Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema will begin an official visit to China on Sunday, as the heavily indebted African nation works to secure financial relief after a restructuring agreement reached in June.Hichilema has enjoyed an increasingly close relationship with the United States, with President Joe Biden hailing his commitment to democracy at successive US-Africa and democracy …

Debt-ridden Zambia’s leader to visit top creditor ChinaFri, 08 Sep 2023 14:03:12 GMT Read More »

Children in eastern DR Congo are facing unheard-of violence, the UN warned Friday, cataloguing rapes, killings and use of youngsters by armed groups, including a case of infant twins taped to a booby-trapped bomb.The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF said the war-torn country had the world’s highest number of UN-verified violations against children in armed …

Violence makes eastern DR Congo ‘worst place’ for children : UNFri, 08 Sep 2023 12:02:44 GMT Read More »

Russia “must stop” its blockade of Ukrainian seaports after pulling out of a United Nations and Turkey-mediated deal to ensure grain shipments, European Council president Charles Michel said Friday.”It’s frankly scandalous that Russia, after having terminated the Black Sea grain initiative, is blocking and attacking Ukrainian ports. This must stop,” Michel told reporters in India’s …

EU’s Michel says Russian blockade of Ukraine ports ‘must stop’Fri, 08 Sep 2023 07:38:19 GMT Read More »

Attacks on an army base and a passenger boat on the Niger River in northern Mali on Thursday by suspected jihadists killed 64 people, a Malian official said.The two separate attacks targeted the Timbuktu boat on the Niger river and an army position at Bamba, in the northern Gao region with “a provisional toll of …

Mali river boat, base attacks kill 64Thu, 07 Sep 2023 22:31:17 GMT Read More »

The United States is moving some of its troops from a base in Niger’s capital Niamey — where rebel officers seized power in a July coup — to another in the Agadez area, the Pentagon said Thursday.Washington has some 1,100 military personnel in the country, but the Defense Department says they have largely remained on …

US conducting ‘precautionary’ repositioning of forces in NigerThu, 07 Sep 2023 20:50:06 GMT Read More »

Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan met Qatar’s emir on Thursday during his third trip abroad since war broke out in April, after also visiting Egypt and South Sudan in recent days.Burhan, whose troops are fighting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), had spent months under siege inside the military headquarters in Khartoum and stayed …

War-torn Sudan’s army chief meets Qatar ruler in diplomatic pushThu, 07 Sep 2023 18:32:26 GMT Read More »

Gabon’s military rulers on Thursday appointed Raymond Ndong Sima, a prominent opponent to ousted president Ali Bongo Ondimba, as interim prime minister following the country’s coup on August 30.Ndong Sima, a 68-year-old Paris-educated economist, served as prime minister under Bongo from 2012 to 2014 before becoming a critic and competing against him in the 2016 …

Bongo critic named interim PM in post-coup GabonThu, 07 Sep 2023 17:52:59 GMT Read More »

A passenger boat on the Niger River in northern Mali was attacked on Thursday by suspected jihadists, the Malian army said.”At around 11:00 am (1100 GMT), armed terrorist groups… attacked a Comanav boat” in the Gourma-Rharous area, it said on social media, referring to the ferry’s operator.The boat, plying an established route between cities along …

Mali river boat attacked by suspected jihadistsThu, 07 Sep 2023 16:34:55 GMT Read More »

South African captain Temba Bavuma carried his bat for a defiant century as his team were bowled out for 222 in the first one-day international against Australia at the Mangaung Oval on Thursday.Bavuma opened the batting and made an unbeaten 114 while his teammates crumbled against accurate bowling on a slow, dry pitch with uneven …

Bavuma carries bat for 114 as South Africa struggle against AustraliaThu, 07 Sep 2023 15:14:02 GMT Read More »

Renewables funding, global finance reform and carbon taxes head the demands formulated by African nations at a summit in Nairobi this week as the world heads towards annual climate negotiations.The final declaration at the first-ever pan-African climate summit laid out a vision pitching the continent as a key to decarbonisation but also calling for funds …

Africa climate demands zero in on finance, debt and taxesThu, 07 Sep 2023 14:11:04 GMT Read More »