Freetown, Sierra Leone (AFP): Alie used to work eight hours a day driving a commercial tuk-tuk in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown but as fuel prices soar he now finds himself working 18-hour days just to make ends meet. “Everything is going uphill — there are no jobs, and (problems with) the electricity and water supply,̶...
Freetown, Sierra Leone (AFP): Sierra Leoneans will vote in tense elections on Saturday, with President Julius Maada Bio hoping to secure a second term despite a crippling economic crisis which sparked deadly protests last year. The West African country, which never fully recovered economically from a 1991-2002 civil war and the Ebola epidemic ...
DOUALA, Cameroon (AA): A referendum vote on Mali’s new constitution has been marked by kidnappings of election officials and irregularities, a local observation mission reported after a poll noted that voter turnout was only 27%. More than 8 million Malians were called on Sunday to vote on the draft constitution proposed by the junta, wh...
Geneva, Switzerland (AFP): The United Nations has condemned the use of firearms to quell protests in Senegal, calling for an independent probe and punishment for the perpetrators. The June 1-3 violence was sparked by the handing of a two-year-sentence to opposition figurehead Ousmane Sonko for “corrupting” a young woman, making him...
Beirut, Lebanon (AFP): Lebanese lawmakers have failed for a 12th time to elect a new president, as bitter divisions between the Iran-backed Hezbollah and its opponents risk miring the country in a protracted power vacuum. Crisis-hit Lebanon has already been without a head of state for more than seven months. The previous attempt to elect [&hel...
ANKARA (AA): A group of Muslim scholars has urged authorities to release former Tunisian parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi and other political prisoners from jail. Ghannouchi heads the progressive Islamic political movement Ennahda, which is the most popular and influential opposition group in the country. The International Union for Muslim...
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AA): Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has set June 14 for holding a session to elect a new president. The last parliamentary session to elect a president was held on January 12, but lawmakers failed to agree on a candidate. There have been 11 sessions to elect a new president to succeed Michel […]
KIGALI, Rwanda (AA): Hundreds of people have been arrested across Senegal since deadly protests broke out against the sentencing of an opposition leader, an official said Sunday. Violence erupted in Senegal’s capital Dakar and some towns on Thursday after Ousmane Sonko, president of the PASTEF-Patriots party was sentenced to two years in priso...
Dakar, Senegal (AFP): Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko alleged on Tuesday he was being “illegally held” by security forces and urged the public to protest. “I urge all Senegalese people to come out onto the streets,” he said on social media, escalating a political tug-of-war with President Macky Sall’s g...
Beijing, China (AFP): China on Monday congratulated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his re-election, after he won a historic runoff vote to extend his two-decade rule. “China expresses its congratulations to President Erdogan on his re-election,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said. “We support Turkiye in tak...
