Africa

Libya pro-government forces backed by US air strikes said on Sunday they would soon launch a final assault to retake the coastal city of Sirte from the Islamic State jihadist group. “The countdown of the final stage of the military operations against Daesh has started,” forces loyal to the Tripoli-based …

A United Nations peacekeeper was killed and four others were injured on Sunday when their vehicle struck an explosive device in northeast Mali, the UN said. The incident occurred 11km south of Aguelhoc-Anefis in the Kidal region, the UN force in Mali, Minusma, said in a statement. The vehicle was …

US Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Kenya this month for talks with President Uhuru Kenyatta over regional security. Presidential spokesperson Manoah Esipisu said on Sunday Kerry would hold discussions with Kenyatta and Foreign Affairs Minister Amina Mohammed on the upheaval in South Sudan and security in violence-plagued Somalia.

Suspected Rwandan rebels killed seven people overnight in a region of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that has been shaken by ethnic violence, local officials said on Monday. Armed assailants torched 60 houses in Kibirizi and killed their victims with machetes or shot them dead, Deogratias Kitabingwa, the regional governor’s …

A captain of the Malian army was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Timbuktu in northern Mali Sunday night, a military source told Anadolu Agency late Monday. According to a Malian officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media,”Hamatta Ag Oumalha, …

Fresh fighting erupted on Sunday between troops of South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and those loyal to former deputy President Riek Machar in Nasir town, Upper Nile State, spokesperson for Kiir’s government troops, Lul Ruia Koang, said on Monday. The clashes followed renewed fighting between the rival army factions on …

A car bomb targeting security forces in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi killed 22 people and wounded 20 on Tuesday, a spokesman for the forces and medical officials said. The blast occurred in a residential area in the Guwarsha district, the scene of fighting between security forces loyal to …

Lawmakers in Mali agreed Saturday to extend a state of emergency across the country by another eight months, officials told AFP, as fresh violence flared in the restive northeast. MPs unanimously backed the extension – which has been renewed several times since last year – during an extraordinary session of …

The Central African Republic’s president said on Monday he would soon hold talks with rebel groups as he seeks to restore security after years of sectarian violence. “Either this week or next week, we will initiate an exchange with representatives of the armed groups, in order to clarify some points,” …

Five Islamists were killed as Nigerian troops thwarted a Boko Haram attack near the northeastern city of Maiduguri, the epicentre of the seven-year insurgency, the army said on Tuesday. “Troops of Operation LAFIYA DOLE accompanied by Civilian JTF successfully thwarted an attempt by Boko Haram terrorists on Yauri community at …