Africa (except North Africa)

PRETORIA, March 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has met leaders of the country’s main political parties and has appealed for solidarity in the fight against coronavirus.

At a news conference, opposition politicians confirmed they were backing the government’s efforts.

But the interim leader of the Democratic Alliance, John Steenhuisen, urged the government to do all it could to protect jobs and limit the damage to the already struggling economy.

HARARE, March 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has declared the coronavirus pandemic as a national disaster.

He said this could help the government mobilize resources. Mnangagwa also cancelled Independence Day celebrations and international sporting events to curb spread of COVID-19.

“The government has postponed the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF), all previously scheduled national independence celebrations and international sporting events on hold until the coronavirus threat dissipates”, Mnangagwa said.

LAGOS, March 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A gas explosion in Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos killed at least 17 people, injured many more and destroyed around 100 buildings, emergency services said.

Houses, lorries, cars and motorbikes were torched in the Sunday blast.

“17 bodies have been recovered now. So many people have been injured,”national emergency services spokesman Ibrahim Farinloye said, adding that around 100 buildings were also destroyed in the explosion which was followed by a fire.

LAGOS, Mar 16 (NNN-XINHUA) – Some school children near an explosion site, which rocked Abule Ado of Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub, have been rescued from the collapsed school building, a government official said

Valentine Buraimoh, chairman of Amuwo Odofin local government area, who confirmed this to reporters, said the boarding school collapsed, following the explosion.

The massive explosion rocked neighbouring areas, sparking a massive blaze that destroyed nearby buildings, including a boarding school.

LAGOS, March 15 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian government on Sunday said 15 corpses have been recovered from the scene of Sunday's explosion which occurred at the Abule Ado area of Lagos, Nigeria's economic hub.

Ibrahim Farinloye, acting coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), who confirmed the figure to Xinhua, said the explosion occurred around 9 a.m. local time on Sunday. More than 60 students of Bethlehem Girls College located within the area who sustained various degrees of injuries in the incident were taken to the Nigerian Navy Hospital.

HARARE, March 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — They figure on Zimbabwe’s national flag, banknotes and official documents: stone statues representing birds taken away by the European colonialists more than a century ago.

The eight original sculptures hold great spiritual value for people of the southern African nation, and have been made into national emblems.

Six of the large carvings were stolen from the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, an imposing stone complex built between the 11th and 13th centuries and attributed to pre-colonial King Munhumutapa.

NAIROBI, March 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan and Guinea all confirmed their first cases of the new coronavirus on Friday, giving the disease a foothold in 18 countries on the African continent.

Africa had so far largely been spared the rapid spread of COVID-19, which has infected at least 127,000 and killed 4,700 worldwide.

Most of Africa’s reported cases were foreigners or people who had travelled abroad. Rapid testing and quarantines have been put in place to limit transmission.

14 March 2020; AFP: Guinea's President Alpha Conde has set March 22 for the constitutional referendum on his proposed reforms that opponents worry will allow him to bypass term limits and stay in power.

The vote, originally set for March 1 but delayed over local and international concerns about its fairness, will take place at the same time as legislative elections, a presidential decree said on Friday.

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Outgoing Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara on Thursday named his Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly as the ruling RHDP party’s candidate for the October presidential election.

The nomination of Ouattara’s close ally had been widely expected following the president’s announcement last week that he would not run in the Oct. 31 vote, which is seen as a crucial test of the West African country’s stability.

PRETORIA, March 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — South Africa’s High Court has dismissed the findings of an anti-corruption investigator who said that President Cyril Ramaphosa had deliberately misled parliament over a campaign donation.

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane showed a lack of knowledge of the law and did not have the power to investigate the donation, the court ruled.

Judges also dismissed her call for the president to be investigated for possible money-laundering.

The ruling is a major boost for him.