
Read More »Southern Africa leaders back Western Sahara
Southern Africa leaders back Western Sahara at ‘historic’ talks Pretoria, South Africa | AFP | Several southern African leaders on Tuesday threw their support behind Western Sahara, with one calling the disputed territory the “last colony” on the African continent. Also attending is Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni. President Cyril Ramaphosa, leader …
Read More »370,000 dead: Syria’s war in numbers
Beirut, Lebanon | AFP | The Syrian conflict, which entered its ninth year on Friday, has ravaged the lives of millions of people since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests. Here are some figures: – Victims – The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which …
Read More »Italy doctor-to-be picks Gaza for semester abroad
Gaza City, Palestinian Territories | AFP | Seated with other students on the steps at the Islamic University of Gaza with his backpack, the young Italian doctor-to-be draws looks from passersby. Riccardo Corradini is the first exchange student in the Gaza Strip under a popular European programme known as Erasmus …
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