AFP Africa

Zambia is close to signing a long-sought debt deal with its foreign creditors, an IMF spokesperson said Thursday after the institution’s chief prematurely announced it was signed.Zambia reached an agreement in principle with creditors, which include China and Western nations, on $6.3 billion of its debt in June but it has yet to be signed.The …

IMF chief prematurely announces Zambia debt dealThu, 12 Oct 2023 18:35:05 GMT Read More »

Observers from the African Union, the West African regional bloc ECOWAS and the European Union on Thursday congratulated Liberia for holding peaceful presidential and legislative elections two days earlier.”The election day was calm and well conducted by the National Elections Commission and their staff nationwide”, Andreas Schieder, the EU observation mission’s chief observer, said in …

International observers praise Liberia on peaceful voteThu, 12 Oct 2023 18:03:09 GMT Read More »

The wife of Gabon’s deposed president Ali Bongo Ondimba, who has been under house arrest since a late August coup over alleged embezzlement of public funds, was on Thursday put in a Libreville prison.Sylvia Bongo Ondimba Valentin, who is Franco-Gabonese, was charged on September 28 with money laundering, forgery and falsification of records.The 60-year-old was …

Wife of Gabon’s deposed leader Ali Bongo jailedThu, 12 Oct 2023 16:49:32 GMT Read More »

Madagascar’s top court on Thursday ordered that presidential elections be postponed by one week, amid high political tensions after disputes over the regularity of the vote.For more than a week, opposition parties have held demonstrations against what they call an “institutional coup” to keep outgoing president Andry Rajoelina in power.”The Constitutional Court, by virtue of …

Top court delays Madagascar presidential vote by a weekThu, 12 Oct 2023 16:24:34 GMT Read More »

French soldiers ordered out of Niger by its post-coup military rulers must now haul vast quantities of gear for hundreds of kilometres through dangerous desert known to harbour jihadist groups, with much of the hardware then set to return by sea.France this week started the pullout from Niger following the overthrow in July of pro-Paris …

France’s Niger withdrawal: painstaking overland operationThu, 12 Oct 2023 14:28:50 GMT Read More »

A Kenyan court on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit challenging a government decision to allow the importation and cultivation of genetically modified crops to help combat its food crisis.In October last year, the government lifted a decade-old ban on GM crops in response to dwindling food security following the worst drought to ravage the Horn of …

Kenyan court dismisses challenge over GM cropsThu, 12 Oct 2023 13:24:19 GMT Read More »

The International Energy Agency said on Thursday the risk of oil supply disruptions due to the conflict between Israel and Hamas is limited but that it stands ready to intervene in markets if necessary.The Paris-based agency, in addition to its analysis and advisory roles, coordinates the release of emergency stocks held by its 31 mostly …

IEA says risk of oil supply disruptions is limitedThu, 12 Oct 2023 13:16:03 GMT Read More »

A Kenyan court on Thursday barred the government from lifting a ban on logging but allowed the felling of several thousand hectares of mature forest.In July, President William Ruto ordered the lifting of the near six-year moratorium despite the concerns of environmentalists, saying it was aimed at creating jobs.The Environment and Land Court ruled Thursday …

Kenya court blocks lifting of logging banThu, 12 Oct 2023 10:54:06 GMT Read More »

As South Africa weigh up their options before naming their team for Sunday’s World Cup quarter-final against hosts France, one of the biggest questions being whispered in the galleries is: will they play the 7-1 bench? For the uninitiated this may seem to be a technical detail akin to tyre choices in Formula One but in …

South Africa toying with ‘smart’ but controversial 7-1 benchThu, 12 Oct 2023 04:03:16 GMT Read More »

When New Zealand play Ireland in the Rugby World Cup quarter finals on Saturday, Dylan Moodaley, a 32-year-old South African from Cape Town will don his favourite All Blacks t-shirt and cheer on for his country’s bitter rivals.So will most of his family — part of a sizeable minority of South Africans who, for a …

In South Africa some hearts still beat for the All BlacksThu, 12 Oct 2023 02:07:22 GMT Read More »