Bobi Wine calls for mass strike against Ugandan police
Ugandan opposition MP Bobi Wine has called for mass protests against the actions of police and other state injustices meted out on Ugandans, reports the privately-owned Observer newspaper.
"We are encouraged by the people of Algeria who in the past weeks forced a dictator to resign, and the people of Sudan who through peaceful protests forced a powerful despot to give way," the MP, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, announced from his home in Magere, north-west Uganda.
He was reportedly taken by force to Magere by police who blocked him from holding a press conference in the capital Kampala.
This comes after police prevented the singer-turned-politician from holding a planned music concert at his private club in the Busabala neighbourhood of the capital, citing security concerns.
Bobi Wine has had frequent run-ins with long-time President Yoweri Museveni's administration.
The MP's arrest and alleged torture by security forces last August lead to international condemnation, including a petition from pop stars for his release.
Bobi Wine recently announced that he will challenge Museveni in the 2021 polls.
Egypt to host African summits Tuesday on Sudan, Libya
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will lead two emergency summits with other African leaders on Tuesday to address events in Sudan and Libya, his presidency said.
The leaders will focus on "the evolution of the situation in Sudan", where protests continue after the military toppled president Omar al-Bashir, and on "stemming the current crisis" in Libya, where commander Khalifa Haftar is leading an offensive on Tripoli, the presidency said in a statement. Sisi is the sitting president of the African Union.
. Day flights to resume at Libya capital's airport
Day-time flights will resume at Tripoli's only functioning airport after it was closed to all but night-time traffic earlier this month for "security reasons", Libyan airport authorities said Monday.
"We have received the order to open air space at Mitiga International Airport 24 hours a day", the airport said on its official Facebook page.
Mitiga airport had been closed between 0600 GMT and 1500 GMT daily after an April 8 air strike claimed by strongman Khalifa Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army.
Haftar on April 4 launched an offensive to take the capital Tripoli, the seat of the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).
The airport was also closed for several hours on Saturday night, resulting in the re-routing of at least two flights to Misrata over 200 kilometres (125 miles) away, as fighting intensified after a counter-attack by forces loyal to the GNA and amid reports of new air strikes.
10 dead, 30 children hurt as Nigeria policeman rams car into crowd
Ten people were killed and more than 30 injured when a policeman rammed his car into a group of children during an Easter procession in northeast Nigeria.
He was later killed himself by the angry crowd, witnesses and police told AFP Monday.
The deadly incident happened late Sunday when the off-duty policeman ploughed his car into a procession celebrating Easter in Gombe, state police spokeswoman Mary Mallum said.
"Ten people were killed, including the policeman and a paramilitary member who was with him. Another 30 children were injured and are currently in hospital while the investigation is ongoing.
Another 30 children were injured and are currently in hospital while the investigation is ongoing," Mallum said.
According to witnesses at the scene contacted by AFP, the driver deliberately drove the car into the crowd following an altercation over the procession blocking the road.
Five killed in Algiers building collapse
Five members of the same family were killed Monday when a dilapidated building collapsed in the Algerian capital's UNESCO-listed Casbah district, officials said.
The four-storey building in the historic Old City was located across the street from the landmark Ketchaoua Mosque, which was built during Ottoman rule.
Rescuers and sniffer dogs combed the rubble all day to recover the bodies and to search for survivors.
Residents said the victims were a man, his wife, the man's brother and two children; one a child aged eight and the other a baby a few months old.
They had been squatting in the building, after its formal occupants had been evacuated several months ago by the authorities due to concerns about the structure, residents said.
Residents chased away the governor of Algiers when he arrived at the site.
A few hours later state television announced his sacking and that of five others from the country's 48 provinces.
E. Guinea opposition figure 'abducted' by authorities in Chad: party
A leading Equatorial Guinea opposition figure arrested in Chad almost two weeks ago has been "abducted" by the authorities there, his party said on Monday.
Andres Esono Ondo, leader of the Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS), was detained on April 11 and is accused of preparing a coup against the Malabo government.
Equatorial Guinea's external security minister Juan Antonio Bibang Nchuchuma has said the sole objective of his trip was to acquire weapons and ammunition and to recruit "terrorists" to carry out a coup in Equatorial Guinea.
He was backed with foreign money, the minister added.
But CPDS said the arrest of Esono Ondo was an "abduction... without reason by the Chadian authorities".
Esono Ondo was arrested in the Guera region, 500 kilometres (310 miles) from the Chadian capital "in the company of Saleh Kebzabo, leader of Chad's main opposition party," according to authorities.
Kebzabo has dismissed the minister's allegations as "gratuitous accusations" put up by the government to damage the opposition.
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, 76, has repeatedly accused people within Equatorial Guinea and elsewhere of seeking to overthrow him.
A trial of 150 other alleged coup plotters was suspended in early April, a defence lawyer said.
Obiang Nguema himself seized power in a 1979 putsch. His critics accuse him of brutal repression, election fraud and corruption.
Mali's new PM told to form 'broad' government
Mali's president on Monday named economy and finance minister Boubou Cisse as the new prime minister tasked with forming a "broad government" to stem bloodshed in the country, an official statement said.
Cisse is to replace Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga, who resigned on April 18 following a massacre of around 160 people on March 23 near the border with Burkina Faso.
Inter-communal violence has claimed some 600 lives since March 2018, according to a UN tally, and forced thousands from their homes.
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita met with envoys from majority and opposition parties to mull "the constitution of a broad government" able to join forces and advance a national process of reconstruction, the statement said.
Mass deaths of hippos in Ethiopia
About 28 hippos have been found dead at the Gibe Sheleko National Park in south-western Ethiopia, park head Behirwa Mega told the state-linked Fana Broadcasting Corporate.
The animals died between 14 April and 21 April from a suspected anthrax attack.
In 2017, about 100 hippos died following an anthrax outbreak at the Bwabwata National Park in Namibia.
And an anthrax outbreak caused the deaths of a least 10 buffaloes about two weeks ago at Kenya's Lake Nakuru National Park.
Algeria arrests five business tycoons
Algerian police on Monday arrested the country's wealthiest man hours after detaining four other business tycoons from a powerful family with links to ousted president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, state television reported.
The five are being investigated for corruption and include Issad Rebrab, the CEO of Algeria's biggest privately-owned conglomerate Cevital, according to the state broadcaster.
Forbes magazine lists Rebrab as Algeria's richest man and the sixth-wealthiest in Africa, with a net worth of $3.38 billion in 2019.
He is "suspected of having made fake statements concerning the transfer of funds to and from abroad," state television said.
Rebrab had tweeted earlier that he had gone voluntarily to a police station to discuss "equipment that has been held up at the Algiers port since June 2018."
He is suspected to have imported "used equipment" despite enjoying tax and customs breaks made available by authorities for the purchase of new material.
Late Sunday four businessmen from the powerful Kouninef family with links to Bouteflika were arrested, state television said.
Abdelkader, Reda, Karim and Tarek Kouninef were detained in relation to a probe into non-compliance with state contracts, it added.
They are being investigated for using "insider influence to obtain undue advantages and misappropriation of real estate".
The four brothers have interests rom agribusiness to civil engineering and are said to be close to Said Bouteflika, the younger brother of the deposed president
