Africa (except North Africa)

ABIDJAN, July 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The International Criminal Court has dropped its arrest warrant for Ivory Coast’s former first lady Simone Gbagbo over post-election violence that killed thousands in 2010-2011, according to a decision made public Thursday.

Since 2012, she faced four counts of crimes against humanity, namely murder, rape, other inhumane acts and persecution, that would have supposedly been committed during the post-election crisis of 2010-2011, following her husband Laurent Gbagbo’s refusal to hand over power to then elected Alassane Ouattara.

KAMPALA, July 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Friday ordered an easing of a six-week Covid lockdown following a dramatic reduction in serious cases of the disease.

   Infections had soared during a second wave driven by the highly transmissable Delta variant but since the lockdown, the authorities say daily admissions of severe and critical patients dropped from a daily peak of 204 to 50 currently.

MAPUTO, July 31 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — South Africa is sending 1,495 troops to Mozambique to help its neighbour battle jihadists wreaking havoc in the gas-rich Cabo Delgado province north of the country. Soldiers will be a part of a growing multinational force there.

In a statement, the parliament said President Cyril Ramaphosa had authorised the deployment to support Mozambique in its fight against “acts of terrorism and violent extremists”.

MOGADISHU, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Roble has called on Somalis to unite in order to defeat terrorism after the death of four footballers in a roadside blast on Friday.

Roble condemned the terrorist attack in Kismayo town of the Lower Jubba region in Jubaland State and called for an immediate end to hostilities between the two sides.

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A resurgence of coronavirus cases in West Africa is hitting the region hard, inundating cemeteries where funeral numbers are rising and hospitals where beds are becoming scarce.

Those visible shifts are also pushing a reluctant population to seek out the vaccines in larger numbers at a time when shipments of doses are arriving from multiple sources after nearly grinding to a halt in recent months.

29 July 2021; MEMO: South Africa's government on Wednesday announced that it was "appalled" by the African Union (AU) Commission's decision last week to grant Israel observer status at the African bloc.

KAMPALA, July 29 (Reuters) - A move by Uganda's government to install digital tracking devices on vehicles to help fight rampant crime has been denounced by rights advocates and the opposition who say it will be used to monitor activists, government opponents and critics.

Authorities in the east African country last week signed an agreement with Russian firm Joint-Stock Global Systems to install digital trackers in all vehicles in Uganda.

DAR ES SALAAM, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Wednesday launched the country's COVID-19 vaccination drive and received a jab of Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

Speaking at the State House before launching the vaccination drive, Hassan told Tanzanians that the vaccines are safe and she would not take any risk, in a bid to assure the public of the safety of the vaccines.

Other top officials vaccinated at the launch included the prime minister, the chief justice, and the foreign minister.

DAKAR, July 26 (Reuters) - Equatorial Guinea will close its diplomatic mission in London, the country's foreign minister said on Monday, after Britain last week sanctioned the son of its president for misappropriating millions of dollars.

"The first decision that the Malabo executive has taken is the total closure of our diplomatic headquarters in London," Foreign Minister Simeon Oyono Esono said on state television.

"Equatorial Guinea will not accept interference in the internal affairs of the country, which violates the principle of international law," Esono said.

JUBA, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Members of the eighth batch of the Chinese medical team on Sunday donated essential support including medicines and food to needy children in South Sudan.

Hellen Murshal Boro, executive director of Confident Children out of Conflict (CCC) lauded the Chinese medical team for their support toward needy children being sheltered at CCC orphanage.