A uranium processing plant owned by French nuclear giant Areva and a military base in northern Niger were hit by twin car bombings Thursday, wounding multiple people, said the defence minister and an employee at the site. "There was an explosion in front of the military base at Agadez," Defence Minister Mahamadou Karidjo told AFP, calling it a car bomb attack. "The attackers have been neutralised," he said, ...

Fighting with heavy weapons between the DR Congolese army (FARDC) and the rebel group M23 to the west of the provincial capital Goma resumed with many people already displaced are now caught between the shelling and gunfire, Médecins Sans Frontières said on Thursday."Mugunga, Lac Vert and Buhimba camps are located on the road between Goma and Sake and have been in the middle of the shelling for the past two ...

The discovery of moles in the military in the campaign against Islamists, the outcry of the spiritual leader of Ombaste militia/cult group in Nasarawa and the disdain of governors to presidential power to seize funds were some of the stories that led Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.This Day newspaper's lead story "Ihejirika Raises Alarm on Moles in the Army" said the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. ...

The building of the radio station Al-Shababia in northern Tripoli, the Libyan capital was attacked and set ablaze late Wednesday evening by a group protesting the killing of one person.Sources said that the killing happened during confrontations between members of anti-crime police and drug dealers at Gargarish in Tripoli. Tripoli city witnessed Wednesday evening gunfire shooting between Tripoli police and ...

The presidential directives for the release of some important detainees suspected to be members of Boko Haram in furtherance of fast tracking dialogue with the dreaded Islamists would be carried out in phases, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe, announced in Abuja.The detainees are in police, Directorate of State Security (DSS) and military detention facilities ...

Zimbabwe and China on Wednesday signed two cooperation agreements that will see Beijing extending loans worth US$32 million to help Harare implement various projects in the water, mining and other sectors.Under the two agreements, China will provide a grant of US$16 million and an interest free loan of US$16 million payable over five years. The agreements were signed by Acting Zimbabwean Finance Minister ...

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta leaves the country on Thursday to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for a five day official visit during which he will also attend the 21st African Union (AU) summit and the golden jubilee of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU)now AU.The AU summit coincides with the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the OAU-AU. The Summit theme ‘Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance' raises the ...

China has offered to send more than 500 soldiers to the UN force seeking to contain Islamist militants in Mali in what would be its biggest contribution to UN peacekeeping, diplomats said Wednesday. The move could be a bid to overcome tensions with the West over the Syria conflict and to strengthen its relations in Africa, where it is a major buyer of oil and other resources, diplomats and experts said. ...

Revered Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, author of the widely praised novel "Things Fall Apart," will be buried in his small hometown on Thursday in a ceremony expected to draw crowds of mourners. Achebe, who died in the United States in March aged 82, is viewed as an iconic figure in Nigeria and abroad and his death lead to tributes worldwide. Nigerian leaders, foreign dignitaries, fellow writers and the ...

The UN and World Bank chiefs made a fresh push for peace and development as they arrived Wednesday in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the latest bout of fighting has sent thousands fleeing. With major violence flaring up north of the regional hub of Goma for a third day after a six months truce, Kinshasa has accused the rebel movement, known as M23, of trying to scupper peace efforts in the restive ...