Africa (except North Africa)

JUBA (Reuters) - Implementation of South Sudan’s 2018 peace accord has stalled and authorities have blocked humanitarian access to areas where conflict has restarted, the U.N. panel of experts said in a report seen by Reuters on Thursday.

They also said there was a lack of transparency in how the government collected and spent oil and other revenues.

The government disputed the findings, saying agencies had access to all areas and it was working to fix the economy.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — In a breakthrough a month after deadly conflict cut off Ethiopia’s Tigray region from the world, the United Nations on Wednesday said it and the Ethiopian government have signed a deal to allow “unimpeded” humanitarian access, at least for areas under federal government control after the prime minister’s declaration of victory over the weekend.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The fugitive leader of Ethiopia’s defiant Tigray region on Monday called on Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to “stop the madness” and withdraw troops from the region as he asserted that fighting continues “on every front” two days after Abiy declared victory.

Debretsion Gebremichael, in a phone interview with The Associated Press, said he remains near the Tigray capital, Mekele, which the Ethiopian army on Saturday said it now controlled. Far from accepting Abiy’s declaration of victory, the Tigray leader asserted that “we are sure we’ll win.”

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Ethiopia’s announcement that it has completed its military offensive in its defiant Tigray region “does not mean the conflict is finished,” the U.N. refugee chief said Sunday, adding he is very concerned about the fate of nearly 100,000 Eritrean refugees there amid reports that some have been abducted.

GABORONE (Botswana), Nov 29 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has agreed to respond to the insurgency ravaging areas in northern Mozambique.

Five presidents who attended an extraordinary summit in the Botswana capital Gaborone, have “finalized a comprehensive regional response” to the unrest in Mozambique, according to a SADC communiqué.

ABUJA, Nov 29 (NNN-Xinhua) — Dozens of Boko Haram militants were killed in a series of airstrikes carried out by the military in Nigeria’s northeast region, a military spokesman said.

Some hideouts of the terror group were also destroyed in the airstrikes on Friday at the village of Ngwuri Gana, along the Gulumba Gana-Kumshe axis and Tumbuma Baba of the northern state of Borno which shares a border with Lake Chad.

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - The ruling coalition of Burkina Faso President Roch Kabore, who was re-elected to a second term last week, has retained its majority in parliament, the electoral commission said on Sunday.

Kabore’s People’s Movement for Progress (MPP) and allied parties won about 90 of 127 seats in the Nov. 22 vote, official results showed.

28 Nov 2020; MEMO: The Al-Shabaab militant group on Saturday claimed responsibility for last night's suicide bombing in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, reported by Anadolu Agency. 

At least eight people were killed in the Friday evening blast at a popular ice-cream parlour frequented by foreigners and government officials.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The U.S. Embassy in Eritrea says six explosions were heard Saturday night in the capital, Asmara. It follows an embassy report of another “loud noise, possibly an explosion” in the city on Friday, nearly two weeks after the government of neighboring Ethiopia’s defiant Tigray region confirmed firing missiles at the city during its war with Ethiopian federal forces.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Ethiopia’s military has gained “full control” of the capital of the defiant Tigray region, the army announced Saturday, and the prime minister said the taking of Mekele marked the “completion” of an offensive that started nearly four weeks ago. The regional government said the city of a half-million people was “heavily bombarded” in the final push to arrest its leaders.

“God bless Ethiopia and its people!” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in a statement. “We have entered Mekele without innocent civilians being targets.”