Africa

Three Islamic terrorists who beheaded two female backpackers in the Atlas mountains in Morocco have been sentenced to death by firing squad.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Ebola outbreak currently ongoing in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) a “public health emergency of international concern” on Wednesday, urging more funding to stop the virus but warning against “travel restrictions” to prevent its spread.

The number of refugees fleeing into Uganda from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, or DR Congo) in the past month has doubled, increasing the flow of those leaving the Ebola-stricken Ituri and North Kivu provinces to hundreds a day, Voice of America reported on Monday.

A cleric who took a bus 125 miles south within the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) tested positive for Ebola upon arriving in Goma, a city of one million on the border with Rwanda, on Sunday.

China welcomed military chiefs from many African countries to Beijing over the weekend to discuss peacekeeping missions and the Asian giant’s efforts to expand its armed forces footprint on the continent during an ongoing week-long summit that began Sunday.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) – Somali forces Saturday morning ended an all-night siege on a hotel in the southern port city of Kismayo, in which the death toll has risen to 26 people, including a prominent Canadian-Somali journalist and several foreigners, officials say.

The ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has led to a measles outbreak of “unimaginable proportions,” a research vaccinologist at the University of Cape Town warned this week.

Recent developments in Niger and South Sudan could signal a turning point for preventing girls from being married off before they become adults in two countries with the highest prevalence rate of child marriage in the world, news outlets reported this week.

Libya demanded urgent answers Thursday after Paris conceded French missiles were found at a base used by strongman Khalifa Haftar, whose forces are fighting to seize the capital Tripoli.

Hundreds of terrorists from the Shiite Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) this week reportedly attacked the national assembly in the Sunni-dominated African country, triggering a violent confrontation with authorities that left at least two militants dead and some police officers injured, Western and local media reported.

Paris on Wednesday admitted that U.S.-made missiles found on a base operated by forces loyal to Gen. Khalifa Haftar belonged to the French military, but it denied breaching a United Nations arms embargo, claiming that the weapons were “unusable” and never intended to end up with the warlord’s troops, who have been accused of war crimes.

Al-Qaeda’s Somali branch al-Shabaab, currently under pressure from a record number of U.S. airstrikes, has executed 18 people since last Wednesday, including many accused of espionage on behalf of regional governments and the United States, Voice of America (VOA) reported Monday.

The government of Angola, an African nation in the southern part of the continent bordering the Atlantic Ocean, has retained one of the biggest lobbying firms in Washington, DC, to help it clean up a mess it created when the nation severely harmed a number of American companies operating in Angola.

Openly gay Tunisian lawyer and prominent LGBT rights advocate Mounir Baatour wants to become the next president of Muslim-majority Tunisia, where homosexuality is currently punishable by up to three years in prison, several news outlets reported over the weekend.

Tunis (AFP) – Tunisia’s premier on Friday banned the niqab Muslim face covering for women in government offices, citing security concerns after attacks in the North African country.

Libyan guards at a detention center in Tripoli’s Tajoura neighborhood this week shot at refugees and migrants trying to flee airstrikes that the internationally recognized government has blamed on forces loyal to renegade Gen. Khalifa Haftar, the United Nations revealed.

Sudanese opposition groups declared victory for their “revolution” on Friday as the military junta agreed to a power-sharing deal until the transition to an elected civilian government is complete.

While the number of migrants entering Europe has declined, reports claim that as many as 660,000 individuals still remain in Libya looking for a way into Europe.

Filipino authorities this week arrested a Kenyan man believed to be a member of the al-Qaeda affiliate in East Africa al-Shabaab.

The United Nations-brokered administration in Libya accused warlord Khalifa Haftar’s forces, fighting on behalf of the breakaway government in the eastern part of the country, of launching an airstrike on Wednesday that struck a migrant detention center in Tripoli, reportedly killing at least 44 people and wounding over 130.

A Rwandan man found guilty of hiding his involvement in the country’s 1994 genocide in an effort to win asylum in the United States was sentenced on Monday to over eight years in prison.

Fighters loyal to renegade Gen. Khalifa Haftar in Libya this week denied Turkey’s claims that they arrested six Turks over the weekend.

The Turkish government over the weekend demanded that Gen. Khalifa Haftar “immediately” release six Turkish nationals arrested in Libya to avoid a military response.

Tens of thousands of protesters marched across Sudan on Sunday in the latest demonstration against military rule. The junta tried to make it more difficult to organize mass demonstrations by blocking the Internet, but the streets were still filled with people demanding civilian rule. 

Tunisia’s 92-year-old President Beji Caid Essebsi found himself in “critical condition” while double suicide attacks rocked the North African country’s capital on Thursday, killing one police officer and injuring several other people, including civilians.

China may use its economic presence in Zimbabwe to overthrow President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a lawmaker from the African nation warned on Thursday.

Pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump’s air campaign in Somalia has prompted some factions from the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab to begin fighting each other, local media reported this week.

Separatist rebels in Cameroon are attacking humanitarian aid convoys and destroying what they describe as “poisoned” supplies, causing aid workers to become increasingly nervous about entering the conflict zones.

The government of Zimbabwe recently completed agreements to receive over $58 million in investment grants from China during a meeting of the Chinese Communist Party’s Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), Zimbabwean media reported Wednesday.

Iran expanded its terrorist activities to Africa where it has recruited an estimated 300 militants to attack the United States and other Western targets in retaliation for American sanctions against Tehran, the Daily Telegraph reported Monday.