Africa News

Ethiopian troops were operating in South Sudan on Thursday after crossing the border to rescue some 125 Ethiopian children who were kidnapped during a bloody cattle raid, and top officials from both countries sought to co-ordinate their efforts. Peter Bashir Gbandi, acting South Sudanese foreign affairs minister, said South Sudan …

A new UN report says security threats from violent extremists and criminal groups in Mali are ‘alarming’ and the government must deploy more troops to the volatile north and step up efforts to reform its military and police.

A Mauritanian man suspected of planning and carrying out deadly attacks on popular tourist venues in Mali last year has been arrested in the Malian capital Bamako, security sources told AFP on Friday. Detained on Thursday in a Bamako suburb, the man is believed to have taken part in attacks …

Nearly 145,000 Malian refugees have been living in neighbouring countries since the outbreak of the security crisis in Northern Mali in 2012, said the UNHCR office in Bamako. “Up to 31 March 2016, some 60,300 Malian refugees live in Niger, 50,600 in Mauritania and 33,800 in Burkina Faso,” according to …

Angry protesters on Monday forced their way into Kidal airport in northern Mali and set security installations on fire, besides ransacking the runway, the UN Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) said in a statement. “Kidal runway is crucial for supply of humanitarian aid, for support of the local populations as well …

Tunisia and the European Union (EU) stressed their “common engagement on special partnership and the work ahead to build a deeper cooperation, reflecting the exception of the Tunisian transition and the shared ambition to intensify co-operation relations in all fields.” In a joint declaration by Minister of Foreign Affairs Khemaies …

Sudan’s foreign ministry on Sunday called on neighbouring Egypt to discuss two disputed border territories days after Cairo transferred two islands to Saudi Arabia. Sudan and Egypt have long disputed ownership of the Halayeb and Shalatin areas between the countries near to the Red Sea.

US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed support for Egypt during a brief stop in Cairo on Wednesday before he attends a summit of Gulf states in Saudi Arabia. Ties between Washington and Cairo have improved since the United States lifted a freeze on military aid that it had imposed …

Algeria, Egypt and Italy on Sunday called for a political solution in Libya, on the eve of UN-mediated talks aimed at forming a unity government in the war-torn country. Libya plunged into chaos after a 2011 Nato-backed uprising toppled and killed veteran dictator Muammar Gaddafi, with heavily armed former rebels …

French President Francois Hollande heads to Algeria on Monday as the two nations, once bitter foes, work ever closer to resolve the political turmoil and jihadist threat in Mali and Libya. The trip will be Hollande’s second to Algiers since a 2012 visit during which he recognised France’s century of …