Africa

Suspected gas cylinder blast kills 42 on Zimbabwe bus

  by Fanuel Jongwe Agence France Presse HARARE, Zimbabwe (AFP) — At least 42 passengers were killed, Zimbabwe police said Friday, after a suspected gas cylinder exploded on a bus, with pictures showing the burnt-out wreckage of the vehicle. The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation published photographs showing the destroyed vehicle on a highway between the South African border and the second city Bulawayo. “At the moment we know that more than 42 people died,” police spokeswoman […]

Tunisia says woman’s suicide bombing ‘isolated act’

TUNIS, Tunisia (AFP) — A suicide attack by an unemployed graduate woman on a busy street in the Tunisian capital this week was an “isolated act”, a government minister said Tuesday. Mna Guebla detonated explosives Monday near a gathering of police cars in the upmarket Avenue Habib Bourguiba in central Tunis, wounding 15 officers and two teenagers in the first such attack in the city since 2015. Interior Minister Hichem Fourati, whose ministry is on […]

Woman suicide bomber wounds 20 in first Tunis attack since 2015

by Kaouther Larbi Agence France Presse TUNIS, Tunisia (AFP) — A female suicide bomber injured 20 people on a busy street in the center of the Tunisian capital on Monday, authorities said, after a three-year break in attacks in the city. “It’s a tragedy,” said Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi, during a visit to the German capital Berlin. “We thought we had eradicated terrorism …(but it) is still in the heart of capital,” he said. […]

Seven dead, 23 missing in DR Congo canoe accident

TSHIKAPA, DR Congo (AFP) — Seven diamond miners died and another 23 were missing after two canoes capsized in central Democratic Republic of Congo, government and mining officials said on Friday. Local official Kerozene Kabongo told AFP the canoes were carrying miners who dive for diamonds in the Kasai river on Thursday when they overturned in high winds, 15 km (nine miles) east of Tshikapa city. “Two canoes transporting our colleagues capsized yesterday (Thursday) in […]

US charity school in Liberia in rape scandal storm; probe says charity co-founder who had died of AIDS raped school girls

  MONROVIA, Liberia (AFP) — An acclaimed US charity operating in Liberia has admitted to major failings after girls at a school set up to save them from a life of sexual exploitation were systematically raped. “We are profoundly, deeply sorry,” the charity More Than Me said on its website on Saturday after US investigative media said girls at a pioneering school in a slum had been repeatedly abused by the charity’s co-founder, Macintosh Johnson. […]

At least 30 killed in Nigeria pipeline fire

  WARRI, Nigeria (AFP) — At least 30 people were killed when a petrol pipeline caught fire and exploded in southeast Nigeria after a raid by suspected oil thieves, a survivor and officials said on Saturday. The incident happened in the town of Aba on Friday when vandals burst the pipeline operated by the state-run Pipeline and Product Marketing Company. “The incident occurred at about 1:30 am. Those burnt are more than 30 with many […]

At least 34 dead after Uganda landslide

  by Michael O’HAGAN Agence France Presse KAMPALA, Uganda (AFP) — At least 34 people were killed after a river in eastern Uganda burst its banks, sending thick sludge and rocks barrelling into homes, disaster officials said Friday. Rescue teams were picking through the rubble, looking for survivors and victims of the disaster which took place on Thursday in the town of Bukalasi in the Bududa district. An unknown number of people were still missing. […]

UPDATED: Kenya bus crash kills 51

  NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) — Fifty-one people were killed when the bus they were travelling in overturned and its entire roof was ripped off in an accident in western Kenya early Wednesday, police said. “It is unfortunate that we have lost 51 people,” Kenya’s police chief Joseph Boinnet told Capital FM radio. According to police, the bus was travelling from Nairobi to the western town of Kakamega and carrying 52 passengers. The Kenyan Red Cross […]

60 killed, scores burnt in DR Congo road disaster

  by Samir Tounsi Agence France Presse KINSHASA, DR Congo (AFP) — At least 60 people died and scores suffered serious burns on Saturday after an oil tanker collided with a vehicle on an arterial highway in the west of DR Congo. The accident occurred on a highway linking the capital Kinshasa to the country’s sole seaport at Matadi on the Atlantic Ocean. “We have counted 53 charred bodies,” said Florian, a witness, speaking at […]

Melania Trump loses footing with elephant, but not with kids

  By Darlene Superville Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Melania Trump briefly lost her footing when a baby elephant startled her with a sudden move, but the first lady was anything but out of step when children at an orphanage welcomed her to their home with African song and dance. It didn’t take long for the typically reserved U.S. first lady to dive fully into the moment. Mrs. Trump arrived at The Nest orphanage […]

Ivory Coast ex-president opens freedom bid at ICC

  THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — Former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo will Monday ask the International Criminal Court to acquit him of crimes against humanity and free him after seven years in detention. Gbagbo, 73, is the first-ever head of state to be handed over to the Hague-based ICC, where he has been on trial since 2016. He faces four counts of crimes against humanity for his role in fomenting a wave of post-electoral […]

Death toll climbs to almost 200 in Nigeria flooding, says relief agency

  ABUJA, Nigeria (AFP) — Nearly 200 people have died in flooding caused by heavy seasonal rains across 12 states in Nigeria, the country’s main relief agency said on Thursday. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said 199 people had lost their lives after the main Niger and Benue rivers burst their banks. A national disaster has been declared in the central states of Kogi, where the two rivers meet, and Niger, plus Delta and […]