Africa News Headlines - Yahoo! News UK

Regional force boosts troop numbers in Central African Republic

Sat, 18 May 2013 23:09:41 +0100

LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - African military chiefs agreed on Saturday to more than double the size of a regional peacekeeping force deployed in Central African Republic, where authorities have struggled to contain violence after a rebel takeover. Thousands of fighters from the Seleka rebel coalition led by Michel Djotodia marched into the capital Bangui on March 24, forcing President Francois Bozize to flee to neighbouring Cameroon. Djotodia, a former civil servant, was later named interim president by parliament and asked to lead the country to elections within 18 months. ...

Nigeria imposes curfew in campaign against Islamists

Sat, 18 May 2013 19:29:49 +0100

Nigeria's military on Saturday imposed a 24-hour curfew in parts of a northeastern city as soldiers pressed on with a campaign against Boko Haram Islamists that has sent people fleeing from their homes.

Nigeria says 10 rebels killed in northeast, 65 arrested

Sat, 18 May 2013 19:12:02 +0100

By Tim Cocks LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria's military said on Saturday it had killed 10 insurgents and arrested 65 more as part of an offensive meant to wrest back control of parts of its remote northeast from an Islamist group seen as the main security threat to Africa's top oil producer. President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian southerner, had been accused of not taking seriously enough the violence in the largely Muslim north where some fear Islamist insurgents allied to al Qaeda could take over large swathes of territory as they did in Mali before French-led troops ejected them this year. ...

Ivory Coast arrests militia chief accused over massacre

Sat, 18 May 2013 19:01:39 +0100

By Joe Bavier ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Authorities in Ivory Coast on Saturday arrested a militia leader accused of participating in one of the worst massacres committed during the West African nation's post-election violence in 2011, a military official and witness said. Some 3,000 people were killed in the brief armed conflict that broke out after incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo refused to acknowledge defeat at the hands of his rival Alassane Ouattara in a run-off poll in late 2010. ...

British Girl Drowns In Pool At Egyptian Resort

Sat, 18 May 2013 17:18:45 +0100

The grandmother of a British girl who drowned in a swimming pool in Egypt has questioned why lifeguards were not on hand to save her life.

Egypt's opposition attacks Brotherhood-backed NGO draft law

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:14:06 +0100

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's main opposition bloc said on Saturday that a Muslim Brotherhood-backed bill to regulate human rights groups and other private organisations was an attempt to stifle their work. The National Salvation Front (NSF), an alliance of liberal and leftist opposition parties, said the draft law submitted to the Shura Council, which for now has legislative powers, was more restrictive than laws under deposed leader Hosni Mubarak. ...

Armed groups bomb Libyan military posts in Benghazi

Sat, 18 May 2013 15:23:06 +0100

BENGHAZI (Reuters) - Armed groups attacked military posts in Libya's second city Benghazi with bombs and a rocket-propelled grenade, an army commander said on Saturday. Nearly two years after the uprising that ended Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule, the government still exerts little control over the armed brigades that helped overthrow him. Oil-producer Libya is largely split into fiefdoms of such brigades that are competing for influence. No one was hurt in the four overnight attacks on three Benghazi army posts, said the military commander, Hamed Belkhair. ...

Armed Tuareg and Arab groups clash in northern Mali

Sat, 18 May 2013 14:36:36 +0100

By David Lewis BAMAKO (Reuters) - Fighting has broken out in northern Mali between Tuareg separatists and local Arab-led gunmen, only days after the African country won a $4.2 billion aid pledge to help it recover from a conflict with Islamists affiliated to al Qaeda. Rebel and military sources both confirmed the clashes, although they differed over precisely which groups were involved. ...

One dead, dozens wounded in sectarian clashes in Egypt

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:33:31 +0100

ALEXANDRIA (Reuters) - One person died and dozens were wounded during clashes between Muslims and Christians late Friday night outside a Coptic church in Egypt's second city, state newspaper al-Ahram reported, in the latest violent sectarian row in the Muslim-majority country. A quarrel between two young men, one Christian and one Muslim, morphed into a family feud that sparked clashes in a western district of Alexandria. The two sides threw firebombs at each other before security forces intervened and cordoned off the area around the church. ...

Liberia's Johnson-Sirleaf defends governance record

Sat, 18 May 2013 00:08:03 +0100

By Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf on Friday defended her government's record on good governance and transparency, following an independent audit that cast doubt on her anti-corruption efforts. She said a recent audit of resource contracts by accounting firm Moore Stephens contracts had been commissioned to fix, and not hide, problems in the West African country. The independent audit showed that almost all the $8 billion (5. ...

Nigeria bombs Islamists, U.S. sounds alarm

Fri, 17 May 2013 21:59:52 +0100

By Lanre Ola MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian warplanes struck militant camps in the northeast on Friday in a major push against an Islamist insurgency, drawing a sharp warning from the United States to respect human rights and not harm civilians. Troops used jets and helicopters to bombard targets in their biggest offensive since the Boko Haram group launched a revolt almost four years ago to establish a breakaway Islamic state and one military source said at least 30 militants had been killed. ...

Tunisia, hardline Islamists in standoff over Sunday gathering

Fri, 17 May 2013 21:11:03 +0100

By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's government on Friday barred the radical Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia from staging a weekend rally in the central city of Kairouan, saying the organisation, which openly supports al Qaeda, posed a "threat to public security." But the group, under fugitive leader Saif-Allah Benahssine, has said it would defy the order and go ahead with its annual gathering on Sunday, which it expects to attract some 40,000 supporters. The standoff comes as the army pursues dozens of suspected al Qaeda-linked militants near the western border with Algeria. ...

Sudans defuse row over rebel support, promise more talks

Fri, 17 May 2013 20:02:17 +0100

By Hereward Holland JUBA (Reuters) - Sudan's foreign minister said on Friday neighbour South Sudan had promised him it would not let rebels operate across their shared border, defusing a row that had threatened a key oil deal. The countries, which fought one of Africa's longest civil before a 2005 peace deal, agreed in March to resume cross-border crude exports and defuse tensions that have plagued them since South Sudan's secession in 2011. ...

Air strikes, dozens dead in Nigeria assault on Islamists

Fri, 17 May 2013 19:45:02 +0100

Nigeria's military on Friday attacked Boko Haram Islamist strongholds across the northeast, launching air strikes on insurgent camp with dozens of militants killed in the fighting, the military said.

Nigerian forces bomb Islamist militant camps from the air

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:12:28 +0100

By Lanre Ola MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian forces used jets and attack helicopters to bombard militant camps in the northeast on Friday, their biggest offensive since Boko Haram began an insurgency almost four years ago to try create a breakaway Islamic state. A military source said at least 30 insurgents had been killed in the operation, which the defence headquarters spokesman said included the Sambisa game reserve in Borno state, centre of the uprising and heart of a medieval Islamic empire. ...

Mine union threatens to bring South Africa to 'standstill'

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:32:41 +0100

By Xola Potelwa RUSTENBURG, South Africa (Reuters) - The leader of South Africa's biggest platinum mining union threatened on Friday to bring Africa's No. 1 economy "to a standstill" and demanded a meeting with President Jacob Zuma, ramping up the rhetoric in an 18-month labour crisis. The rand, which tumbled to a four-year low against the dollar on Thursday on fears of a strike at Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), extended its slide on concerns about further disruptions to an already struggling economy. The currency fell as low as 9. ...

Madagascar's Rajoelina not eligible to run in election - AU

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:46:15 +0100

By Alain Iloniaina ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - The African Union (AU) has said it will not recognise Andry Rajoelina as Madagascar's president if he wins July's presidential election, piling more pressure on the incumbent leader not to stand. Rajoelina plunged the country into a still-unresolved political crisis in 2009 when he seized power with military support in what the AU called a coup. The ensuing turmoil has stunted foreign investment and badly hurt economic growth. ...

Change looms for Ethiopia's ancient salt trade

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:20:43 +0100

By Siegfried Modola HAMAD-ILE, Ethiopia (Reuters) - Abdu Ibrahim Mohammed was 15 years old when he began trekking with caravans of camels to collect salt in a sun-blasted desert basin of north Ethiopia that is one of the hottest places on earth. Now 51 and retired, he has passed his camels to his son to pursue this centuries-old trade in "white gold" from the Danakil Depression, where rain almost never falls and the average temperature is 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34.4 Celsius). ...

Gunmen attack police station beyond Nigeria emergency zone

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:13:54 +0100

By Augustine Madu KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen stormed a police station and a bank in a town in Nigeria's northwest, beyond a region covered by a military crackdown on a Islamist insurgency, a sign the offensive could provoke violence by smaller militant cells across the north. It was not clear who carried out the attack. Several gunmen were killed during a clash with police in the remote town in Katsina state, army spokesman Ikedichi Iweha told Reuters, without giving specific figures or police casualties. ...

South African Police Accused Of Using Torture

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:43:20 +0100

One of South Africa's leading anti-apartheid stalwarts has lambasted his country's police force after a string of accusations about their brutal methods - including torture.

Sudanese foreign minister to visit Juba on Friday

Thu, 16 May 2013 21:56:49 +0100

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti will visit South Sudan on Friday, state media said, the first high-level meeting between the neighbours since Khartoum accused Juba of supporting rebels who launched a major attack three weeks ago. Both African countries agrees in March to restart crucial cross-border oil flows and end tensions that has existed since the south seceded in 2011. But despite this thaw, Sudan accused South Sudan on Saturday of supporting a rebel alliance which launched a surprise attack on the central Sudanese city of Um Rawaba. ...

Nigerian forces target Islamist strongholds

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:00:28 +0100

By Lanre Ola and Imma Ande MAIDUGURI/YOLA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian forces attacked Islamist strongholds in the northeast on Thursday, security sources said as an offensive got under way to wrest back territory from increasingly well-armed Boko Haram insurgents. Soldiers raided areas in the Sambisa Game Reserve, a remote savannah of some 500 sq km (200 sq miles) in Borno state where Islamists have established bases, said two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. They gave no further details. ...

Over 20 South African boys die in circumcision rituals - police

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:47:22 +0100

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - More than 20 South African boys have died over the past week during coming of age rituals, police said on Thursday, and they blamed botched circumcisions as the likely cause of death. Northern Mpumalanga province's police department has opened 22 murder cases but no arrests have been made so far, spokesman Colonel Leonard Hlathi said. Every year in South Africa, boys aged 10 to 15 years from several of the country's tribal groups are circumcised in traditional "initiation rituals". The ceremonies usually take place over a number of weeks in remote rural areas. ...

Egyptians gloomier as country struggles after revolt -poll

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:14:21 +0100

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptians are getting gloomier about their country's future more than two years after an uprising toppled Hosni Mubarak, but most retain a favourable view of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood, according to a poll released on Thursday. Egypt's economy has been hammered by political turmoil and spasms of violence since the long-ruling autocrat's downfall, and has continued to deteriorate since President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood was elected last June. Facing currency and budget crises, the government has been struggling to secure a $4. ...

The cost of no sweatshops: South Africa struggles not to be Bangladesh

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:02:49 +0100

By Jon Herskovitz NEWCASTLE, South Africa (Reuters) - It's not luxurious, but Goldfinch Garments, the Chinese-owned South African factory where Sindisizwe Zwane works nine hours a day, is far from a sweatshop: the ventilation is decent, the lighting is good and basic safety measures are in place. South Africa says its garment industry is better regulated and workers are better paid than in ultra low-cost Asian producers like Bangladesh, where the collapse of a factory killed more than 1,100 people last month. ...

Miners union threatens strike at South Africa's Amplats

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:54:52 +0100

By Helen Nyambura-Mwaura and Sherilee Lakmidas JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Miners at South Africa's Anglo American Platinum will down tools late Thursday or Friday, labour leaders said, in an escalation of unrest that sent the company's shares lower and the rand to a four-year low. The threatened action is to protest Amplats' plans to cut as many as 6,000 jobs in a bid to return to profit, down from the 14,000 it initially proposed, and come just as a two-day wildcat strike ends at platinum producer Lonmin. ...

Nigeria set for air strikes against Islamists

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:54:37 +0100

Nigeria's military said Thursday that it was ready to launch air strikes against Boko Haram Islamists as several thousand troops moved to the remote northeast to retake territory seized by the insurgents.

Niger villagers take mass public vow to end female genital mutilation

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:11:33 +0100

By Abdoulaye Massalatchi MAKALONDI, Niger (Reuters) - About 14,000 villagers from 20 communities in Niger took a public vow to end female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced under-age marriage as the West African country's government steps up its fight against such abuses. Though Niger outlawed the practice in 2003, FGM and other violent treatment of young women remain prevalent among some ethnic groups in the impoverished Sahel nation, which ranks bottom of the United Nations' world development index. ...

Jets join offensive in northeast Nigeria, opinion split

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:37:09 +0100

By Imma Ande YOLA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria sent fighter jets in support of troops fighting increasingly powerful Islamist insurgents in its northeast on Thursday, the second day of a military offensive that has divided opinion over how best to tackle the rebellion. A Reuters reporter saw two Alpha jets land in the city of Yola, in Adamawa state, one of three over which President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, the other two being Borno and Yobe. ...

Union to strike at South Africa's Amplats, rand drops

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:24:11 +0100

By Helen Nyambura-Mwaura JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Miners at South Africa's Anglo American Platinum will strike from Thursday evening over proposed job cuts, a union official said, driving its shares lower and sending the rand to a four-year low. "The night shift today is not going underground, and also the day shift tomorrow is not going to work," said the branch official of the AMCU union, who did not want to be identified. He could not say how long the action might last. ...

U.S. instructors to train African troops for Mali in Niger

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:58:01 +0100

NIAMEY (Reuters) - U.S. military instructors in Niger will train African forces participating in a U.N.-backed offensive against al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants in neighbouring Mali, senior military officers said on Thursday. The United States and several European nations have backed a French-led military intervention which since January 11 has driven militant insurgents out of the towns of northern Mali. Pockets of Islamist resistance remain in Mali's desert north. The U.S. ...

Islamist gunmen kidnap 7 Egypt security personnel in Sinai

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:36:33 +0100

By Yousri Mohamed ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - Islamist gunmen abducted seven members of the Egyptian security forces in the Sinai Peninsula on Thursday and want jailed militants released in exchange for the men, security sources said. Hardline Islamist groups based in North Sinai have exploited the collapse of state authority after the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak to launch attacks across the border into Israel and on Egyptian targets. The gunmen kidnapped the men as they travelled between the towns of el-Arish and Rafah in the early hours of the morning. ...

'Massive' troop deployment in Nigeria's northeast

Thu, 16 May 2013 02:27:30 +0100

Nigeria's military has announced a "massive" deployment of troops to its restive northeast, after the president declared a state of emergency in areas where Islamist insurgents have seized territory.

Factbox - Benghazi attacks and U.S. politics

Thu, 16 May 2013 01:27:37 +0100

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans and Democrats are waging a political battle over attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi in September that killed Washington's ambassador to Libya and three other Americans. Republicans say the attacks exposed a security lapse that Democrats are trying to cover up, while Democrats contend that the incident was the type of tragedy that occurs in a dangerous world and accuse Republicans of politicizing it. ...

White House releases Benghazi emails, seeks to defuse fuss

Thu, 16 May 2013 00:01:14 +0100

By Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday sought to defuse controversy over its handling of last year's killing of Americans in Benghazi, Libya, by releasing emails detailing a back-and-forth discussion inside the administration about how to describe the incident to the public. President Barack Obama has faced Republican criticism that his administration covered up details of the assault, especially after a news report last week said the emails were edited to omit a CIA warning of an al Qaeda threat. ...

Nigerian troops on new offensive against Islamists

Wed, 15 May 2013 22:31:38 +0100

By Ibrahim Mshelizza and Emma Ande MAIDUGURI/YOLA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria launched a military campaign on Wednesday to flush Islamist militants out of their bases in remote border areas, after President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in the northeast. Nigerian troops deployed in large numbers, part of a plan to rout an insurgency by the Boko Haram Islamist group that has seized control of parts of the region. ...

EU to step up security involvement in Somalia

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:42:12 +0100

By Drazen Jorgic MOGADISHU (Reuters) - The European Union is to move military training of Somali soldiers from Uganda to Mogadishu in a show of confidence in Somalia's growing stability after two decades of turmoil, the EU special envoy to Somalia said on Wednesday. Western donor countries have been unwilling to deploy soldiers inside the Horn of Africa state, but instead fund the African Union's Amisom peacekeeping troops, which have driven Islamist al Shabaab rebels out of Mogadishu and many other strongholds in central and southern Somalia. ...

Donors pledge 3.25 billion euros to aid Mali recovery

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:06:45 +0100

By Ethan Bilby and Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - International donors pledged 3.25 billion euros (2.77 billion pounds) on Wednesday to help Mali recover from a conflict with al Qaeda-linked Islamists, exceeding the West African country's target. The development drive for Mali, one of the world's poorest countries, is aimed at halting a resurgence of the rebels driven out of major northern towns by a French-led offensive this year. "More than 3. ...

Egypt militants planned to hit U.S. and French embassies - MENA

Wed, 15 May 2013 19:36:48 +0100

CAIRO (Reuters) - An al Qaeda-linked militant cell detained in Egypt was planning suicide attacks on the French and U.S. embassies, the state news agency MENA reported on Wednesday, quoting investigators. Authorities on Saturday announced the capture of three Egyptians with links to al Qaeda, saying they had been found in possession of 10 kg (22 pounds) of explosive materials. ...

Lonmin's South African platinum workers end strike

Wed, 15 May 2013 18:50:50 +0100

By Ed Stoddard MARIKANA, South Africa (Reuters) - Workers at Lonmin's South African platinum shafts were ending a walkout, the company said on Wednesday, easing fears that a two-day strike could ignite fresh labour violence in the continent's largest economy. Leaders of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) earlier told thousands of strikers at a rally to return to their posts, pending negotiations between the union and an independent mediator. ...