MOGADISHU – An attack Friday night on a hotel in Somalia’s capital left five people dead and at least 15 wounded, a government spokesman said. The bloodshed came after a car bomb went off outside Hotel Makkah Al-Mukarama in central Mogadishu, Abdikarim Hussein Guled, the African country’s interior and national security minister, told local media….
ACCRA – Ghana’s Deputy Communications Minister Victoria Hammah has been sacked after she was recorded allegedly saying she would stay in politics until she has made $1m (£600,000). “If you have money then you can control people,” she seems to say on the tape which has been widely circulated. Ms Hammah has not yet commented…
JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s governing African National Congress party has criticised a school for displaying students’ artwork which “borders on racism”. The exhibition included images of ANC leaders, including President Jacob Zuma and Nelson Mandela, printed on T-shirts as part of an end-of-year art exam. The ANC said they ridiculed its leaders with one labelling…
KINSHASA – The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has claimed victory over M23 rebels in the east of the country. A government spokesman said the last remaining rebels had either fled across the border or surrendered and their weapons had been destroyed overnight. The M23 have not publicly commented on the claim. Kinshasa…
CAIRO – Egypt’s ousted former President Mohammed Morsi has arrived in court in Cairo where he is due to go on trial, state media say. He and 14 other Muslim Brotherhood figures face charges of inciting the killing of protesters in clashes outside the presidential palace. Security services are on high alert after supporters of…
JOHANNESBURG – Former president Nelson Mandela is no longer ill, African National Congress stalwart Tokyo Sexwale said yesterday. “Madiba says of his health, ‘I am not ill, I’m just old,” Sexwale told reporters at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton, north of Johannesburg. No further details were given about his health. Sexwale was speaking at…
HARARE – Kenya’s president has launched a website for people to report incidents of corruption directly to him. Users can upload videos, photos and other documents and can choose from a long drop-down list of government departments to complain about. They can also report corruption to Uhuru Kenyatta by text message. The campaign group Transparency…
KINSHASA – Government forces in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have captured Bunagana town, the main base of the M23 rebel group, officials say. The troops entered the town on the Ugandan border in large numbers as the rebels fled, residents told the BBC. M23 political leader Bertrand Bisimwa was earlier reported to have crossed…
JOHANNESBURG – The ANC yesterday condemned the brief detention of party stalwart Tokyo Sexwale in the United States. “This affront on the rights and dignity of comrade Tokyo Sexwale necessitates an unconditional apology to him and the people of South Africa from the US administration,” African National Congress spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said in a statement….
JOHANNESBURG – The ringleader of a white supremacist plot to assassinate Nelson Mandela and drive black people out of South Africa has been sentenced to 35 years in jail, the national broadcaster has reported. Former university lecturer Mike du Toit was convicted last year of treason for his leadership role in the plot, after a…
