Africa (except North Africa)

ESTCOURT, South Africa (AP) — A South African court has rejected former South African President Jacob Zuma’s request to postpone his current jail term.

Zuma, who started his 15-month jail sentence Thursday, will remain behind bars after his application for his prison term be delayed was dismissed by the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday.

Zuma has one more legal bid to be released which will be heard by the Constitutional Court, the country’s apex court, on Monday.

BANGUI, July 7 (Xinhua) -- The government of the Central African Republic (CAR) received on Tuesday a batch of COVID-19 vaccine donated by China.

President of the CAR Faustin-Archange Touadera and his Prime Minister Henri-Marie Dondra went to the Bangui airport to welcome the Chinese vaccine donation, accompanied by Chinese ambassador to the CAR Chen Dong.

NKANDLA, South Africa (AP) — Former South African president Jacob Zuma turned himself over to police early Thursday to begin serving a 15-month prison term.

Just minutes before the midnight deadline for police to arrest him, Zuma left his Nkandla home in a convoy of vehicles. Zuma handed himself over to authorities to obey the country’s highest court, the Constitutional Court, that he should serve a prison term for contempt.

NAIROBI, July 6 (Reuters) - The commander of rebel forces in Tigray on Tuesday called for a negotiated ceasefire with the Ethiopian government and a political solution to the conflict in the northern region, saying the government could not win the war.

Tsadkan Gebretensae, speaking a week after the withdrawal of government forces from the Tigrayan capital Mekelle, told Reuters: "After the defeat of Abiy's forces we are saying 'Let's have a negotiated ceasefire'."

06 July 2021; MEMO: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said yesterday that "his country's goal behind building the Grand Renaissance Dam is only to meet its electricity needs, without posing a threat to the downstream countries."

This came during a speech delivered before members of the House of Representatives, during a session to discuss the draft 2021-2022 budget, according to the official Ethiopian News Agency (ENA).

MAPUTO, July 5 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — Humanitarian aid from Portugal and Italy, begins to arrive in Mozambique to support the populations affected by the conflict in Cabo Delgado. The first of three planned flights landed on Saturday.  

The latest chapter in this violent, three-year saga — an attack last month by Daesh-linked insurgents on the city of Palma, close to a multib

The Portuguese Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation called for the involvement of the other European Union member states.

JOHANNESBURG, July 5 (Reuters) - Interpol has issued "red notices" urging the arrest of the businessman brothers Atul and Rajesh Gupta - friends of former president Jacob Zuma - and some of their associates for alleged fraud, South African prosecutors said on Monday.

A red notice is a request to law enforcement officials worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action.

Interpol did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

BAUCHI, Nigeria, July 5 (Reuters) - About 150 students are missing after armed men raided a boarding school in Nigeria's Kaduna state, a parent and an administrator said on Monday, and police said they were in hot pursuit alongside military personnel.

The attack is the 10th mass school kidnapping since December in northwest Nigeria, which authorities have attributed to armed bandits seeking ransom payments.

Police said gunmen shooting wildly attacked the Bethel Baptist High School in the south of Kaduna state overnight.

OUAGADOUGOU, July 3 (Reuters) - Thousands took to the streets of Burkina Faso's capital on Saturday to call for a tougher government response to a wave of jihadist attacks that has destabilised the West African country in recent years.

Some had travelled hundreds of kilometres to attend the opposition-led demonstration in Ouagadougou, where protesters waved the red and green Burkinabe flag and blew whistles.

LAGOS, July 3 (Xinhua) -- At least seven persons were killed in separate gunmen attacks on communities in northwestern Nigeria's Kaduna state, an official said on Saturday.

Gunmen suspected to be bandits have attacked Chikun, Kajuru and Giwa areas of Kaduna since Friday, killing civilians, said Samuel Aruwan, the state's commissioner for internal security and home affairs.

"We have lost about seven citizens," Aruwan told reporters in Kajuru area during a visit to affected communities on Saturday.