Africa (except North Africa)

17 May 2023; MEMO: The main opposition parties in Mauritania have rejected the results of the parliamentary, regional and local elections held last Saturday, describing them as "heavily manipulated". They have called for the results in a number of areas to be annulled, including those in the capital, Nouakchott.

CAPE TOWN, May 16 (Reuters) - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy had agreed to meet a group of African leaders to discuss a potential peace plan for the conflict.

Details of the plan have not been publicly divulged, although Ukraine's stated position for any peace deal is that all Russian troops must withdraw from its territory.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Floods caused by the annual rains have left “a trail of destruction” across Somalia, a United Nations spokesman said, citing inundated homes and farmland as well as the shutdown of health facilities.

“According to early estimates by our partners, more than 460,000 people have been impacted, including nearly 219,000 men, women and children who have been displaced due to this (flooding),” Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

14 May 2023; MEMO: At least 44 al-Shabaab terrorists were killed in a security operation in Somalia's Lower Shabelle region, the country's Information Ministry said on Saturday, Anadolu reports.

The operation was conducted on Friday by the national intelligence and security agency backed by Somalia's international partners on the outskirts of Kurtowarey, a small town located 208 kilometers (229 miles) southwest of the nation's capital Mogadishu.

LUSAKA, May 14 (NNN-ZANIS) – Twenty-four people died and 12 others sustained serious injuries, when a bus they were travelling in, hit a truck in southern Zambia, the police said, yesterday.

Zambian Police Deputy Public Relations Officer, Danny Mwale, said, preliminary investigations indicated that the bus, with 35 passengers on board, overturned, falling on the left side of the road into a ditch, after the bus hit the back of the truck. The bus driver is among the injured.

The accident left the bus extensively damaged, and the truck’s rear bumper damaged, Mwale said.

MOGADISHU, May 14 (Xinhua) -- The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) said on Sunday that it has stepped up preparations for the withdrawal of 2,000 soldiers by June 30 from Somalia.

13 May 2023; AA: South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said late Friday that US Ambassador Reuben Brigety apologized to the government and people of South Africa for his comments made a day earlier. 

Brigety told reporters Thursday that the US was convinced South Africa had supplied arms to Russia despite claims to be neutral.

ACCRA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) lauded the decision by Ghana's official creditors to grant the West African country their financing assurances, said a press release late Friday.

"I welcome the statement from the Official Creditor Committee for Ghana on the importance of an IMF-supported economic program, together with its commitment to negotiate debt restructuring terms accordingly," said Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the IMF.

NAIROBI, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The 22nd Chinese bridge-Chinese language proficiency competition for foreign college students was held at the University of Nairobi, Kenya's oldest University, Friday with winners scooping prizes and certificates of recognition.

Among the participants at the Kenya division finals of the Chinese language proficiency competition were diplomats, business executives, university faculty members and students.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africa’s foreign ministry summoned the U.S. Ambassador to a meeting Friday over allegations he made a day earlier that the country had provided arms and ammunition to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

Amid the diplomatic fallout over the allegations by the United States, South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor will also speak with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (effectively the foreign ministry), said in a statement posted by spokesman Clayson Monyela on Twitter.