Africa (except North Africa)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Thamsanqa Mothobi was going about his life in Johannesburg when he was carjacked and taken to an informal settlement where robbers accessed his mobile banking apps.

“They had guns and demanded the PIN codes for my apps. They increased the withdrawal limits in my accounts and emptied them. I was only released in the early hours of the morning,” the father of three said, adding that his one comfort was that he was not killed.

NAIROBI, Jan 5 (NNN-KBC) – The number of Kenyans in need of humanitarian assistance stands at 1.5 million, with a majority of them having been affected by floods, caused by the recent El Nino rains, the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) said in a report, yesterday.

“An assessment of the impact of the 2023 long rainy season on food and nutrition security projected that, the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance during the Oct, 2023 to Jan, 2024, period, would drop to 1.5 million from 2.8 million in Jul, 2023,” NDMA said.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia’s president on Tuesday rejected an agreement signed between Ethiopia and the breakaway region of Somaliland to give landlocked Ethiopia access to its coast, calling it a violation of international law.

“We will not stand idly by and watch our sovereignty being compromised,” President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told a joint session of Somalia’s federal parliament.

KINSHASA, Jan 1 (NNN-IRIN) – Felix Tshisekedi has been re-elected as president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for a second five-year term, securing 73.34 percent of the total votes cast in the elections, held on Dec 20, the Independent National Electoral Commission said, yesterday.

Moise Katumbi, one of the main opposition candidates, attained the second position with about 18 percent of the votes, according to the commission.

The commission reported that over 18 million people, out of a total of 44 million registered voters, cast their ballots.

OUAGADOUGOU, Dec 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russia has reopened its embassy in Burkina Faso after it was shut more than 30 years ago, officials have said.

Burkina Faso was a close ally of former colonial power France, but has pivoted towards Russia since the military seized power in a coup in 2022.

The junta has expelled French diplomats and has shut France’s military base in the country.

At the same time, it has been strengthening military and diplomatic ties with Russia.

France had condemned the coup in Burkina Faso, as well as in neighbouring Mali and Niger.

Dec 30 (Reuters) - Over 1,000 Burundian troops have been covertly deployed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo since October, wearing the uniform of Congolese troops and working alongside them in the fight against M23 rebels, an unpublished U.N. report seen by Reuters showed.

Citing security and intelligence sources and sources close to Congolese army command, the report by the U.N. Group of Experts in Congo said the troops were airlifted from Burundi to eastern Congo by Congolese army planes starting from Sept. 21.

KINSHASA, Dec 28 (Reuters) - The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Thursday refused opposition calls for a re-run of disputed elections, as the main observer mission reported "numerous irregularities" that could undermine some results.

Provisional results issued so far from the Dec. 20 general election show President Felix Tshisekedi with a commanding lead, but his opponents have demanded they be annulled, citing widespread issues with the roll-out and tabulation of the vote.

HARARE, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe and Zambia will experience further curtailed electricity generation from their two hydropower stations at Lake Kariba following a reduction in water allocation to their two power utilities for the coming year by the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA).

ZRA announced Thursday that the Zimbabwe Power Company and Zambia's ZESCO Limited would equally share 16 billion cubic meters (BCM), down from the revised 30 BCM in 2023, as water inflows into the lake remained low because of poor rains in recent years.

NAIROBI, December 22. /TASS/: The last French troops left Niger on Friday, AFP reported, citing Nigerien military.

"Today's date marks the end of the disengagement process of French forces in the Sahel," Niger Army Lieutenant Salim Ibrahim said at a ceremony at Niamey Air Base, which used to be home to some French troops.

KINSHASA, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Voters in Democratic Republic of Congo were waiting on Friday for the first results from general elections after an unscheduled day-long ballot extension that prompted some opposition candidates to cry foul and call for a rerun.

The vote will determine whether President Felix Tshisekedi serves a second term after a first five years in office marked by economic hardship and spiralling insecurity in Congo's rebel-plagued east.