Africa

Mogadishu – Somali government troops and African Union peacekeepers on Saturday recaptured the key port of Merka from al-Shabaab insurgents, just one day after the Islamists swept into the city, the army and witnesses said. “The Somali forces and Amisom peacekeepers secured control of Merka again and now the situation …

Bamako – At least four suspected jihadists and a Malian soldier were killed on Friday following an attack on a UN military camp in Timbuktu in Mali’s restive north, a Malian security source said. The assault came just a day after the fabled city celebrated the restoration of its greatest …

The European Union (EU) is to partner with the newly formed Libyan government to fight the Islamic State (IS) in Libya, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini announced on Friday. “The best condition to fight against Daesh (Islamic State) in Libya is to count on the government of National Accord …

  The Secretary General of Gatia, whose pro-Bamako fighters entered Monday in Kidal, rebel stronghold of CMA, says that this arrival was long anticipated and it now wants to find a peaceful compromise with rivals. Hundreds of fighters Self-Defense Force and imghad Tuareg allies (Gatia) – one of the components …

The Libyan presidential council, a body headed by the appointed Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, began Thursday to Morocco discussions to propose a new unity government after the rejection of a first cabinet, told AFP Moroccan official. The presidential council, composed of nine members, was created after the signing in December …

The Court of Cassation overturned in Egypt Wednesday the death penalty for 149 people accused of the murder of 13 police officers in 2013, the same day that security forces killed hundreds of protesters demanding the return of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi dismissed by the army. The high court ordered …

An agreement in principle on the amount of the fee paid by the South Sudan in Sudan to use its pipelines was signed by the oil ministers of the two countries, according to press reports published Thursday. Sudanese pipelines, leading to Port Sudan on the shore of the Red Sea, …

The Burkinabe president, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, the first civilian to gain power democratically since independence, posted Thursday its intention to form a “republican, apolitical and operational” army in the impoverished West African subscriber to coups. “In the program I developed, I was very clear: we need a republican army, …

The Tunisian government has decided to lift the night curfew imposed on January 22 on the territory following an unprecedented wave of social protest since the 2011 revolution, thus acknowledging the return to calm in the country observed for one week .

Brussels – The European Union is urging Libya’s factions to support a broad-based unity government or face the prospect of more chaos. Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said Wednesday the EU hopes “Libyan decision-makers will realize that there is no alternative to a unity government”.