In the news

Dozens of Islamist Boko Haram militants have been killed by Nigerian soldiers in a major operation the north-east of the country. Troops stormed the jihadists’ strongholds in Kidari, Argude, Takwala, Chowalta and Galdekore, local media reports. The soldiers are said to have gained access into the notorious Timbuktu Triangle in …

Sixteen African countries have shown interest in securing Covid-19 vaccines under an African Union (AU) initiative and the aim is to deliver allocations in the next three weeks, Reuters news agency quotes the the head of a continental disease control body as saying. However, John Nkengasong, director of the AU’s …

The trial in Algeria of a group accused of decapitating a French mountain guide, which was due to start on Thursday in Algiers, has been put back to 18 February. The trial in the murder case of Frenchman Hervé Gourdel, has been postponed to February 18. Fourteen people are facing …

Ugandans in Gulu city watched the live stream of the trial of former rebel commander Dominic Ongwen. They gathered at three separate venues with the hall at St Monica Girls Technical School fully packed with mostly women following the proceedings translated to their local Acholi language. The ICC office in …

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is set to deliver its verdict in the trial of Dominic Ongwen, a former child soldier turned rebel commander; he is accused on 70 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes. Mr Ongwen, a feared commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), is the …

After a string of moves to break Joseph Kabila’s grip on the legislature, lawmakers in the Democratic Republic of Congo elected a speaker loyal to President Felix Tshisekedi Wednesday. Christophe Mboso‘s appointment comes three weeks after a pro-Kabila appointee was voted out. Almost 400 of the 500 members supported Christophe …

According to media outlets in both countries, Ugandan activist Stella Nyanzi has fled to neighbouring Kenya to seek asylum citing political persecution. As reported by the Nation Africa website, the activist says her children had been trailed by the police and “abductions and detentions of political actors were getting closer” …

Nine troops were killed in Mali’s troubled central region early Wednesday when their camp came under attack from jihadists, security sources said. Their position at Boni, located between Douentza and Hombori in the Mopti region, was attacked by “heavily armed individuals in armoured vehicles,” one source said, speaking on condition …

The former head of Malawi’s National Examinations Board has been arrested following the leak of school exam papers last year, police have said. Police did not say if Gerald Chiunda was suspected of being involved in the leak but said he would be taken to court “soon after the paperwork …

The trial of a suspected warlord accused of atrocities during Liberia’s civil war begins in Finland on Wednesday, the first such case to be partly heard on Liberian soil. Gibril Massaquoi, a Sierra Leonean living in Finland since 2008, is accused of murder, aggravated war crimes and aggravated crimes against …