Africa (except North Africa)

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo’s prime minister protested on Sunday over the brief arrest of the justice minister, saying the coalition government could resign over the issue and calling on the president to guarantee cabinet members’ legal protections.

Justice Minister Celestin Tunda was detained by police on Saturday evening and released following several hours of questioning by prosecutors at the court of cassation, triggering a political storm within the ruling coalition.

28 June 2020; MEMO: Ethiopia will start filling its $5 billion hydroelectric dam on the Nile River in two weeks, the government said Saturday, Anadolu Agency reports.

The announcement came after an online summit between leaders of Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt convened by the African Union (AU) for negotiations on guidelines for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — The opposition has won Malawi’s historic rerun of the presidential election, the first time a court-overturned vote in Africa has led to the defeat of an incumbent leader.

Lazarus Chakwera’s victory late Saturday was a result of months of determined street protests in the southern African nation, and of a unanimous decision by the Constitutional Court that widespread irregularities in the May 2019 election — including the use of correction fluid on ballots —could not stand.

WASHINGTON, June 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The IMF board on Friday approved a one-year, $5.2 billion financing package for Egypt to help the country alleviate the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new funding under a standby arrangement comes on top of $2.8 billion in emergency aid the IMF board approved a month ago, although at the time officials acknowledged that more help would be needed.

MOGADISHU, June 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Somali security forces have killed a commander of the al Shabaab militant group in a military operation, state radio reported.

Ahsraf Azmi Abu Hamdan, who was from Nepal, was a senior trainer in the Islamist group.

He was killed in an operation in the Middle Juba region in southern Somalia, state radio said. Three other fighers were also killed.

Al Shabaab has been fighting to topple Somalia’s central government since 2008 to establish its own rule based on a strict interpretation of Islam’s sharia law.

CAIRO, June 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have agreed that Addis Ababa will delay filling a mega-dam as part of a comprehensive deal on the project that has raised tensions between the three countries, the Egyptian presidency said.

Ethiopia had previously pushed to start filling the gigantic Nile River dam next month despite vehement opposition from downstream Egypt and Sudan, and the dispute was raised with the UN last week.

HARARE, June 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Zimbabwe abruptly suspended all mobile money transactions, the most widely used platform to make and receive payments in the crisis-ridden country, claiming the move would tackle crime and economic sabotage.

The government also suspended all trade on the country’s stock exchange, which it accused of being complicit in illicit financial activities.

KINSHASA (Reuters) - The second-largest Ebola outbreak on record is over after nearly two years and more than 2,200 deaths, Democratic Republic of Congo said on Thursday, even as a separate flare-up of the virus continued elsewhere in the country.

Despite effective vaccines and treatments that dramatically boosted survival rates when administered early, the outbreak dragged on as first responders struggled to gain access to virus hotspots in Congo’s restive eastern borderlands.

DAKAR, June 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Senegal’s President Macky Sall has quarantined himself after coming in contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus.

The president tested negative but will self-isolate for two weeks as a precaution, his office said in a short televised statement.

A Senegalese lawmaker, Yeya Diallo, announced earlier on Wednesday that she had tested positive for the virus.

She called on people to take essential personal measures such as maintaining hygiene and social distancing.

COTONOU, June 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Pirates kidnapped at least six crew members of a fishing vessel on Wednesday off the coast of Benin in West Africa.

Five abductees are South Korean nationals, while the sixth person is said to be Ghanaian, according to media reports quoting South Korea’s foreign ministry.

Maritime security company Dryad Global reports that the speed boat used to attack Ghanaian-flagged Panofi Frontier was last seen heading towards Nigerian waters after the abduction.