Africa

Tigray rebels accuse Ethiopia forces of major offensive

NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) – Tigray rebels accused Ethiopian government forces and allied militias of launching a “large-scale offensive” against southern Tigray on Wednesday. There was no immediate response from the Ethiopian government and the claims by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) could not be independently verified as the region is under a communications blackout. “They launched the offensive early this morning around 5:00 am local time (0200 GMT). We are defending our positions,” TPLF […]

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Protests as Ruto declared winner of disputed Kenya vote

by Hillary ORINDE with Nick PERRY in Kisumu and Simon VALMARY in Eldoret Agence France-Presse NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) — William Ruto was declared the winner of Kenya’s close-fought presidential poll on a day of high drama Monday, with violent protests in his defeated rival’s strongholds, claims of rigging and a split in the commission that oversaw the vote. As tensions ran high after his narrow victory in the August 9 race against Raila Odinga, the […]

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Egyptians mourn 41 killed in Cairo Coptic church fire

by Khaled DESOUKI Agence France-Presse CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) — Funerals were held in two Cairo churches Sunday evening for 41 victims of a fire that ripped through a Coptic Christian church during mass, forcing worshippers to jump out of windows. The blaze, blamed on an electrical fault, hit the Abu Sifin church in densely populated Imbaba, a working class district west of the Nile River, part of Giza governorate in greater Cairo. Hundreds gathered to […]

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Drought tightens its grip on Morocco

by Kaouthar Oudrhiri Agence France-Presse OULED ESSI MASSEOUD, Morocco (AFP) — Mohamed gave up farming because of successive droughts that have hit his previously fertile but isolated village in Morocco and because he just couldn’t bear it any longer. “To see villagers rush to public fountains in the morning or to a neighbor to get water makes you want to cry,” the man in his 60s said. “The water shortage is making us suffer,” he […]

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‘Catastrophe’: East DR Congo hospital overflows amid rebel fighting

by Alexis Huguet Agence France-Presse RUTSHURU, DR Congo (AFP) — Dozens of bandaged patients lounge on beds in a hushed hospital ward in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, groans of pain occasionally breaking the silence. Rebels, soldiers and civilians make up the wounded — all victims of the latest flare-up in violence in eastern DRC’s North Kivu province. After lying mostly dormant for years, the M23 rebel group resumed fighting late last year and has […]

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Senegal signs peace deal with rebels in country’s south

BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau (AFP) — Senegal signed an agreement on Thursday with rebels from the country’s south who pledged to lay down their arms and work towards a permanent peace in the home of one of Africa’s oldest active rebellions. Rebel leader Cesar Atoute Badiate, head of a unit of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC), and an emissary of Senegalese President Macky Sall signed the peace deal in Guinea-Bissau. Sall had made a […]

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Four dead during S.Africa demos over high power costs

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — At least four people were killed during protests over the cost of electricity in a South African township on Monday, police officials said. Residents angry at the high cost of basic services barricaded roads with burning tyres and set ablaze a municipal building in Thembisa township northeast of the financial hub Johannesburg. Authorities said two people were killed in alleged police shootings after the protests broke out in the morning. […]

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One person killed fighting Morocco forest fire

RABAT, Morocco (AFP) — One volunteer firefighter has been killed and another injured in a forest fire in northern Morocco, where new blazes have broken out after a few days of calm, according to local authorities. The two victims were helping Monday in operations to extinguish a fire in Tanouate province near Fez and Meknes, local sources told AFP. The injured volunteer was hospitalized but his life was not in danger. Firefighting services were working […]

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Gunmen kill 17 in northwest Nigeria

KANO, Nigeria (AFP) — Gunmen have killed 17 people including five policemen in separate attacks in northwest Nigeria’s Katsina state in the latest wave of violence in the region, police and a local official said Thursday. Northwest and central Nigeria are a hub of criminal gangs known locally as bandits who raid villages, killing or abducting residents after looting and burning homes. The criminals, who maintain camps in a vast forest straddling Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna […]

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Morocco, Israel strengthen military links as army chief visits kingdom

RABAT, Morocco (AFP) — Israel and Morocco strengthened military ties during meetings Tuesday between the Jewish state’s army chief and Moroccan defense officials in the kingdom, amid tension with Rabat’s rival Algeria. Israeli army chief Aviv Kohavi, who arrived Monday, met with the Inspector General of the Royal Armed Forces Belkhir El Farouk, an Israeli army statement said. He also met with Morocco’s minister delegate in charge of defense administration, Abdellatif Loudiyi, and intelligence chief […]

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Israel has ‘no objection’ to Red Sea island transfer to Saudi Arabia: officials

  JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel has “no objection” to two strategic Red Sea islands being transferred to Saudi Arabia as a step towards any normalisation of ties between both countries, high-ranking officials said Thursday. The Jewish state hopes US President Joe Biden’s Middle East tour will hail the start of diplomatic ties between it and Saudi Arabia. After meeting Israeli officials on Wednesday and Thursday, Biden is on Friday to travel on to Saudi Arabia […]

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Libyans at boiling point amid summer power cuts

by Hamza Mekouar Agence France-Presse TRIPOLI, Libya (AFP) — Mahmud Aguil has a comfortable house in Libya’s capital Tripoli, but chronic power outages in the war-battered country and roasting summer heat now force him to sleep in his air-conditioned van. “This is my bedroom,” the 48-year-old said pointing to the cramped vehicle, its back seats removed to make space for him and his two young children. “In the morning I wake up with a terrible […]

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