South Africa: President Ramaphosa announces 2024 election date

PRETORIA, Feb 21 (NNN-SANEWS) — President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that South Africa will head to the polls on May 29, 2024 for the General National and Provincial Elections. In a statement released on Tuesday evening, the Presidency said President Ramaphosa has in line with section 17(2) of the Electoral…

DR Congo Prime Minister resigns, government is dissolved

Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde, Democratic Republic of Congo’s prime minister KINSHASA, Feb 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Congolese Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde resigned on Tuesday to focus on his parliamentary duties as an elected lawmaker. He presented his resignation to President Félix Tshisekedi, according to an official statement. Sama Lukonde, 46, has…

Brazil foreign minister says Israeli counterpart ‘lying’ in Gaza spat

BRASILIA, Feb 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazil’s foreign minister on Tuesday accused his Israeli counterpart of lying as a diplomatic spat escalated over President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s comparison of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza to the Holocaust. Mauro Vieira, whose country is hosting a G20 foreign ministers meeting this…

Military-ruled Niger defaults on debt payments again as post-coup woes pile

Members of a military council that staged a coup in Niger attend a rally at a stadium in Niamey NIAMEY, Feb 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Niger missed a debt payment of 13.4 billion CFA francs ($22m) last week, the West African debt management agency said, bringing the total default to some…

Kenya’s public debt surges past $76bn on weak shilling

Kenya’s public debt shot up by $13.3 billion in the year ended December 2023 NAIROBI, Feb 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Kenya’s public debt shot up by Ksh1.93 trillion ($13.3 billion) in the year ended December 2023, raising the country’s indebtedness to a new high of Ksh11.14 trillion ($76.83 billion).This translated to…

Mexico sees surge of African migrants hoping to reach US

Africans migrate to Mexico from countries like Mauritania MEXICO CITY, Feb 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The number of African migrants who arrived in Mexico last year was nine times higher than the year before, according to official statistics.Figures released by Mexico’s Interior Department at the weekend show that almost 60,000 migrants…

Jailed Tunisian opposition leader starts hunger strike

Rached Ghannouch has accused the president of mounting a coup RABAT, Feb 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The jailed head of Tunisia’s Islamic opposition Ennahda party, Rached Ghannouchi, has joined a hunger strike by other political detainees to mark a year since their detention began.Ghannouchi, who has accused Tunisia’s President Kaïs Saïed…

Guinea junta leader dissolves government; appointees’ accounts, passports ‘seized’

Screenshot from the dissolution announcement CONAKRY, Feb 21 (NNN-GNA) — Guinea’s transitional president, Mamady Doumbouya, has dissolved the government led by Dr Bernard Goumou effective Feb 19.The dissolution was contained in a decree read on state TV and posted on the social media handles of the presidency.The post captioned: “Decree…

US gun violence: 2 men charged with murder in Chiefs parade mass shooting

KANSAS CITY (Missouri, US), Feb 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Missouri prosecutors said that two men have been charged with murder in last week’s mass shooting that killed one person and injured 22 others near the end of the Kansas City Chiefs‘ Super Bowl parade. Lyndell Mays, of Raytown, Missouri, and Dominic Miller,…

South Africa electricity: Ramokgopa sets sights on accelerated transmission line expansion

DURBAN (Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa), Feb 21 (NNN-SANEWS) — Minister in the Presidency for Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, says government is targeting to expedite the expansion of transmission lines to the Cape provinces in order to potentially unlock at least 2,335MW of energy in the short-term. He was speaking during an…