Africa (except North Africa)

MOGADISHU, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- International partners on Tuesday called on Somalis to embrace dialogue to agree on a way forward and to cooperate to realize the priorities agreed for the year ahead.

The partners including the Africa Union, UN, EU and the U.S. among others said the leaders including institutions and communities should work together provide a conducive environment for universal polls, finalize the constitution and fight al-Shabab in 2020.

BANJUL, Dec 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Thousands of protesters in the Gambian capital Banjul have called for President Adama Barrow to keep his promise to quit after three years in office and step down next month.

He came to power as the head of an alliance of parties opposed to the former autocratic leader Yahya Jammeh.

The coalition agreed he would lead a provisional government for three years and then call elections.

KAMPALA, Dec 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, reshuffled his cabinet, dropping some ministers and appointing new ones.

Museveni maintained most of the ministers. He also maintained the vice president, prime minister, ministers of defence and foreign affairs, and minister of finance, among others.

The president reassigned some ministers to other portfolios.

The president appointed Kahinda Otafiire as minister of East African Affairs, removing him from the position of minister of justice and constitutional affairs.

NAIROBI, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta launched a 50 MW solar power farm located in Garissa, northeast region, with the plant being one of the largest photovoltaic electricity stations in Africa.

The project was designed and built by the EPC contractor China Jiangxi Corporation for International Economic and Technical Co-operation (CJIC), in conjunction with Kenya's Rural Energy Authority (REA).

Oslo, Dec 10 (AFP/PTI) Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed will collect his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo Tuesday, but as ethnic violence rises at home he has kept festivities to a minimum and refused media requests.

Hailed as a modern, reformist leader, Ahmed's decision to skip all events with the press has dismayed his Norwegian hosts.

Africa's youngest leader at just 43, he is to receive the prestigious award at a ceremony in Oslo's City Hall at 1:00 pm (1200 GMT), attended by the royal family and Norwegian public figures.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Nairobi’s governor pleaded not guilty to corruption and other economic crimes involving millions of dollars in a Kenyan court on Monday.

Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko was arrested on Friday and is accused of conspiracy to commit corruption, failure to comply with laws related to procurement, unlawful acquisition of public property and laundering the proceeds of crime.

Chief public prosecutor Noordin Haji has accused Sonko and his associates of the misappropriation of 357 million Kenyan shillings ($3.52 million).

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan police officers were among those killed when gunmen suspected to be from Islamist militant group al Shabaab attacked a bus on Friday near the border with Somalia, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s office said on Saturday.

The vehicle belonging to the Medina Bus Company was attacked on a lonely stretch of road in the Kotulo area as it traveled between the towns of Wajir and Mandera.

“People, among them police officers, were brutally murdered,” Kenyatta’s office said in a statement.

BENI (DR Congo), Dec 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Suspected militia fighters have decapitated 16 people in a new village massacre near Beni in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, civil society sources said Friday.

Three more civilians were wounded in Beni town by an explosive device on Thursday night, an official source said, in a new tactic in a region beset by militia violence for decades.

VICTORIA FALLS (Zambia), Dec 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — For decades Victoria Falls, where southern Africa’s Zambezi river cascade down 100 metres into a gash in the earth, have drawn millions of holidaymakers to Zimbabwe and Zambia for their stunning views.

But the worst drought in a century has slowed the waterfalls to a trickle, fuelling fears that climate change could kill one of the region’s biggest tourist attractions.

NOUAKCHOTT, Dec 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least 62 migrants travelling on a makeshift boat have drowned off the coast of Mauritania, in the worst loss of life this year along the increasingly travelled western Atlantic migration route to Europe.

Eighty-three survivors managed to swim to shore after their boat, which was heading for Spain’s Canary Islands, capsized when it hit a rock.