Africa

A Kremlin spokesman said that Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the halt of flights to Egypt in the aftermath of the Russian plane crash earlier this week, which left all 224 on board dead, according to state- affiliated Russian news agency Sputnik. The decision came one day after top UK …

Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Ramtane Lamamra, on working visit to London held talks Tuesday with Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Philip Hammond. The meeting, held on the Foreign Office headquarters focussed on the regional and international issues of common interest, particularly …

Ouagadougou – Burkina Faso’s interim government confirmed Wednesday that presidential and parliamentary elections initially set for October, but delayed by a failed coup, would go ahead on November 29. The government confirmed the date agreed on Tuesday with the main political factions for the elections, which were scheduled for October …

Niamey – Niger’s air force bombed a Boko Haram base in the country’s southeast and arrested more than 20 militants, security sources said on Thursday, in its biggest counter-attack in eight months. Members of the Islamist militant group based mostly in north-eastern Nigeria have repeatedly attacked the Lake Chad area, …

Egypt’s president and Britain’s prime minister have agreed on the need for “the tightest possible security” at the Sinai resort airport where a doomed Russian airliner departed, London said. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and David Cameron spoke by telephone ahead of the Egyptian leader’s visit to London, according to a statement …

South Sudan’s army and rebel forces have agreed to deploy joint military units in the capital, a key stage of a peace deal aimed to end nearly two years of war. Both sides have repeatedly traded blame for breaking an August 26 peace deal, the eighth such agreement.

Warring parties in South Sudan are expanding stockpiles of weapons and ammunition in violation of an August peace deal and President Salva Kiir risks fueling violence with plans to almost triple the number of states in the country, said UN experts. In a report to the UN Security Council, seen …

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is set to hold talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday on security and the Sinai plane crash, as concerns mount it could have been caused by a bomb. Sisi’s visit is his first to Britain since he led the Egyptian army’s overthrow …

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Wednesday for negotiations in the coming months to settle the frozen conflict over Western Sahara, at the centre of tensions between Morocco and African countries. “This conflict must be brought to an end if the people of the region are to meet …

Egypt’s top court on Thursday postponed the final trial of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak over the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his 30-year rule. The Cassation Court adjourned Mubarak’s second and final retrial until January 21 and ordered that it be moved from the High …