Africa (except North Africa)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African convicted murderer who faked his death to escape from prison has been arrested in Tanzania following a two-week manhunt, police have announced.

South African officials are going to Tanzania Sunday to begin to extradite Thabo Bester, 35, dubbed the “Facebook Rapist” as he used the social media platform to lure at least two women he was convicted of raping. He was also found guilty of killing one.

Bester was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012 and it was reported in May last year that he died in a fire in his prison cell.

08 Apr 2023; MEMO: The Zimbabwean government has condemned the Israeli violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque and called on Israeli police to unconditionally withdraw its forces from the Muslim holy site.

MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — Gobonamang Kgetho has a deep affection for Africa’s largest inland delta, the Okavango. It is his home.

The water and wildlife-rich land is fed by rivers in the Angolan highlands that flow into northern Botswana before draining into Namibia’s Kalahari Desert sands. Several Indigenous and local communities and a vast array of species including African elephants, black rhinos and cheetahs live among the vibrant marshlands. Much of the surrounding region is also teeming with wildlife.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A pilot in South Africa made a hasty emergency landing after discovering a highly venomous cobra hiding under his seat.

Rudolf Erasmus had four passengers on board the light aircraft during Monday’s flight when he felt “something cold” slide across his lower back. He glanced down to see the head of a fairly large Cape Cobra “receding back under the seat,” he said.

“It was as if my brain didn’t know what was going on,” he told The Associated Press.

KWALE, Kenya, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan tea traders are facing challenges in getting payment for their produce in key markets such as Egypt due to a shortage of U.S. dollars in the North African nation, a government official said on Wednesday.

Cabinet Secretary for Investments, Trade and Industry Moses Kuria said the shortage has made it harder for buyers in Egypt to pay for the produce affecting demand.

"The produce is there, but there are no ways for payment," he said during an ICT (information and communications technology) summit in the coastal town of Kwale.

NAIROBI, April 3 (NNN-KBC) — Kenyan President William Ruto has distanced his administration from allegations of planning to shut down the media and internet during the protests being led by the opposition.

In his address to the nation, Ruto noted the government has interest in attacking the media adding that journalists may have been caught up in the violence witnessed during the protests alongside other Kenyans.

NAIROBI, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Monday that Africa has the highest compliance rate with the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Elizabeth Mrema, deputy executive director of the UNEP, told a continental forum in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi that African countries have demonstrated leadership as up to 98 percent of them have submitted their nationally determined contributions which outline their country's targets to reduce greenhouse emissions.

MOGADISHU, April 2 (Xinhua) -- The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) marked a year of service in Somalia on Saturday with a renewed commitment to strengthening cooperation and building partnerships to enhance peace and stability in the country.

QUELIMANE, Mozambique (AP) — Weeks after massive Cyclone Freddy hit Mozambique for a second time, the still-flooded country is facing a spiraling cholera outbreak that threatens to add to the devastation.

There were over 19,000 confirmed cases of cholera across eight of Mozambique’s provinces as of March 27, according to U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, a figure which had almost doubled in a week.

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AP) — When Vice President Kamala Harris touches down in Lusaka, Zambia on Friday for the final stop of her weeklong trip across Africa, she’ll see a glittering new airport that’s doubled in size.

Rather than a symbol of promising local development, it’s a reminder of China’s deep influence there. Beijing financed the project, one of many that has expanded its footprint on a booming continent that’s rich in natural resources, often generating goodwill among its citizens.