Africa (except North Africa)

KIGALI, June 25 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday that he feared Ukraine could face pressure to agree a peace deal with Russia that was not in its interests, due to the economic consequences of the war in Europe.

"Too many countries are saying this is a European war that is unnecessary ... and so the pressure will grow to encourage - coerce, maybe - the Ukrainians to a bad peace," he told broadcasters in the Rwandan capital Kigali, where he is attending a Commonwealth summit.

OUAGADOUGOU, June 24 (Reuters) - Burkina Faso's army has given civilians two weeks to evacuate vast areas in its northern and southeastern regions ahead of military operations against Islamist insurgents, it said on Friday.

The West African country's army this week ordered civilians to leave two large "military interest zones" to protect them, but did not specify how long they would have to evacuate or where they should go. 

One of the military zones is a rural area of around 2,000 square kilometres (772 square miles) bordering Mali in the northern province of Soum.

OMARURU, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Namibian state-owned utility, NamPower on Friday inaugurated the utility's first fully owned 20MW photovoltaic (PV) power plant at an event in Omaruru in the Erongo region.

The Omburu (means "white" in local language) PV project which took 15 months to complete, was constructed through a joint venture between Hopsol Africa and Tulive Private Equity.

The plant, which occupies 40 hectares, is expected to supply 67.8 GWh of clean energy annually, said NamPower.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The heavily armed men appeared around the small farming village in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, frightening residents already on edge after recent clashes between government troops and rebels.

“The militants assured us that they will not touch us. They said they are not after us,” resident Nur Hussein Abdi told The Associated Press. “But in reality, they were surrounding our whole village for a deadly massacre. What happened the next day was a total bloodbath.”

Rising food costs. Soaring fuel bills. Wages that are not keeping pace. Inflation is plundering people’s wallets, sparking a wave of protests and workers’ strikes around the world.

This week alone saw protests by the political opposition in Pakistan, nurses in Zimbabwe, unionized workers in Belgium, railway workers in Britain, Indigenous people in Ecuador, hundreds of U.S. pilots and some European airline workers. Sri Lanka’s prime minister declared an economic collapse Wednesday after weeks of political turmoil.

KIGALI, June 24 (Reuters) - Britain's Prince Charles expressed deep sorrow over slavery in a speech to Commonwealth leaders in Rwanda on Friday and acknowledged that the roots of the organisation lay in a painful period of history.

The Commonwealth, a club of 54 countries that evolved from the British Empire, encompasses about a third of humanity and presents itself as a network of equal partners, but some member states have been calling for a reckoning with the colonial past. 

MOGADISHU, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud confirmed Friday he tested positive for COVID-19 after returning from a two-day working visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Mohamud said in a tweet that he has no symptoms but he will continue to self-isolate and serve the people of Somalia from his home.

"My fellow citizens, I would like to inform you that today I tested positive for COVID-19," said the president.

KIGALI, June 20 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The 26th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) kicked off in Kigali Sunday, with the youth at the centre of deliberations on Day I.

The Meeting, which was initially due to take place in 2020 before it was postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will last a week with dozens of sessions scheduled at different venues across the city.

Rwanda is the youngest member of the 54-nation community having joined in 2009, six years after it launched its bid.

JOHANNESBURG, June 20 (Xinhua) -- South Africa can gain much from participation in BRICS as it works to rebuild the country in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday in his weekly communication to citizens.

The value of South Africa's membership of BRICS has grown "substantially" since it joined the group 12 years ago, he wrote ahead of the 14th BRICS Summit scheduled for Thursday. BRICS is the acronym for an emerging-market bloc that groups Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.