RWANDA’s ruling party on Saturday picked President Paul Kagame as its candidate for the July election, teeing up a contest widely expected to return the longtime leader to office for a fourth seven-year term. The 66-year-old has ruled over the landlocked African nation for decades, winning the presidency in elections in 2003, 2010 and 2017 — with more than 90 percent of the vote. Kagame’s candidacy was unopposed during the Rwandan Patriotic Front congress, which ended Saturday, the party said. Kagame said he had accepted the nomination but urged the ruling party to prepare for transition beyond him. “The burden…
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THE US has accused Zimbabwe of harassing, detaining and deporting several of its nationals who were in the country as aid workers. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) said government officials and contractors had been “verbally and physically” intimidated. They were there to “support civic participation, democratic institutions and human rights”, the agency added. But Zimbabwe’s commitment to democratic reform was “hollow”, it said. The Zimbabwean government has not yet commented on USAID’s allegations. On Monday, the US announced fresh sanctions on Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa and other senior government officials, whom it accuses of corruption and human rights…
TWICE in one week, gangs of motorcycle-riding armed men, operating from forests in two different places in the north of the country, kidnapped hundreds of people. First on Wednesday we got news from a remote town in Borno state in the north-east that suspected Boko Haram militants had seized women and children from a displaced persons camp who were searching for firewood. It took several days for the news to emerge because the local mobile phone masts had been destroyed. Then the following day, more than 280 children, aged between eight and 15, and some teachers, were taken away by…
ANTHONY Joshua and Francis Ngannou headlined the Knockout Chaos card on Friday night. Former two-time world heavyweight champion, Joshua, battled the Cameroonian, who knocked down Fury last October. The card had it all, a sublime KO, a title win and a hard-fought draw. Joshua came out fighting and despite Ngannou’s brave efforts, he could barely touch the former heavyweight champion. Joshua knocked Ngannou down three times in the bout with the first coming with 40 seconds left in round one as the British-Nigerian landed a solid right punch on the Cameroonian’s chin and he went down. Ngannou let the referee…
JURGEN Klopp on Friday hailed Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola as the best manager of his lifetime as he prepares his Liverpool team for what could be the final chapter in their captivating rivalry. City have won five of the past six Premier League titles but Liverpool have been their main rivals, snatching the crown in 2020. The two teams are once again locked in a tussle at the top of the table, with leaders Liverpool ahead of the champions by a single point before Sunday’s clash at Anfield. The Liverpool boss said Guardiola, whose team are chasing a second…
A SHIP carrying desperately needed humanitarian aid is expected to set sail this weekend, bound for Gaza. The Spanish vessel, Open Arms, is scheduled to depart from Cyprus – the closest EU country to Gaza – and hope to use a newly opened shipping route. With no functioning port and shallow waters, it is still unclear where the ship will dock when it reaches Gaza. The UN says a quarter of the Strip’s population is on the brink of famine and children are starving to death. The ship, expected to reach Gaza in the next few days, belongs to the…
A FRENCH court on Friday sentenced a man to 30 years in jail for burning his partner alive for trying to leave him. Jonathan Boillet, 36, has been on trial since Tuesday at a criminal court in northern France for murdering 33-year-old Sandy Cucheval in November 2020. He burnt the mother of four alive in a car they were travelling in. She was admitted to the burn unit at a hospital in the northern city of Lille where she died a week later. The regional criminal court in the city of Saint-Omer sentenced him to 30 years in prison with…
CONCRETE barriers are being built along a stretch of the South Africa-Mozambique border to prevent people crossing over to steal and smuggle vehicles. South African authorities have budgeted close to $2.7m (£2.1m) to build the wall. It’s made up of three sections: An 8km (5 mile) barrier near Tembe Elephant Park An 8km-long stretch near iSimangaliso Wetland Park A 9km wall from the western boundary of Tembe Elephant Park towards Pongolo River Building works on the Tembe Elephant Park section “are currently underway,” according to a joint briefing by the South African government and KwaZulu-Natal province. “The impact of the…
THE trial of a prominent journalist in the Democratic Republic of Congo has resumed in the capital Kinshasa, with the prosecution calling for a prison sentence of 20 years. Stanis Bujakera was arrested in September after writing an article in the magazine Jeune Afrique, alleging that an opposition politician, Cherubin Okende, was assassinated by intelligence officers. In July, Okende’s body had been found in a car riddled with bullets. The prosecutor’s office maintained he had killed himself. Human Rights Watch described Mr Bujakera’s case as politically motivated and Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi suggested he’d been the victim of what he…
SUPER Eagles’ Striker, Ademola Lookman, has been in impressive form since his move to Italian outfit Atalanta, leaving his boss Gian Pero Gasperini very impressed with the Nigerian, PUNCH Sports Extra reports. The 26-year-old completed a €9m plus performance-related bonuses transfer from RB Leipzig to join the Nerazzurri in 2022, having spent the 2021/22 season on loan at Leicester City. Before joining Atalanta, Lookman’s nine-goal contributions (five goals and four assists) in the 2017/18 season was his best return in front of goal but in his debut season with the Italian outfits, he scored a remarkable 13 goals with eight…
LIVERPOOL surged towards the Europa League quarter-finals with a 5-1 win away to Sparta Prague on Thursday, as Roma thrashed Brighton 4-0 in the Italian capital. Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen had to come from 2-0 down to preserve their unbeaten season in a 2-2 draw against Qarabag in Azerbaijan. Liverpool remain on course to send Jurgen Klopp off with a quadruple of trophies as the Reds were not distracted by Sunday’s mammoth Premier League showdown against Manchester City. Klopp named a strong side and got what he wanted by killing off the tie in the first leg, even if there…
THE US military will construct a port in Gaza to get more humanitarian aid into the territory by sea, President Joe Biden has announced. The temporary port will increase the amount of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians by “hundreds of additional truckloads” per day, officials say. However, Mr Biden said the initiative will not include US troops on the ground in Gaza. The UN warns that a quarter of the population is on the brink of famine. He said the port, which will be built by the US military, will involve a temporary pier to transport supplies from ships at sea…
MEDIA tycoon Robert Murdoch has become engaged to his girlfriend, his team has confirmed. The 92-year-old has reportedly been dating retired Russian molecular biologist Elena Zhukova, 67 for several months. The marriage, which is expected to take place at his Moraga vineyard and estate in California this year, will be Mr Murdoch’s fifth, but sixth engagement. He stepped down as chairman of Fox and News Corp last year. According to the New York Times, which broke the story, the nuptials are set for June and invitations have already been sent out. Australian-born Mr Murdoch was rumoured to be dating Ms…
YOUNGSTERS in Burkina Faso are joining the state in the fight against female genital mutilation (FGM) as population displacement caused by jihadist violence threatens significant progress made over the last decade. New cases of FGM have been recorded in areas where people affected by the violence have fled. Since 2015, almost 20,000 people have died in the unrest and more than two million have been displaced in the Sahel nation of 23 million inhabitants, the majority of whom are women. “Today, in areas where we have made gains, we are in the process of moving backwards because there are community practices…
FRANCE will keep troops in junta-run Chad as it retreats elsewhere in Africa following crises with other military regimes, an envoy for French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday. French influence in its former West African colonies has waned as military rulers battling jihadist rebellions in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger expelled its troops and strengthened ties with Russia. Around 1,000 French troops are stationed in Chad, one of a dwindling number of French allies in the region and ruled by General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno since 2021. “Of course we will stay” in Chad, said Jean-Marie Bockel, Macron’s envoy…
REAL Madrid reached the Champions League quarter-finals as Vinicius Junior provided the quality finish that RB Leipzig lacked to secure a 2-1 aggregate win in the last 16. Like the first leg, German side Leipzig were made to pay for wasting a host of chances when Vinicius clipped in Jude Bellingham’s pass with 25 minutes left for a 2-0 lead. Leipzig finally converted an opportunity three minutes later when skipper Willi Orban flicked in a header. The goal provided renewed belief to the Bundesliga side and they continued to open up the Spanish league leaders as they searched for a…
THE Palestinian death toll from hunger in the Gaza Strip has risen to 20 amid a crippling Israeli blockade, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday. “Famine in northern Gaza has reached fatal levels, especially for children, pregnant women and patients with chronic diseases,” ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said in a statement. He said a 15-year-old boy and a 72-year-old man died of malnutrition and dehydration at Al-Shifa Medical Complex and Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. “Thousands of people are at risk of dying of starvation,” Al-Qudra warned, calling for immediate access to humanitarian and medical…
A RUSSIAN court on Wednesday sentenced a journalist to seven years in prison for criticising the Ukraine offensive in social media posts. Roman Ivanov, 51, was found guilty of spreading “false information” about Russia’s armed forces and punished under Moscow’s strict military censorship laws. Moscow has used laws against “discrediting” the armed forces or publishing “false information” to stamp out public criticism of its full-scale military offensive on Ukraine. “Peace and freedom,” Ivanov shouted as he left the courtroom after the sentence. “We’re with you. You are not alone,” his applauding supporters shouted, AFP journalists at the courtroom saw. In…
EGYPT signed a deal with the International Monetary Fund to increase an initial $3 billion loan package to $8 billion, the two sides said on Wednesday. The agreement, announced by Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and the IMF’s mission chief for Egypt, Ivanna Vladkova Hollar, came hours after the country’s central bank hiked interest rates and said it was floating the pound. By the time the markets closed on Wednesday, the Egyptian pound was trading at a record low of around 50 pounds to the US dollar, after more than a year of a stabilised official exchange rate of around…
SENEGAL’s government has announced that the country’s presidential election will take place on 24 March. The announcement follows tension in the country after President Macky Sall postponed the election last month, sparking widespread protests. The president, whose tenure ends on 2 April, had insisted that he did not intend to run for a third term in office. His opponents had accused him of mounting a constitutional coup. Senegal has long been seen as one of the most stable democracies in Africa. It is the only country in mainland West Africa that has never had a military coup. “The President of…