AFRICA

The World Health Organization has cancelled the appointment of Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe as a goodwill ambassador after global condemnation. Director General of WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement issued Sunday said , after carefully listenening to concerns expressed by many and consultation with the Government of Zimbabwe, it is in the best interest of the global health …

Bank account owners who are yet to have a Bank Verification Number (BVN) run the risk of forfeiting their money to the federal government within the next two weeks unless they can justify their ownership of such accounts. A Federal High Court in Abuja has granted a temporary forfeiture order on such accounts. It also restrained commercial banks from operating …

Sierra Leoneans will go to the polls in 2018 to elect a new president. Incumbent Ernest Bai Koroma is not eligible to stand after serving two consecutive terms. Koroma came to power in 2007 under the aegis of the All People’s Congress (APC), he won a second term in November 2012. The two main candidates aiming for Bai Koroma’s seat …

Liberia’s National Elections Commission (NEC) on Thursday released the full results of the 10 October general election. The body further confirmed a run-off vote between the two top candidates for the presidency, which it has set for 7 November. Ex-football star George Weah of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) will face current vice-president, Joseph Boakai of the ruling Unity …

Thousands of Somalis led by President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed have staged a demonstration in Mogadishu following Saturday’s terror attack. Thousands of protesters flooded the streets of Mogadishu on Wednesday in defiance of Saturday’s blasts that claimed more than 300 lives. Somalia’s deadliest attacks to date reportedly came in retaliation for a joint raid by the country’s government and the US …

A senior official of Kenya’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has resigned from her job a week before a repeat presidential election, saying the election body was under siege and could not hold a credible election. “The commission in its current state can surely not guarantee a credible election on 26 October 2017,” Roselyn Akombe, an IEBC commissioner, said …

Since October 2016, protests and strikes related to sectoral demands have escalated into a crisis over the economic and political marginalisation of Cameroon’s Anglophone minority. The crisis reached a new low at the weekend of 30 September-1 October when at least 17 people were shot dead by security forces and 50 wounded, according to Amnesty International. Mbom Sixtus, freelance journalist …

The bomb was as enormous as the flecks of torn skin smudging the ground are miniscule. Entire overcrowded buses were blown up, every passenger killed. No one in the vicinity was spared: shopkeepers at the side of the road selling khat; office managers; children fooling around or running errands for parents; a medical student about to graduate; mothers; fathers; sisters; …

It is not yet victory for former soccer star George Weah in the Liberian election as he would need to go for a run-off against incumbent Vice-President Joseph Boakai. Weah, who ran on the platform of the opposition CDC party, ended up with 39 per cent of the votes, 11 per cent less than the 50 per cent needed to …

The withdrawal of NASA presidential candidate Raila Odinga from the upcoming election rerun raises major political and constitutional challenges for Kenya. The country has seen many opposition rallies against the electoral commission that threaten public peace and security leading to government banning demonstrations altogether in the centres of Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu. It is currently unclear if there will be …

Former international football star George Weah and Vice President Joseph Boakai held commanding leads in provisional presidential election results announced on Saturday, setting up a likely run-off next month between the two men. Weah and Boakai lead the 20-candidate field to succeed President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in what would be Liberia’s first democratic transfer of power in more than 70 …

Former international football star George Weah has taken the lead in the early election results announced by Liberia’s electoral commission on Thursday evening. The National Elections Commission (NEC) Chairman Jerome Korkoya announced the results of 1,232 polling places out of the 5,390 in the 15 counties. Weah led in 11 counties including Grand Kru, Sinoe, River Gee and Grand Gedeh …

Vote counting is underway in Liberia where large number of voters turned out on Tuesday to vote for a new president and lawmakers. The National Elections Commission (NEC) in its last press statement at the close of polls said there was a high turnout in the largely peaceful process. Election officers and party agents stayed overnight to count ballots. NEC …

Liberians head to the polls on Tuesday (10 October) to elect a successor to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who will step down after 12 years at the helm of Africa’s oldest republic. Over two million Liberian voters will participate at the general election to choose a president out of 20 candidates and 73 lawmakers out of the 986 aspirants. Among …

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a group advocating for a separate state for the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria, has called for international intervention in the attacks on pro-Biafra activists. IPOB spokesman in a statement issued on Monday said the group denies all claims of violence as advanced by the army and the government. Whiles challenging the authorities to …

Kenya’s ruling Jubilee Party has presented parliament with proposals intended to prevent the Supreme Court annulling the results of a coming re-run presidential election, as it did the last vote in August. The court struck down President Uhuru Kenyatta’s poll victory then, saying there had been illegalities and irregularities in the transmission of results. Kenya used two systems to transmit …

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the date of Nigeria’s next general elections. The presidential and parliamentary elections will be held on 16 February 2019, INEC said on its official Twitter account on Thursday. The date will mark the end of ailing President Muhammadu Buhari’s first term. He has not said if he will run again. Buhari came …

Cameroonian President Paul Biya has dispatched the military to the South West and North West Regions of the country ahead of Independence Day on 1 October to face off secessionists. The military deployment was officially announced by the Governor of the South West Region Bernard Okalia Bilai on Thursday after restricting movement of people and vehicles, closing all public places …

Kenya’s new presidential election has been delayed to 26 October, after the country’s polls commission sought more time to reform voting processes. The re-run had originally been scheduled for 17 October. Kenya’s elections body, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), has announced a new date for the presidential poll rerun ordered by the Supreme Court. A statement issued on …

Tunisia has lifted a ban on Muslim women marrying non-Muslim men after years of campaign against the marriage law imposed in 1973. President Beji Caid Essebsi had promised a month ago that the ban will be lifted in respect of the 2014 constitution that guarantees women’s freedom. Spokesperson of the presidency, Saida Garrach is reported to have confirmed the lifting …