ADDIS ABABA – Anti-terror rhetoric by Ethiopia’s government could escalate into a brutal crackdown on protesters, human rights group Amnesty International has warned. A plan to expand the capital’s administrative control into the Oromia region has sparked deadly protests. The government has accused Oromo protesters of links with terror groups and trying to start a…
CAPE TOWN – President Jacob Zuma is the target of numerous demonstrations set to take place across the country in coming days. Marches have so far been planned in Pretoria, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth for tomorrow. Several Facebook groups have been created to mobilise support for the demonstrations. Protest marches are also planned for…
JOHANNESBURG – A South African king is set to go to jail after the country’s highest court threw out his bid to overturn a 12-year prison sentence. Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo was convicted of kidnapping, assault and arson. The Constitutional Court’s rejection of his appeal bid means he has no option but to report to prison, says…
BEIRUT – Late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son Hannibal has been freed after being briefly kidnapped by an armed group in Lebanon, security sources say. In a video shown on Lebanese TV, the captive businessman was seen appealing for more information concerning the 1978 disappearance of the prominent Lebanese Shia cleric Musa al-Sadr. He was…
PRETORIA – South Africa’s currency has fallen close to a record low a day after Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene was sacked, Reuters news agency reports. President Jacob Zuma said that Mr Nene was being moved to “another strategic position”. BBC Africa business reporter Lerato Mbele says that his attempt to rein in spending may have…
DAR ES SALAAM – Tanzania’s new President John Magufuli has joined hundreds of residents in the main city Dar es Salaam to take part in a public clean-up operation. Mr Magufuli swept and picked up rubbish from the street as part of the scheme, which he had ordered to replace independence day celebrations. The move…
OUAGADOUGOU – The leader of September’s short-lived coup in Burkina Faso has been charged with complicity in the 1987 murder of former President Thomas Sankara. Gen Gilbert Diendere is the most senior official to be charged. President Sankara was murdered by a group of soldiers, but the exact circumstances of his death have remained a…
BENGHAZI — Lawmakers from Libya’s rival parliaments have reached a power-sharing agreement in Tunisia, shunning a U.N.-brokered deal to avoid the “foreign intervention” tainting it, an internationally recognized government representative said Sunday. However, it appeared the deal had failed to gain broad acceptance by either side, with representatives from both parliaments coming out to slam…
NAIROBI – Kenyan and Ugandan security forces have stepped up patrols in the wake of the attacks on Paris. Uganda’s army spokesman Lt Col Paddy Ankunda said that the “threat of terrorism is real”. The head of Kenya’s police, Joseph Boinnet, echoed those comments on Twitter and called for the public to be alert. Both…
JOHANNESBURG – A judge has sentenced eight South African policemen to 15 years in prison for the murder of a Mozambican taxi driver. Mido Macia was killed in 2013 when officers tied him to the back of a police van by his arms before driving off. He was found in a pool of blood in…
