Africa (except North Africa)

LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — Zambia’s veteran opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema has won the southern African country’s presidency after taking more than 50% of the vote.

Hichilema was declared president–elect by Esau Chulu, chairman of the Electoral Commission of Zambia, early Monday after results for 155 of the country’s 156 constituencies were announced.

President Edgar Lungu, 64, conceded defeat and said he would work for a “peaceful transfer of power.”

CAPE TOWN, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Jailed former South African president Jacob Zuma has undergone unspecified surgery and remains in hospital with more operations planned, prison authorities said on Sunday.

Zuma, serving a 15-month sentence in Estcourt prison for contempt of court, was sent to a hospital outside for observation on Aug. 6, days before the start of a corruption trial he has thus far avoided. 

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria Aug 15 (Reuters) - The killing of 23 people returning from a Muslim festival in Nigeria was a premeditated ambush for which suspects have already been arrested, authorities said on Sunday.

Deadly violence is common around Africa's most populous nation, with roads becoming particularly dangerous as armed attackers and kidnappers target travellers. 

In a statement, President Muhammadu Buhari condemned Saturday's ambush in central Plateau state of buses returning from a religious festival in nearby Bauchi state.

ABIDJAN, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- A case of the Ebola virus has been detected here in an 18-year-old woman of Guinean nationality, Cote d'Ivoire's Health Ministry announced Saturday.

The Pasteur Institute of Cote d'Ivoire examined the woman's blood sample taken on Friday, and informed local health authorities on Saturday of the positive case, Health Minister Pierre Dimba said in a press release.

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — At a COVID-19 vaccination site in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, tempers flared among those waiting for scarce AstraZeneca jabs, with some accusing others of trying to jump the queue.

Nurses intervened, telling them the accused had been waiting since the previous day and averting violence in what has become a tense atmosphere as Ugandans jostle for vaccinations.

LUSAKA, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Zambian President Edgar Lungu has declared Thursday's presidential and parliamentary election "not free and fair" after incidents of violence in three provinces, he said in a surprise statement released on Saturday.

Lungu, who was trailing his main contender Hakainde Hichilema in early results from the electoral commission, said the Patriotic Front party that he leads was consulting on its next course of action.

MOGADISHU, Aug 12 (NNN-IRIN) – The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), said, its forces killed seven Shabab terrorists and injured several others, in a counter-offensive in Lower Shabelle region.

The terrorists were killed after they ambushed Ugandan troops, on a routine patrol Tuesday afternoon, on the main supply routes between Beldamin-Golweyn forward operating bases, in southern Somalia, AMISOM said in a statement.

LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — Zambians are voting in tense elections that the president and his main rival have said are a test of the southern African country’s reputation as a stable democracy.

Polling began early Thursday morning in the presidential and legislative elections at more than 12,000 polling stations, including in prisons. More than 7 million people, or over 83% of eligible voters, have registered to vote, according to the Electoral Commission of Zambia.

CAPE TOWN, Aug 11 (Reuters) - South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa, testifying at a graft inquiry on Wednesday, said he chose to "remain but resist" rather than resign as deputy president when allegations of widespread corruption surfaced under his predecessor Jacob Zuma.

Ramaphosa, Zuma's number two from May 2014 to February 2018, has made the fight against corruption a pillar of his presidency, though opposition parties have criticised him for not doing enough to stop the rot during his time as deputy.

DAR ES SALAAM, Aug 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Tanzania’s president has said there were people who doubted she was qualified to lead when she first became head of state because she was a woman.

Some “don’t believe that women can be better presidents and we are here to show them,” Samia Suluhu Hassan said.

In March, the 61-year-old was sworn in after her predecessor died in office.

She is currently Africa’s only female political head of state. The Ethiopian presidency is a ceremonial role.