AFRICA

Ethiopia’s parliament has elected Abiy Ahmed as the new prime minister, a week after the ruling coalition nominated him to succeed Hailemariam Desalegn. Abiy was sworn in on Monday shortly after his election to become Africa’s second-most populous country’s 16th prime minister and the first Oromo to hold Ethiopia’s top seat. Hailemariam resigned in February, following months of protests in …

The Southern Africa nation of Botswana has sworn-in its new president in the person of Mokgweetsi Masisi. The 55-year-old becomes the country’s 5th president. He took the oath of office before the country’s national assembly in the presence of the Chief Justice, the Speaker of Parliament and his immediate predecessor, Seretse Khama Ian Khama. The official oath was administered by …

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been re-elected with 97 percent of votes, the same proportion that the former military commander secured four years ago for his first term, official results showed on Monday. However, turnout was lower at 41 percent, despite efforts to get as many Egyptians as possible to polling stations during last week’s vote. Sisi had been …

South African anti-apartheid icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela died peacefully on Monday following a long illness, a family spokesman said. “She died after a long illness, for which she had been in and out of hospital since the start of the year,” Victor Dlamini said in a statement. “She succumbed peacefully in the early hours of Monday afternoon surrounded by her family …

A controversial pact, in which the US military wants to invest $20 million and get access to Ghana’s runways and communications, set off rallies in the West African nation, with people chanting their country is “not for sale.” Thousands of people flocked to the streets of Accra, the capital of Ghana, to protest a military deal the government recently signed …

Voters in Sierra Leone flocked to the polls on Saturday to elect new president in a hotly contested run-off vote between opposition leader Julius Maada Bio and ruling party candidate Samura Kamara. Bio, of the opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) won a razor-thin victory in the first round of voting on March 7 with 43.3 per cent, while his …

Ethiopia’s ruling coalition has elected a new leader in the person of Dr Abiy Ahmed. He will eventually become Prime Minister of the country, its first Muslim leader ever. The change in leadership follows the surprise resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn last month. He was the first ruler in modern Ethiopian history to step down; previous leaders have died …

The UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) has successfully completed its mandate after almost 15 years of supporting the West African nation in its transition to peace and democracy. UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, at a ceremony on 16 March in Monrovia attended by President George Weah, said the completion of UNMIL’s mandate was a pivotal moment for the history of …

Sierra Leone’s presidential runoff vote has been postponed to Saturday, March 31 by the Supreme Court, the elections body announced late Monday (March 26) in an official statement. The original date was Tuesday, March 21 but a High Court injunction affected the electoral body’s preparation leading to the four-day extension. Lawyers for the Sierra Leone National Electoral Commission (NEC) approached …

The son of Angola’s ex-president, José Filomeno dos Santos, has been charged with fraud relating to the illegal transfer of $500 million to a British bank out of an account belonging to the country’s Sovereign Fund, the prosecutor general’s office said on Monday. Dos Santos is the highest profile figure to be charged since President Joao Lourenco succeeded former leader …

Uncertainty clouds Sierra Leone’s presidential election run-off, scheduled for Tuesday, March 27, as different institutions offer conflicting statements as to whether it will be held or not. In a controversial ruling issued on Saturday (24 March), a high court in Freetown restrained the National Electoral Commission (NEC) and its chair from organizing the polls pending hearing of the case before …

Representatives of 44 out of 55 member countries of the African Union have signed an agreement on the African Continental Free Trade Area at an extraordinary AU Summit in Kigali. The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (CFTA ) could enter into effect by the end of this year following signing by 44 countries yesterday at the 10th extraordinary African …

President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim of Mauritius has resigned amidst allegations of a credit card fraud, and will leave office on Friday, March 23. Her lawyer, Yusuf Mohamed, made the announcement on Saturday. Last month, it was reported that the president, who has a largely ceremonial function in Mauritius, had done quite an amount of shopping for clothes and jewellery in Italy …

A decades-long corruption charge has finally caught up with former South African President Jacob Zuma, who resigned under pressure from the ruling ANC in February. The case centres on a 30bn rand ($2.5bn) deal to modernise the country’s defence in the late 1990s, when Zuma was deputy president. Zuma is alleged to have sought bribes from a French company to …

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga has revealed the process and details that led to a surprise reconciliation with the Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta. The two politicians who have not been seeing eye to eye since the disputed August 8, 2017 presidential elections, held a meeting and addressed the press together last week on 9 March. They told Kenyans that they …

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a US$31.6 million grant from the Government of China for the construction of a new headquarters for the regional body in Abuja. The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude Brou, and the Ambassador of China to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Zhou Pingjian, signed for both …

Sierra Leone’s elections body, the National Electoral Commission (NEC), on Sunday released provisional official results in respect to the presidential polls of 7 March 2018. Julius Maada Bio, the candidate of the main opposition SLPP, is leading the election with the majority of the official results released followed closely by the ruling APC candidate, Samura Kamara. With 75% of official …

Sixteen candidates are campaigning to become Sierra Leone’s next president. It’s the first time more than two candidates have real chances of winning and a chance for a more diversified parliament. Sierra Leone heads to the polls on Wednesday March 7 as the second of President Ernest Bai Koroma’s constitutionally mandated two terms comes to an end. The ruling All …

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan begins a five-day official visit to four African countries on Monday, 26 February. According to a statement released by the president’s office, Erdogan will hold talks with his counterparts in Algeria, Mauritania, Senegal and Mali in one-on-one and inter-delegation meetings. The leaders are expected to discuss regional and global developments, bilateral relations and cooperation. Business …

President Muhammadu Buhari has described the abduction of some students from the Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi, in Yobe State as a national disaster. The President, however, gave the assurance that no effort would be spared by the Federal Government to rescue the girls and bring succour to their families. He gave the assurance in a statement issued on Friday …