Africa (except North Africa)

05 Dec 2019; MEMO: Ethiopian newspapers revealed that the country’s military will establish a base on the Red Sea’s coasts.

Citing naval sources, local media outlets reported that Ethiopian authorities are preparing to start building a naval base on the coasts of Djibouti, by the Strait of Eden.

The naval base’s command will be located in Bahir Dar, capital of the Amhara region, to the northeast of Ethiopia. It is reportedly set to be led by Kendo Gizo as commander.

HARARE (Reuters) - A court in Zimbabwe on Thursday appointed Robert Mugabe’s daughter to identify assets left by the late former leader so they can be distributed to his beneficiaries, his lawyer said.

Zimbabweans are keen to know how much wealth Mugabe accrued during his 37 years in power. Many assume that he and his family amassed a vast fortune - perhaps as much as $1 billion, according to a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable from 2001.

NEW DELHI, Dec 5 (NNN-PTI) – Eighteen Indians on board a Hong Kong-flagged vessel have been kidnapped by pirates, near the Nigerian coast, local media reported, quoting ARX Maritime, a global agency tracking maritime developments in the region.

ARX Maritime, said that, the Hong Kong-flagged vessel, NAVE CONSTELLATION, was taken over by pirates on Tuesday evening, while transiting through Nigeria, and 19 crew members were kidnapped, out of which 18 were Indians and one Turkish national.

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets followed Wall Street lower after President Donald Trump cast doubt over the potential for a trade deal with China this year.

Benchmarks in Tokyo and Hong Kong fell more than 1% while Shanghai and South Korea also retreated.

Trump said he has “no deadline” for a trade deal and doesn’t mind waiting until after next year’s presidential election to make one. Investors had hoped for at least enough progress to stave off new U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, including smartphones and laptops, scheduled to start Dec. 15.

ABUJA, Dec 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Federal Government has frowned on China’s domination of the Nigerian mining sector, noting that the development had not helped the country’s economy.

Chinese businessmen and firms, alongside other Asians, are the major players in the exploitation of solid minerals in the country, with Nigerian operators playing minor roles.

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, made the observation during a workshop organised by the ministry in collaboration with the Lagos Business School, in Abuja.

DAURA (Nigeria), Dec 3 (NNN-NAN) — President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria’s domestic fuel consumption has dropped by more than 30 per cent, following the closure of land borders.

Buhari, who said this at his country home in Daura, while receiving a delegation of Katsina State Elders Forum, also said he had not given any date for the reopening of the land borders.

YAOUNDE, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Cameroonian government ruled out the possibility of postponing general elections scheduled for February 2020, a government spokesperson said on Monday.

"The government condemns all maneuvers that amount to blackmail and one-upmanship, and denounces the various foreign attempts to interfere, which are in violation of our laws, and which are advocating further postponements, indefinite postponements, of announced legislative and municipal elections," Cameroon's government spokesperson Emmanuel Rene Sadi told a press conference late Monday.

N’DJAMENA, Dec 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A Chadian minister, who served as the country’s premier from 2013-16 was arrested on Sunday over fraud allegations, a police spokesman said.

Kalzeube Pahimi Deubet was detained following a complaint from the state inspectorate general for fraud, the spokesman said.

Currently secretary-general of the presidency, his post involves coordinating government action. As well as the premiership, he has also held a number of ministerial positions.

Burkina Faso (AP) --- The president of the West African nation of Burkina Faso has confirmed that 14 people were killed in an attack on a Protestant church in the country’s east.

Going on Twitter, President Roch Marc Christian Kabore said Sunday that he condemned “the barbaric attack” in the town of Hantoukoura. He said several people also were wounded.

Kabore offered his “deepest condolences to the bereaved families and wish a speedy recovery to the wounded.”

COTONOU, Nov 29 (NNN-Xinhua) — Benin called on the European Union (EU) to send a new ambassador to the West African country as the incumbent one was ordered to leave for his involvement in “subversive” activities, Benin’s government spokesman Alain Orounla said here Thursday.

“Our country wishes to maintain the partnership with (the) EU of which we expect the authorities to appoint a new ambassador for the continuation of our diplomatic ties,” Orounla said in a news broadcast on the country’s mainstream television channel and radio operator ORTB.