Africa

Gunmen from an extremist group killed 12 people in an attack targeting non-Muslims in Kenya’s northern Mandera County, near the Somali border, an official said on Tuesday. Somali-based extremist group al-Shabaab is suspected of carrying out the early-morning attack on the Bishaaro Guest House, said Mohamed Saleh, Mandera’s regional commander.

Several dozen armed men belonging to an Islamic State-linked group on Wednesday seized control of a small port in Somalia’s Puntland region, local residents said. “We are getting information that Qandala has fallen this morning,” said Mohamed Muse, an elder in the town of Bossaso, which lies about 70km from …

Hundreds of Ethiopian troops pulled out of a town in central Somalia on Tuesday, at least the second location vacated by their forces in recent weeks, a Somali security official said. Security official Abdirisak Moalim Ahmed said Ethiopian soldiers present in El-Ali, Hiran region, as part of an African Union …

Somalia’s Islamic extremist rebels, al-Shabaab, are making a comeback, having recently seized four towns and attacked a guesthouse in neighboring Kenya, killing 12. The resurgence of al-Shabab, which is allied to al-Qaeda, could affect Somalia’s plans to hold elections next month and further destabilize what is already one of the …

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström will, on Tuesday, start a two-day working visit to Tunisia, at the invitation of Foreign Minister, Khemaies Jhinaoui. This visit confirms Sweden’s support to the Tunisian democratic transition and the determination to strengthen co-operation relations with Tunisia to help it overcome the economic challenges it …

The United Nations (UN) Security Council on Tuesday “condemned in the strongest terms” the multiple terrorist attacks that occurred Monday against the UN mission in north Mali, which killed two peacekeepers from Chad. Others were injured during the terrorist attacks on the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) …

A plane crashed Monday morning in Malta killing all five French people on Tuesday morning at 7:20 a.m. shortly after take-off in Luqa airport. Maltese officials said French customs officials were among victims on the flight, which was heading for the city of Misrata in Libya.

Algerian Minister for Maghreb Affairs, the African Union and the Arab League, Abdelkader Messahel and visiting Spanish Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Ignacio Ybanez, vowed on Monday to boost bilateral cooperation in the political, security and economic fields.

A prominent Sudanese rebel group said on Friday it was suspending peace talks with Khartoum after a rights group accused government forces of using chemical weapons against civilians in war-torn Darfur. The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – North, which is fighting government troops in Blue Nile and South Kordofan, this …

Four civilians were killed on Monday when protests against United Nations peacekeepers turned violent in the Central African Republic, with gunfire and looting reported across the capital Bangui, the UN said. Five UN peacekeepers were among 14 people injured during the demonstrations called by a coalition of civil society groups …