http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/11/g5-sahel-counterterrorism-force-explained-171102071159524.html The US government has pledged $60m to a United Nations-backed counterterrorism force geared to tackle rebel groups in the troubled Sahel region. The initiative, known as the G5 Sahel Force, involving Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Mauritania, will see a 5,000-strong battalion of troops operate in the region, which has been hit hard by instability and illicit activity, including human trafficking, arms sales… Read more »
http://www.france24.com/en/20171102-liberia-supreme-court-stops-election-runoff-preparations-over-fraud-allegations Liberia’s Supreme Court has halted preparations for next week’s presidential run-off vote between former soccer star George Weah and Vice President Joseph Boakai after a losing candidate in the first round alleged fraud. The decision casts further doubt on the Oct. 10 poll that losing parties say was marred by foul play at polling stations and at the highest levels of… Read more »
http://www.france24.com/en/20171012-presidential-election-dr-congo-delayed-least-until-2019 The election to pick DR Congo’s next president will not happen before early 2019, the electoral commission said Wednesday, a delay that raises fresh security worries in the vast African nation. Polls were due this year under a transitional deal aimed at avoiding fresh political bloodshed after President Joseph Kabila refused to step down when his second mandate ended in December. But… Read more »
I was saddened to hear about the recent terrorist attack in Somalia. Claiming the lives of 23 people in a cowardly act of terror, the Islamic terror group in Somalia known as Al-Shabaab has taken responsibility. As you know, these despicable acts don’t just reside in Somalia. All across Africa, Islamic militant groups form territory with relative ease. This is… Read more »
Al-Jazeera Johannesburg, South Africa – A large carnivorous dinosaur once walked across southern Africa some 200 million years ago, a team of researchers has concluded after discovering a large footprint in Lesotho. The dinosaur, named Kayentapus ambrokholohali, was 2.7-metres high and nine-metres long making it one of the largest dinosaurs to ever roam the continent, researchers said in the Plos One Journal published earlier this week. Lara Sciscio,… Read more »
Al-Jazeera At least 23 people have been killed in a double car bombing in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, which is still reeling from an attack that left hundreds dead earlier this month. A suicide car bomber first drove into a hotel where President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo was due to host a meeting on Saturday, followed by a car bombing near a former… Read more »
France 24 France is facing a tough diplomatic battle to convince the United States to lend UN support to a counter-terrorism force for Africa’s Sahel region, where insurgents have killed UN peacekeepers and US soldiers. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will lead a UN Security Council meeting on Monday that will look at ways of shoring up the G5 Sahel force… Read more »
France 24 Nervous Kenyans waited on Tuesday for opposition leader Raila Odinga to respond to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory in a presidential election re-run, which Odinga had urged supporters to boycott. Odinga, a veteran politician who has now lost his fourth election, was expected to give his first reaction to Kenyatta’s Monday night victory in a speech to loyalists from his Luo… Read more »
