Africa (except North Africa)

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an attack on a prison in Nigeria’s capital which freed nearly 900 inmates including 60 of its members.

Nigerian security forces on Thursday continued to search for at least 400 escaped prisoners who are still at large.

While Nigeria has suffered multiple jailbreaks in recent years, the attack on Tuesday night was the first in the nation’s capital within that period — a development that analysts say points to a “failure of intelligence.”

ABUJA, July 6 (Xinhua) -- At least 300 inmates were on the run while one inmate died and three others were injured during an attack on Tuesday by unidentified gunmen on a prison in Abuja, Nigeria's capital city, a senior official said on Wednesday.

The attackers stormed the custodial center in Kuja area, southwest of Abuja on Tuesday night, freeing about 600 inmates but half the number of fleeing inmates have been re-arrested so far, said Shuaibu Begore, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Interior.

EAST LONDON, South Africa (AP) — The deaths of 21 teenagers in a nightclub tragedy is a crime and South African officials must increase steps to prevent alcohol from being illegally sold to youths, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Wednesday.

“We do not know yet exactly what killed our children. But we do know that the law was broken that night, and probably many nights before then,” Ramaphosa said to more than a thousand mourners at the funeral in East London for the young people who died at a tavern nearly two weeks ago.

KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi will meet with his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame in Angola amid rising tensions between the two neighboring countries, a Congolese government spokesman said.

The two leaders on Wednesday will discuss bilateral relations and the armed conflict in eastern Congo, where M23 rebels last month took a town near the Uganda border, Congo spokesman Patrick Muyaya told The Associated Press Tuesday.

04 July 2022; MEMO: Tanzania said, on Monday, that it had signed an agreement with a Turkish firm, Yapi Merkezi, to build a $900 million modern railway line as part of the country's efforts to upgrade transportation links and boost trade with its neighbours, Reuters reports.

04 July 2022; MEMO: Somalia on Monday called on international donors to help the Somali people who are affected by the deadly drought as the funding gap widens, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Somalia's Presidential envoy to drought response, Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame, made the call on Monday afternoon after paying a visit to the drought-stricken town of Bardhere in the Gedo region that hosts thousands of families who fled from surrounding areas in search of food and humanitarian assistance.

ACCRA, July 4 (Xinhua) -- The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has appointed former Beninese President Thomas Yayi Boni as its new mediator for the transition in Guinea.

Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, president of the ECOWAS Commission, made the announcement at a press briefing on Sunday to conclude the 61st Ordinary Session of the authority of ECOWAS heads of state and government in the Ghanaian capital, Accra.

Boni will replace Ghanaian diplomat Mohamed Ibn Chambas, who stepped down as the ECOWAS mediator.

BAMAKO, July 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Mali’s Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said he had spoken with his Spanish counterpart after a row over comments the Spaniard made about the possibility of a NATO operation in the African
country.

Diop wrote in a tweet that he had spoken by phone with his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Albares about the comments, which were made in a radio interview.

“He denied the remarks and expressed his attachment to friendly relations and cooperation with Mali,” wrote Diop.

MOGADISHU, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Somali National Army (SNA) said Sunday its elite forces Danab killed at least 40 al-Shabab militants during security operations carried out in the Middle Shabelle region, the central part of the country, Saturday.

"During the operation, about 40 militants, including leaders, were killed and several vehicles were set on fire," SNA radio reported.

The militants still hold swathes of rural areas in central and southern regions conducting ambushes and planting landmines.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africans are struggling in the dark to cope with increased power cuts that have hit households and businesses across the country.

The rolling power cuts have been experienced for years but this week the country’s state-owned power utility Eskom extended them so that some residents and businesses have gone without power for more than 9 hours a day.

A strike by Eskom workers added to the utility’s woes including breakdowns of its aging coal-fired power plants, insufficient generation capacity and corruption, according to experts.