THE AFRICAN

  A Huge Decision Head of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People, Colonel Assimi Goïta, issued a nationally televised announcement pronouncing Ba N'Daou, previously the Minister of Defence, as the Malian transitional president appointed by a committee set up by the junta in power since ousting — in a coup d-état, ex-president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on August 18th NEWS BUSINESS SPORT CULTURE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY NO COMMENT PROGRAMMES CORONAVIRUS WEATHER   MALI A Huge Decision Head of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People, Colonel Assimi Goïta, issued a nationally televised announcement pronouncing Ba N'Daou, previously the Minister of Defence, as the Malian transitional president appointed by a committee set up by the junta in power since ousting — in a coup d-état, ex-president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on August 18th. The new president is expected to serve as head of state for several months before a return of civilians to power. The Colonel ...

Harare - A Zimbabwean opposition leader and her entourage were Thursday attacked with stones by suspected ruling party activists in Harare, her party said. Joice Mujuru, a former vice president of the country who is now leader of the National People's Party (NPP), and her supporters were pelted while on the campaign trail. Zimbabwe is due to hold general elections before July - the first polls since independence hero Robert Mugabe was ousted after 37 years in power. Mujuru is one of the prominent contenders. Mujuru was hit on the cheek with a stone and later addressed a rally in the working class suburb of Glen Norah after she received medical treatment, her spokesperson said. Mujuru "was going to address a rally ...she passed through a shopping centre and when people realised it was her, they came out of the shops to cheer her", Jeffryson Chitando told AFP. "She got out of her car and greeted the people, and that is when Zanu-PF (activists) started thro...

Bashu - John Osang arrived in Nigeria at dawn on the verge of collapse, wearing just shorts and flip-flops after two fevered days running through the jungle from Cameroonian soldiers. He said he had no other choice. The soldiers were on the hunt for English-speaking separatists. People were being killed. Since December, troops had occupied Bodam, located on the border with Nigeria, pushing ahead with a crackdown on an independence movement that has taken up arms against the Cameroon state. "The soldiers are looking everywhere for Ambazonia fighters," said the exhausted 19-year-old, referring to the name the separatists have given their putative state. "They looted the houses, broke the doors, took our mattresses, televisions and generators. There's nothing left," said Osang, his arms lined with deep scratches from the bush. For two months, Osang hid in a cassava plantation a few kilometers  from home with his sick mother and older brother. But as ...

Geneva - At least 90 people were feared drowned after a smuggler's boat mostly carrying Pakistani migrants capsized off Libya's coast early Friday, the UN's migration agency said. Ten bodies have washed ashore near the Libyan town of Zuwara following the tragedy in the early morning, said International Organization for Migration spokeswoman Olivia Headon, citing information from its partner agencies. Eight were believed to be Pakistani, and two Libyans. "We are told that two survivors swam to shore, and one person was rescued by a fishing boat," Headon said by phone from Tunisia's capital to reporters at the UN in Geneva. "We are working to get more details on the (capsizing) and where the survivors are so that we can assist them better." Source: news24

All 955 workers from a gold mine in South Africa have been safely brought back to the surface. They had been trapped underground since a power cut struck on Wednesday night, and back-up generators failed to work. "Everybody's out," said James Wellsted, a spokesman for the operating firm Sibanye-Stillwater. He said there were "cases of dehydration and high blood pressure but nothing serious", and the mine would re-open on Monday. The BBC's Pumza Fihlani in South Africa says there were scenes of jubilation as the miners were brought to the surface in the morning. South Africa is a leading gold producer, but safety in the industry is often questioned. The Beatrix mine is in Welkom town, about 290km (180 miles) south-west of Johannesburg. It is owned by Sibanye-Stillwater mining firm. It has 23 levels, going down to 1,000 metres (3,280 ft) below ground. The accident is thought to have occurred when a storm knocked over an electricity pylon close...

Government in Kenya has arrested Miguna Miguna, the other legislator that actively participated in the illegal ‘swearing in’ ceremony of opposition leader Raila Odinga. The self-styled National Resistance Movement ( NRM ) General Miguna Miguna was arrested on Friday morning, shortly after he raised the alarm on a police raid at his home. The National Resistance Movement is the resistance wing of the opposition National Super Alliance Coalition ( NASA ). The Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti confirmed that he was arrested for administering an illegal oath and being a member of  NRM , an organisational that has been declared ‘criminal’. “He publicly declared that he is the general of  NRM , which is already declared a proscribed group. By the time he declared publicly, there was a gazette notice by the minister. How can we let it go? We are law enforcers,” said Kinoti. Kinoti added that Miguna told ‘people to burn portraits of a democratically elec...