Africa (except North Africa)

KIGALI, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda has temporarily suspended direct flights with southern African countries due to concerns over the new COVID-19 variant Omicron, according to a cabinet communique issued by the Office of the Prime Minister.

The decision was made late on Sunday after an extraordinary cabinet meeting on Rwanda's response to the Omicron variant chaired by President Paul Kagame, according to the communique.

YENAGOA, Nigeria, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Gunmen have killed four men who were involved in the maintenance on a pipeline owned by the Nigerian subsidiary of Italian oil giant Eni, a local security spokesman told Reuters.

The men, two workers, a driver and a security operative, died at a facility in Nembe, Bayelsa state, which feeds oil and gas to the Brass export terminal, Solomon Ogbere, a spokesman for the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, said.

ACCRA, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Ghana will ramp up its COVID-19 inoculation campaign next month and make the vaccine mandatory for targeted groups including all public sector and health workers from Jan. 22, health service director general Patrick Kuma-Aboagye said on Sunday.

Ghana, like most African nations, has seen a sluggish uptake in COVID-19 vaccinations despite an increase in supplies. Only 1.4 million people out Ghana's population of 30 million are fully vaccinated.

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 28 (Reuters) - A South African doctor who was one of the first to suspect a different coronavirus strain among patients said on Sunday that symptoms of the Omicron variant were so far mild and could be treated at home.

Dr. Angelique Coetzee, a private practitioner and chair of South African Medical Association, told Reuters that on Nov. 18 she noticed seven patients at her clinic who had symptoms different from the dominant Delta variant, albeit "very mild".

NAIROBI, Nov 27 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is greatly concerned about Ethiopia's military escalation and called for urgent negotiations over the crisis, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said.

The comments came hours after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appeared on the frontline with the national army.

"Secretary Blinken expressed grave concern about worrying signs of military escalation in Ethiopia and emphasised the need to urgently move to negotiations," Ned Price said in a statement late on Friday.

Nov 27 (Reuters) - Australia and several other countries joined nations imposing restrictions on travel from southern Africa on Saturday after the discovery of the new Omicron coronavirus variant sparked global concern and triggered a market sell-off.

Meanwhile, authorities in Amsterdam said that 61 out of around 600 people who arrived in the Dutch city on two flights from South Africa on Friday had tested positive for coronavirus. Health authorities were carrying out further tests to see if those cases involved the new variant.

OUAGADOUGOU, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Police in Burkina Faso fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators in the West African nation's capital Ouagadougou on Saturday, state-owned news agency AIB reported.

It said that tension remains high between demonstrators and the police as the demonstrators burned tires on the streets. They also erected barricades to prevent traffic.

During the demonstration, one person was injured and evacuated by the fire brigade, it reported.

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Security forces fired tear gas at protesters throwing rocks in Burkina Faso’s capital on Saturday, as tensions rose across the conflict-riddled nation with the population angry at the government’s inability to stem violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.

Several hundred protestors took to the streets, calling for President Roch Marc Christian Kabore to resign. The army and police drove through downtown Ouagadougou, the capital, during clashes with protesters, who barricaded streets, set fire to tires and threw rocks and bricks.

MOGADISHU, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- The East African trade bloc and the European Union on Thursday condemned the suicide car bombing attack happening earlier in the day in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, leaving eight people dead and 17 others injured.

Somali police have said the target of the terror attack claimed by the militant group al-Shabaab was a convoy belonging to a security firm that guards the United Nations personnel.

DAR ES SALAAM, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Tanzania will now allow girls aged 12 to 19 years who left school due to pregnancy to resume formal education after giving birth, its education minister said on Wednesday, ending a ban on the return of such students which has been criticised by rights groups as discriminatory.

The move also departs from a June announcement by the ministry that secondary school dropouts, including girls who became pregnant while in school, would be able to resume studies in alternative colleges.