Africa (except North Africa)

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Burkina Faso’s President Roch Marc Christian Kabore is being held by mutinous soldiers, two of the rebellious soldiers told The Associated Press by phone early Monday. They did not say where Kabore is being held, but said he is in a safe place.

Gunshots were heard late Sunday night near the president’s residence and in the early hours of Monday a battle took place at the presidential palace while a helicopter flew overhead. The roads of the capital were empty Sunday night except for checkpoints heavily guarded by mutinous soldiers.

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — A fire erupted at a popular nightclub in the Cameroon capital of Yaounde, setting off explosions and killing at least 17 people, government officials said Sunday.

The tragedy comes as the central African country hosts thousands of soccer players, fans and officials from across the continent for the month-long African Cup of Nations soccer tournament.

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Heavy gunfire rang out at a military base in Burkina Faso’s capital early Sunday, prompting fears that a coup attempt was underway after weeks of growing frustration with the government’s handling of the Islamic insurgency wracking the country.

The government put out a statement acknowledging gunfire in army barracks but denying an army takeover of the country. President Roch Marc Christian Kabore has not been detained, according to Defense Minister Aime Barthelemy Simpore.

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Security forces fired tear gas at protesters barricading the streets and throwing rocks in Burkina Faso’s capital on Saturday, as anger grows at the government’s inability to stop jihadist attacks spreading across the country.

Several hundred people marched through downtown Ouagadougou chanting for President Roch Marc Christian Kabore to resign.

APIATE, Ghana, Jan 21 (Reuters) - At least 13 people were killed and scores injured when a truck carrying explosives to a gold mine in western Ghana detonated, flattening a rural community, the police said on Friday.

Smouldering timber and torn-up sheet metal marked where hundreds of houses had stood in Apiate, a settlement about 200 km (130 miles) west of the capital Accra. Thursday's blast left a crater roughly 20 meters (66 ft) wide. Doors and roofs were blown off other buildings, a Reuters reporter at the scene said.

ACCRA, Jan 20 (Reuters) - An explosion in Ghana's rural Western Region on Thursday razed hundreds of buildings and killed an unknown number of residents when a truck carrying explosives to a gold mine collided with a motorcycle.

Unverified videos posted on local media showed a large, smouldering blast site in which buildings had been reduced to piles of wood, brick and twisted metal.

HUAMBO, Angola, Jan 17 (NNN-IRIN) – At least 13 people died and three were seriously injured yesterday, as a result of a collision between two vehicles, in Angola’s central Huambo province.

According to a spokesman for the country’s National Police in Huambo, Martinho Kavita Satito, speeding and lack of prudence from the drivers were at the base of the collision.

The accident occurred around 12:30 p.m. when a Toyota HiAce van and a Kia Tourer collided head-on, in the road section Ussoque/Londuimbali.

KAMPALA, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- At least nine people were killed and five others seriously injured in two separate road accidents in central Uganda on Friday, police said Saturday.

Faridah Nampiima, Traffic and Road Safety Police spokesperson, said in a statement that five people died and four others were seriously injured after a vehicle they were travelling in from the capital Kampala towards Gulu rammed into a South Sudan registered trailer from behind at Kyampisi in the central district of Nakasongola.

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 14 (Reuters) - A Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine booster shot is 85% effective in protecting against being hospitalised by the Omicron variant for 1-2 months after it is received, the head of South Africa's Medical Research Council (SAMRC) said on Friday.

Glenda Gray presented the findings of a SAMRC study at a South African health ministry briefing on the COVID-19 fourth wave, which has been driven by the new variant.

MOGADISHU, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- At least ten people including five soldiers were killed and nine others wounded in a suicide car bombing in the Somali capital, Mogadishu on Wednesday, officials said.

Deputy Governor of Banadir region, Ali Abdi Wardhere, who is in charge of security, said a suicide bomber targeted a security convoy along Mogadishu's 21st October road near the heavily fortified international airport.