Africa (except North Africa)

ADDIS ABABA, Feb 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ethiopia plans to release an interim report into a deadly Boeing 737 MAX crash, which killed 157 passengers and crew, ahead of the first anniversary of the accident next month. 

“We are not ready to release the final report and so we are releasing an interim one which will come out before the anniversary of the accident. We are finalising it,” Amdye Ayalew, the country’s chief crash investigator, said.

He declined to give a precise date for the release of the final report.

ADDIS ABABA, Feb 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The World Health Organization warned that African health systems would be ill-equipped to respond to the deadly coronavirus outbreak should cases start to proliferate on the continent.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on African Union member states “to come together to be more aggressive in attacking” the virus, known as COVID-19.

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — South Sudan opened a new chapter in its fragile emergence from civil war Saturday as rival leaders formed a coalition government that many observers prayed would last this time around.

A day after President Salva Kiir dissolved the previous government, opposition leader Riek Machar was sworn in as his deputy, an arrangement that twice collapsed in fighting during the conflict that killed nearly 400,000 people.

THIES, Senegal (AP) — Crouching in the sparse brush, maneuvering into formations through a divide, and then shooting at a target, about 10 soldiers from Burkina Faso are among a select group of African soldiers being trained to battle West Africa’s fast-growing extremist threat.

They are carrying out drills as part of the U.S. military-led annual counterterrorism exercise in West Africa, which this year takes place in the shadow of possible U.S. troop cuts in Africa although extremist attacks in the region have reached a worrying new level.

ADDIS ABABA, Feb 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ethiopia’s government on Thursday assumed custody of a priceless 18th-century crown that a former refugee had kept hidden in his apartment in the Netherlands for two decades.

The handover took place at a ceremony in the capital, Addis Ababa, attended by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Sigrid Kaag, the Dutch minister for foreign trade and development cooperation.

Sirak Asfaw, the one-time refugee who is now a Dutch citizen, fled Ethiopia during the late 1970s during the so-called “Red Terror” purges.

JUBA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan President Salva Kiir said on Thursday he will reappoint opposition leader Riek Machar on Friday as First Vice President.

Machar, leader of Sudan People's Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO), will assume his position of First Vice President as stipulated in the 2018 revitalized peace agreement.

Kiir disclosed that he had agreed with Machar to form the unity government on Saturday and continue with the implementation of the outstanding issues.

MASERU (Reuters) - Lesotho’s Prime Minister Thomas Thabane will be charged with the murder of his late wife, the deputy police commissioner said on Thursday, the latest twist in a love triangle murder case that has stunned the southern African highland kingdom.

The 80-year-old Thabane took to the radio to announce that he would step down at the end of July, but he did not mention the case.

He instead cited old age as a reason for quitting as premier of the tiny, mountainous territory encircled by South Africa and which has a long history of political instability.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya’s biggest telecoms operator Safaricom (SCOM.NR) will consider awarding a contract to China’s Huawei as it rolls out its fifth generation (5G) network this year, its acting chief executive said on Wednesday.

The United States government has been urging its European allies and others not to use Huawei, one of Safaricom’s network vendors along with Nokia (NOKIA.HE), citing security concerns.

LUANDA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced corruption and touted American business on Monday during the second leg of an African tour in Angola, where the government is seeking to claw back billions of dollars looted from state coffers.

Pompeo is aiming to promote U.S. investment as an alternative to Chinese loans while assuaging concerns over a planned U.S military withdrawal and the expansion of visa restrictions targeting four African countries.

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Gunmen killed 24 civilians, including a church pastor, and kidnapped three others on Sunday in Burkina Faso, an official said. It was the latest attack against a religious leader in the increasingly unstable West African nation.

The mayor of Boundore commune, Sihanri Osangola Brigadie, said the attack occurred in the town of Pansi in Yagha province. The roughly 20 attackers separated men from women close to a Protestant church. At least 18 other people were injured.