Africa (except North Africa)

MOGADISHU, Jan 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A US air strike assisting government troops in Somalia has killed about 30 al-Shabaab militants, the US military says.

The operation happened near the town of Galcad, about 260km northeast of the capital Mogadishu.

Over the past few days, the Somali army and al-Shabaab militants have fought for control of the town.

Friday’s air strike came as the army was being attacked by more than 100 militants, the US Africa Command says.

Earlier the militants killed seven soldiers after storming a military base in Galcad.

YAOUNDE, Jan 22 (Reuters) - The mutilated body of a prominent Cameroonian journalist was found on Sunday near the capital Yaounde five days after he was abducted by unidentified assailants, the press union and a colleague said on Sunday.

Media advocates described Martinez Zogo's disappearance and death as a further sign of the perils of reporting in the African country.

KILIFI, Kenya, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- At least four people were killed after a boat capsized in Kenya's coastal town of Kilifi, local police confirmed on Sunday.

The boat lost control after being hit by strong waves on Saturday before capsizing in the Indian Ocean, Malindi Divisional Police Commander Solomon Odero said, adding that the boat was ferrying tourists who had gone for a dolphin watch expedition at the Watamu Marine National Park.

HARARE, Jan 20 (NNN-IRIN) – Zimbabwe’s exports of manufactured or valued added products, increased 13 percent to 334 million U.S. dollars, in the first 11 months of 2022, compared to 295 million U.S. dollars during the same period in 2021, trade promotion body ZimTrade said yesterday.

Zimbabwe has been on a drive to ensure that extractors of raw materials beneficiate them, before exporting, so that the country earns more foreign currency.

Recently, the country banned the exportation of raw lithium ore, pushing miners to install processing plants.

LAGOS, Jan 21 (NNN-NAN) – Nigerian police confirmed yesterday that, six pupils were abducted on their way to school, in the country’s central state of Nasarawa.

Ramhan Nansel, spokesman for the police in Nasarawa, told reporters in Lafia, the state capital, that, the pupils of a public primary school, aged between seven and eight years, were taken away by unidentified gunmen on motorbikes, from a road in Alwaza town of the state, yesterday morning.

GOREE ISLAND, Senegal (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen paid a solemn visit Saturday to the salmon-colored house on an island off Senegal that is one of the most recognized symbols of the horrors of the Atlantic slave trade that trapped tens of millions of Africans in bondage for generations.

BANJUL, Jan 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Gambia’s Vice President Badara Alieu Joof has died of illness in India, President Adama Barrow said on Wednesday.

Joof, 65, was appointed vice president of the West African country in 2022. He previously served as education minister from 2017 to 2022.

Barrow said on Twitter that Joof had died “after a short illness”, without providing further detail, including when he died.

The vice president had left The Gambia about three weeks ago to seek medical treatment and had not been seen in public for months before the trip.

JOHANNESBURG, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa Wednesday extended his best wishes to the government and people of China on the occasion of the Chinese Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival.

"My dear brothers and sisters from China and all Chinese communities around the world: I wish you all a happy Lunar New Year and a prosperous Spring Festival 2023," Ramaphosa said in a statement posted on the website of the Presidency.

KAMPALA, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Uganda on Tuesday hailed China for the support it continues to give to countries under the South-South cooperation framework.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has canceled his trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos in order to deal with his country’s worsening power blackouts.

Ramaphosa’s office made the announcement in a statement late Sunday. He had been scheduled to lead a delegation from South Africa to the Swiss resort town to promote the country as an investment destination.

But public outrage over the electricity crisis has forced him to hold urgent meetings at home.