Reuters Africa Top

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan met top opposition leader Tundu Lissu in Belgium on Wednesday, Hassan’s office said on Wednesday, and Lissu later said he wishes to return home from self-imposed exile if the president gives him assurances. A fierce critic of former Tanzania President John Magufuli and his government, …

Tanzania president meets exiled opposition leader in sign of rapprochement Read More »

By John Irish PARIS (Reuters) -African and Western leaders met in Paris on Wednesday night to start fleshing out plans for how to continue fighting Islamist militants in the Sahel region once France and its European partners begin pulling out of Mali. Four European diplomatic sources told Reuters that an announcement on the withdrawal of …

Macron hosts talks on how to keep fighting jihadists in Sahel Read More »

By Ange Aboa ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Ivory Coast plans to commit more than $20 million to helping cashew processors struggling against competition from Asia and to boost the percentage of the crop that gets processed in the country, a government source told Reuters. The plan is still under discussion but is 90% finalised and will …

Ivory Coast to announce $20 million cashew sector aid plan -source Read More »

By Bate Felix DAKAR (Reuters) -Mali has defaulted on more than 53.99 billion franc CFA ($93 million) in interest and principal payments since January due to regional sanctions, data from the West Africa monetary union’s debt agency Umoa-Titres showed on Wednesday. The defaults highlight Mali’s worsening economic situation due to severe sanctions, which include border …

Mali debt defaults due to sanctions exceed $93 million Read More »

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -A South African judge on Wednesday dismissed a bid by former president Jacob Zuma to appeal an earlier ruling rejecting his attempt to have the prosecutor in his arms deal corruption trial taken off the case for alleged bias. The judgment means Zuma’s trial will move forward on April 11. “The application for …

South African judge dismisses Zuma’s bid to appeal prosecutor ruling Read More »

(Adds TV, pictures available; no changes to text) OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) -Burkina Faso’s military leader Paul-Henri Damiba was sworn in as president on Wednesday, weeks after leading a successful coup, and he promised to deal with the mounting insecurity that helped oust his predecessor. Damiba led a military junta that on Jan. 24 overthrew President Roch …

Burkina Faso coup leader Damiba sworn in as president Read More »

By Ludwig Burger MARBURG, Germany (Reuters) – Germany’s BioNTech has developed a vaccine factory made from shipping containers that it plans to ship to Africa as assembly kits to ease what the World Health Organization has described as huge disparities in global COVID-19 vaccine access. The factory prototype will be instrumental in helping the biotech …

BioNTech to ship mRNA vaccine factory kits to Africa Read More »

By Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar MOGADISHU (Reuters) -Al Shabaab militants attacked several police stations and security checkpoints in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu early on Wednesday, officials and the militants said, a show of force as the nation prepares for a much-delayed presidential election. State TV reported that five people, two of them children, were killed …

Five killed as gunfire, explosions rock Somali capital Read More »