Africa

Tunisian President Kais Saied has dismissed the country’s prime minister and suspended parliament following a day of rallies against the ruling Ennahda Party, a move greeted with both celebrations and protests on the streets. Saied announced on Sunday he would assume executive authority with the assistance of a new prime …

The attackers stormed Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna State on July 5, abducting 121 students from their dorms. Gunmen who seized 121 students at a high school in northwestern Nigeria in early July have released another 28 teenagers, a school official said. The attackers stormed Bethel Baptist High School …

Ethiopia’s Amhara region on Sunday called on all armed residents to mobilize for battle against rebels from conflict-hit Tigray, calling it a “survival campaign,” state media reported. Amhara borders Tigray to the south, and the two regions are embroiled in a decades-old land dispute that has become central to the …

 Sierra Leone’s parliament voted unanimously on Friday to repeal the death penalty more than two decades after the West African country carried out its last execution. President Julius Maada Bio is expected to soon sign the bill into law, which will make Sierra Leone the 23rd African country to abolish …

At least six Cameroonian soldiers were killed and four wounded during an attack by Islamist insurgents on an army outpost in the far north of the country, state broadcaster CRTV said on Saturday. The attack is the deadliest in recent months in northern Cameroon, which alongside neighbouring Nigeria and Chad, …

Lawmakers vote to abolish the death penalty more than 20 years after the country’s last execution. Human rights campaigners have hailed a “historic” decision by Sierra Leone’s Parliament to unanimously vote to abolish the death penalty, more than 20 years after the West African country carried out its last execution. …

At least 16 people, including six women and two children, have been killed in a suspected Islamist militant attack on a remote road in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo, the director of a local hospital said on Friday. The attack took place on a road near the town of Oicha, …

The death toll from recent riots in South Africa has risen to 276, and police are investigating 168 cases for murder, a cabinet minister said on Wednesday. The unrest started as protests over former president Jacob Zuma’s jailing two weeks ago in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal. But it quickly …

Police and government authorities have secured the release of 100 people, including women, children, and nursing mothers, who were kidnapped from their village in northwestern Nigeria over a month ago, a local police spokesperson said. Nigeria is battling an increase in armed robberies and kidnappings for ransom, mainly in northwestern …

The Moroccan government used Israeli malware to spy on French President Emmanuel Macron’s phone calls, Le Monde has reported. More than a dozen other French politicians were reportedly targeted in a scheme denied by Morocco. Hours after Paris prosecutors launched an investigation into allegations that Morocco’s intelligence agencies used Israeli …

The corruption trial of former South African President Jacob Zuma has been postponed until next month. A judge at the Pietermaritzburg High Court in the former president’s home province of KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday adjourned Zuma’s trial until August 10. Zuma’s lawyers had requested a delay to allow him to appear …

Mali’s interim President Assimi Goita was the target of an attempted stabbing attack during Eid al-Adha prayers at Bamako’s Grand Mosque, the West African nation’s presidency said in a statement on Twitter on Tuesday. “The attacker was immediately overpowered by security. Investigations are ongoing,” the presidency said. Two military sources …

The long-running corruption trial of South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma has resumed with the proceedings held online, despite the deadly violence that rocked the country following his imprisonment over another case a week ago. Zuma appeared by video link in the court on Monday, seeking a further delay in his graft …

A fuel tanker exploded in western Kenya while people were siphoning fuel from it, killing 13 people, police said Sunday. Residents started siphoning fuel from the tanker after it was involved in a crash late Saturday with a trailer near the Malanga Village in Siaya county, Gem subcounty Police Commander …

Ethiopia has attained its second-year target for filling a mega-dam on the Blue Nile River that has stoked tensions with downstream countries Egypt and Sudan, an official told AFP on Monday. “The first filling already was done last year. The second one is already done today. So today or tomorrow, …

The Algerian foreign ministry recalled its ambassador to Morocco on Sunday and hinted at possible further measures in the latest flare-up of tension between the North African neighbors over the disputed territory of Western Sahara. The move was linked to comments from the Moroccan envoy to the United Nations on …

Assailants also destroyed equipment belonging to Chinese and Mauritanian construction companies. Gunmen have abducted three Chinese nationals and two Mauritanians from a construction site in southwestern Mali, according to the country’s armed forces. The assailants stormed the site 55km (34 miles) from the town of Kwala on Saturday, and made …

At least 13 people have died after a petrol tanker overturned and caught fire in western Kenya on Sunday night. The crash reportedly happened as the driver tried to avoid a head-on collision with another lorry on the busy road between Kisumu and Busia. People rushed to the scene with …

Hundreds of people were arrested and businesses shut in the Ethiopian capital on suspicion of supporting Tigrayan rebels in the country’s war-torn northern region, police told state media Saturday. Addis Ababa Police Commissioner, Getu Argaw, said those detained had suspected links to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the region’s …

Gunmen abducted at least 60 people in northwestern Nigeria after riding motorbikes into five villages and firing sporadically into the air, a police officer and several residents said on Saturday. Nigeria is battling an increase in armed robberies and kidnappings for ransom, mainly in northwestern areas, where thinly stretched security …