JOHANNESBURG – Julius Malema slipped quietly into the room, looking cheerful, perhaps a little slimmer than on our last encounter, and quite the opposite of the rabble-rousing, Mugabe-in-the-making demagogue that his enemies and critics in South Africa and abroad still like to portray. “Marriage,” he said by way of an explanation, and fell onto a…
JOHANNESBURG – Former police commissioner Jackie Selebi has died, according to reports. City Press reported that a family source had confirmed that Selebi had died. eNCA also reported that Selebi had died. According to SABC News, the ANC confirmed that Selebi had died on Friday morning.
LUSAKA – Voters in Zambia are going to the polls in a presidential election caused by the death of Michael Sata last year. The vote is expected to be a close contest between Edgar Lungu from the governing Patriotic Front and Hakainde Hichilema from the United Party for National Development. The BBC’s Nomsa Maseko in…
OAGUADUGU – Members of parliament in Burkina Faso have decided to cut their salaries by half. The move followed heated exchanges on social media after it was revealed that MPs were paid more than $3,000 (£1,985) a month. The average salary in the West African state is about $150 a month. One MP said the…
LAGOS – The militant group Boko Haram has seized a town and key multinational military base in north-eastern Nigeria, officials and eyewitnesses say. A senator in Borno state said troops had abandoned the base in the town of Baga after it was attacked on Saturday. Residents of Baga, who fled by boat to neighbouring Chad,…
NAIROBI – A Kenyan student has been sentenced to a year in jail for insulting President Uhuru Kenyatta on social media. Alan Wadi Okengo, 25, alias lieutenant Wadi, must also pay a fine of $2,200 (£1,400), or serve a second year. He was also convicted of hate speech, after saying members of the president’s Kikuyu…
TUNIS – Moncef Marzouki has refused to admit defeat in Tunisia’s first free presidential election after exit polls suggested Beji Caid Essebsi had won. The caretaker president, a former exile, said his rival’s declaration of victory was “undemocratic”. Mr Essebsi, 88, has been celebrating with supporters, telling them all Tunisians now need to “work together”,…
LAGOS – Militants have stormed a remote village in north-eastern Nigeria, killing at least 33 people and kidnapping about 200, a survivor has told the BBC. He said that suspected Boko Haram militants had seized young men, women and children from Gumsuri village. The attack happened on Sunday but news has only just emerged, after…
NAIROBI – Kenyan lawmakers traded blows and the deputy speaker had water thrown on her during a chaotic parliamentary session which approved changes to a tough new security bill. Opposition MPs shouted and ripped up copies of the bill, warning that Kenya was becoming a “police state”. Four lawmakers were assaulted and another two engaged…
KAMPALA – A Ugandan maid has been sentenced to four years in jail for assaulting a toddler, in a case which sparked outrage across the country after a video was released. Jolly Tumuhiirwe, 22, was filmed beating, kicking and stamping on the 18-month-old child. On Friday, she told a court in Kampala the attack was…
