Africa (except North Africa)

ABUJA, Oct 20 (NNN-Xinhua) — A total of 16 doctors have been killed so far while battling the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, said a medical association leader.

Baba Issa, chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in the western state of Kwara, told reporters the figure was confirmed across the 36 states of the country since the pandemic broke out eight months ago.

Over the past eight months, Issa said that 1,031 doctors had been exposed to the virus in Nigeria, and 321 had contracted the disease.

BENI (Reuters) - Armed men freed at least 900 prisoners from a jail in Beni, east Democratic Republic of Congo, in a coordinated attack in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the town’s mayor said, blaming an Islamist militant group operating in the area.

Only 100 out of more than 1,000 inmates remained following the simultaneous assault on the Kangbayi central prison and on the military camp defending it, said Modeste Bakwanamaha.

GAMPELA, Burkina Faso (AP) — The chain breaks here, in a tiny medical clinic in Burkina Faso that went nearly a year without a working refrigerator.

From factory to syringe, the world’s most promising coronavirus vaccine candidates need non-stop sterile refrigeration to stay potent and safe. But despite enormous strides in equipping developing countries to maintain the vaccine “cold chain,” nearly 3 billion of the world’s 7.8 billion people live where temperature-controlled storage is insufficient for an immunization campaign to bring COVID-19 under control.

MOGADISHU, Oct 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Somali National Army (SNA), killed 12 members of al-Shabab fighters, in an operation in the central region of Hiran, a military official said yesterday.

The operation was conducted in an area between Bule Burde and Jala Laqsi towns, where the militants were forcing the locals to pay mandatory charities, and security forces later reached the neighbourhood, said Mohamud Hassan Ibrahim, commander of SNA’s 5th Unit, division 27.

CONAKRY (Reuters) - Voters in Guinea went to the polls on Sunday as octogenarian President Alpha Conde sought to extend his decade in power after pushing through a new constitution that allowed him to run for a third term, sparking months of violent protests.

At least 50 people have been killed over the past year during demonstrations against the new constitution, Amnesty International said, and violence erupted repeatedly during campaigning in recent weeks.

Nairobi (Kenya), Oct 14 (AP/PTI) Tanzanian authorities say 500 volunteers have been trying to put out a fire on Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's tallest peak. The flames can be seen from miles away.

A Tanzania National Parks statement said Tuesday that the volunteers have managed to limit the fire's spread. Spokesman Pascal Shelutete said the area still burning is known as Kifunika Hill.

He said the cause of the fire has yet to be established. Allan Kijazi, head of Tanzania National Parks, said the fire has consumed 28 square kilometers of vegetation.

LAGOS (Reuters) - The head of Nigeria’s police dissolved its Special Anti-Robbery Squad with immediate effect on Sunday, according to a police statement.

The move comes in the wake of widespread protests and a globally-trending social media campaign to end the group, known as SARS.

WINDHOEK, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- A group of Namibian farmers are changing the face of farming in the normally infertile soils of the desert that characterizes the Southern African country through the use of biochar as a form of natural fertilizer.

Marieke Voights, one of the farmers who are now running a thriving market gardening project on her farm about 40 km out of capital Windhoek towards the southern part of the country is reaping great rewards from the innovative farming technique.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Thousands of opposition supporters rallied in the Ivory Coast’s commercial capital on Saturday to protest against President Alassane Ouattara’s plan to seek a third term in the Oct. 31 presidential election.

By early afternoon around 20,000 people had packed a 35,000 capacity stadium in Abidjan, chanting and dancing. Some held banners saying “The people say no to an illegal third term.”

Ouattara announced in August that he will seek another term following the sudden death of his handpicked successor.

BAMAKO (Reuters) - Leaders of the West African regional bloc have lifted sanctions imposed on Mali following the Aug. 18 military coup that ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, the group said on Tuesday.

The crippling sanctions on landlocked Mali were lifted following the nomination of retired Colonel Bah Ndaw as interim president, and Moctar Ouane as prime minister of the transition that is expected to last 18 months, the statement said.