World - Africa

Ethiopia grants amnesty to high-profile political detainees

Ethiopia's government on Friday announced an amnesty for some of the country's most high-profile political detainees, including opposition figure Jawar Mohammed and senior Tigray party officials, as Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed spoke of reconciliation for Orthodox Christmas.

13 civilians killed in Burkina Faso attacks

Thirteen civilians have been killed in separate attacks in northern Burkina Faso, a region battling a six-year-old jihadist insurgency, local sources said on Friday.

China is not trapping Africa in debt: Foreign minister

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday rejected suggestions that Beijing was luring African countries into debt traps by offering them massive loans, dismissing the idea as a "narrative" pushed by opponents to poverty reduction.

Jihadist raids leave over 500,000 Burkina children without schools

More than half a million children in Burkina Faso are unable to go to school because of attacks by jihadists, the government said on Wednesday.

Six million need aid in drought-hit parts of Ethiopia: UN

More than six million people in drought-hit areas of eastern and southern Ethiopia will need "life-saving" assistance this year, the UN's emergency response agency said in a new report.

Mauritanian president, 65, has 'mild' Covid: official

Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the state news agency, which noted that the 65-year-old's symptoms were "mild".

S. Africa parliament blaze under control, suspect charged

A fire that ravaged part of South Africa's parliament, engulfing the National Assembly and threatening national treasures, has been brought under control, firefighters said on Monday, as police charged a suspect with starting the blaze.

Six killed in suspected Al-Shabaab attack in Kenya

Six people have been killed and homes torched in a grisly attack Monday by suspected Al-Shabaab militants in a Kenyan coastal region bordering Somalia, police and government officials said.

Mali parties reject army's five-year democratic transition

A major coalition of Malian political parties on Sunday rejected the military-dominated government's plan for a transition lasting up to five years before the country returns to democratic rule.

Nigeria 'bandits' release 21 kidnapped students

Police in Nigeria's northwestern Zamfara state have freed 21 schoolchildren kidnapped by gunmen on Friday, a spokesman said.

Fire hits South Africa's Parliament Building in Cape Town; no injuries reported

Firefighters are battling a blaze at South Africa's national Parliament Building in Cape Town, an official confirmed Sunday.

Modest requiem for a titan: South Africa bids farewell to Tutu

South Africa bade farewell on Saturday to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the last great hero of the struggle against apartheid, in a funeral stripped of pomp but freighted with tears and showered with drizzles of rain.

2021 Yearender: The war in Ethiopia is the year's hidden conflict

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in a war that erupted in November 2020 between Ethiopian forces and fighters from the country's Tigray region, who dominated the national government before Nobel Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018.

Conflict-hit Ethiopia set to exit US trade pact despite late push

Ethiopia is set on January 1 to lose key trading privileges in the United States over rights concerns, despite a last-minute push backed by diaspora members who warn that Washington could lose an ally.

Mali junta moots five-year transition to civilian rule

Mali's military-dominated government on Thursday suggested that the poor Sahel country might take five years to return to democratic rule after holding a four-day "reform conference".

Ethiopia passes law to start national dialogue commission

Ethiopian lawmakers have approved a bill to establish a commission for national dialogue, amid international pressure for negotiations to end the 13-month conflict in the Tigray region.

Four soldiers killed in Mali attack

Four Malian soldiers were killed and around a dozen others were wounded when they were attacked in the west of the county, the army said Thursday.

S.Africa holds colourful, musical farewell to Desmond Tutu

A musical memorial to South Africa's revered anti-apartheid icon Desmond Tutu had a rabbi and a monk dancing in their seats on Wednesday as Cape Town said farewell to its first black Anglican Archbishop.

Ethiopia's Tigray taps Muslim past in propaganda push

Rebels from Ethiopia's Tigray region are drawing on early Islamic history in an Arabic-language propaganda push to rally solidarity among Muslims online for their battle against the government.

Biden announces end to Covid-related southern Africa travel bans

President Joe Biden formally announced Tuesday he will lift a ban this week on travel from South Africa and other countries in the region, imposed due to fear of the Omicron Covid-19 variant.

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