Africa

Jihadist-hit Niger last week killed about 30 members of the Boko Haram group and detained 960 followers, most of them women and children, who had fled neighbouring Nigeria, official sources said. State TV channel Tele Sahel said late Tuesday that on March 7 aerial surveillance spotted a “massive movement of …

Thirty people are missing and 17 were rescued in the central Mediterranean on Sunday after the boat in which they were travelling from Libya capsized in bad weather, Italy’s coastguard said. Alarm Phone, a charity that picks up calls from migrant vessels in distress, assumed the 30 people were dead …

Tunisia’s new parliament, elected in December and January in a vote with a turnout of 11 percent, sat for the first time on Monday in a session closed to all but state media and with the opposition coalition saying it would not recognize its legitimacy. Journalists were not allowed to …

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has warned of a growing humanitarian catastrophe in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where fighting between government forces and armed groups has caused hundreds of thousands of people to flee. UNHCR spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh said on Friday the violence had prompted …

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa Al-Sudani and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi discussed enhancing bilateral relations between their countries. Al-Sudani met with El-Sisi today, Sunday, during his official visit to Cairo. Additionally, both leaders exchanged perspectives on a range of regional and global issues of mutual concern, underscoring the importance …

The European Union said Saturday it was setting up a “humanitarian air bridge” to deliver aid to Goma in the conflict-hit eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Goma is the capital of North Kivu province, where fighting with the rebel group M23 has displaced more than 600,000 people. …

An explosion and fire near an illegal oil refinery site in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region killed at least 12 people Friday, police said, although local residents reported a much higher death toll. The explosion in the Emuoha council area of the southern Rivers state occurred along a pipeline targeted by …

Egyptian antiquities officials announced on Thursday the discovery of a hidden nine-metre-long corridor behind the main entrance of the Great Pyramid of Giza that they said could lead to further findings. The find was made under the Scan Pyramids project that since 2015 has been using modern technology including scans …

The West African state of Guinea is repatriating dozens of its citizens from Tunisia, a senior official said Wednesday, after Tunisian President Kais Saied triggered a storm by accusing sub-Saharan migrants of crime. The foreign ministry official told AFP that the ruling junta had leased an aircraft to bring about …

Nigeria’s electoral commission has declared ruling party candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu the winner of Saturday’s presidential election. The announcement comes a day after opposition candidates called the election a “sham” and demanded a revote. In the early morning announcement broadcast on state-run National Television Authority, Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission …

Nigerians were still voting in a few parts of the country after glitches prevented them from doing so on Saturday, but results of the national election would start to be announced from 6 p.m. (1700 GMT) the electoral commission said. Counting was already underway in the West African oil exporting …

Nigerians have voted to choose a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari amid hopes the next leader will steer Africa’s most populous nation and biggest economy on a new course after years of worsening violence and hardship. Polling stations were scheduled to open at 8:30 a.m. (0730 GMT) Saturday, but there …

A Tunisian court has issued in absentia a prison term of three months to Algerian activist Amira Bouraoui for illegally crossing borders, Tunisia’s radio Mosaique FM reported on Friday, in a case that has caused a diplomatic row. Bouraoui, who was subject to a travel ban in Algeria after her …

International financial crime watchdog the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said on Friday it was adding South Africa and Nigeria to its so-called “grey list” of countries under special scrutiny to implement standards to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing. The FATF is an inter-governmental organisation that underpins the fight …

Rached Ghannouchi, speaker of dissolved parliament, told to appear at police station after arrests of president’s critics. Tunisian police have summoned the head of the biggest opposition party for questioning after a string of arrests targeting critics of President Kais Saied have raised concerns over free speech and political rights. …

A bloc official says the envoy was removed because she was not duly accredited to attend the event in Ethiopia. A senior Israeli diplomat has been removed from the African Union’s annual summit in Ethiopia as a dispute over Israel’s accreditation to the bloc escalated. A video posted on social …

Thousands of Tunisian trade unionists held protests across the country on Saturday over worsening economic woes and the arrest of a top union official. The North African country is in drawn-out talks with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout loan, which the powerful UGTT workers’ federation has warned could …

32 members of the Al-Shabab terrorist group were killed in the country’s military operation. The Somali National Army with the support of the Galmudug State forces and the local forces killed 32 Al-Shabaab militants and injured others after conducting a planned operation against terrorists’ hideout at the Qaycad area in …

Expulsion of Chagos Islands’ Indigenous People an Ongoing Colonial Crime The forced displacement of the entire Chagossian people by the United Kingdom and United States governments and the UK’s racial persecution, and continued blocking of their return home, are crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said in a report and …

Dozens of migrants are believed to have died in a shipwreck off Libya, with only seven survivors found so far, the United Nations said Wednesday. “At least 73 migrants are reported missing and presumed dead following a tragic shipwreck off the Libyan coast yesterday (Tuesday),” the UN’s International Organization for …