THIEVES SPARK FIRE AT DORMANT NIGERIA OIL WELL

A fire at a dormant Royal Dutch Shell oil well in southern Nigeria caused by thieves trying to siphon off crude oil has killed at least one person, residents said on Wednesday.
Several people were badly burned after the explosion at the well-head in K-Dere, a village in Ogoniland in the Niger Delta, one of whom [...]

MALAWI’S CHOLERA OUTBREAK KILLED 11 PEOPLE

A cholera outbreak in Malawi’s main commercial city has killed at least 11 people, a senior health official said on Wednesday. Health officials have been on alert fearing that a cholera epidemic in neighbouring Zimbabwe could spread the disease to the southern African country and compound the problem.
Malawi’s secretary for health Chris Kang’ombe said 248 [...]

400 KILLED IN CHRISTMAS ATTACKS

More than 400 people have been killed by Ugandan rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo in attacks since Christmas day, aid agency Caritas says. The head of Caritas in DR Congo told the BBC some 20,000 people had fled to the mountains from the rebels, who have denied carrying out the attacks.
An eyewitness [...]

SCRAMBLE FOR DECISIVE GHANA VOTES

Opposition candidate John Atta Mills is heading for the Ghanaian constituency which will decide the closely fought presidential run-off. The remote western constituency of Tain will vote on Friday with the presidential contest on a knife-edge.
It has some 54,000 registered votes, with Mr. Atta Mills leading his rival Nana Akufo-Addo by just 23,055 votes. [...]

ZIMBABWE ACTIVISTS TO REMAIN IN CUSTODY

A Zimbabwean court on Wednesday ruled that a leading human rights campaigner and 15 other activists should remain in custody pending a remand hearing in a case that has deepened doubts over a power-sharing deal. Jestina Mukoko, head of a local rights group, and the other activists have been charged with recruiting or trying to [...]

MILLS LEAD IN GHANA PRESIDENTIAL RUN-OFF

Opposition candidate John Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) held a narrow lead in Ghana’s closely fought presidential election run-off, the country’s top private broadcaster Joy FM said on Monday.
The radio, citing certified returns from polling stations from 205 of the 230 national constituencies that voted on Sunday, put Mills ahead as both [...]

UGANDAN LRA ‘IN CHURCH MASSACRE’

Uganda’s army has accused the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels of hacking to death 45 civilians in a Catholic church in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Capt Chris Magezi said it happened the day after Christmas near Doruma, close to the border with South Sudan.
He said the scene at the church was “horrendous… dead bodies [...]

GHANA EXAMINES VOTE FRAUD CLAIMS

Ghana poll monitors are probing claims of fraud as partial unofficial results suggest the presidential vote count remains too close to call. Local media project the opposition’s John Atta Mills has a slender lead over the governing party’s Nana Akufo-Addo.
There have been claims by both sides of intimidation, physical assault against polling officials and [...]

AU SUSPENDS GUINEA OVER COUP

The African Union has suspended Guinea after last week’s military coup in the West African nation. Guinea would remain suspended “until the return of constitutional order in that country,” the 53-member bloc said in a statement from its Ethiopian base.
Junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara seized power after the death of long-serving President Lansana [...]

SOMALIA’S PRESIDENT RESIGNS

Somalia’s President Abdullahi Yusuf has told parliament he has resigned – a move which adds to the chaos in the country as Ethiopian troops withdraw. Mr. Yusuf’s resignation follows a power struggle with Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, who parliament backed after Mr. Yusuf tried to sack him.
Ethiopian soldiers, who support the government, are [...]