Guinea's opposition party, Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG), has announced the death of one of its detained spokespersons.
Roger Bamba who was detained in September - just before the October polls - was taken to the hospital on Wednesday but died that evening.
A member of the party's communications unit Joachim Baba Milimono said: "We regret to announce the death of Roger Bamba, communicator of the UFDG. He was detained on 6 September 2020 and held without trial at the central prison, Conde regime's famous prison."
The official added that the deceased "was transported to the Ignace Deen hospital on the evening of Wednesday, 16 December, for emergency care where he died on the same evening".
At a press conference on Wednesday, UFDG's leader Cellou Dalein Diallo denounced the arbitrary arrest and the illegal detention of his supporters by President Alpha Conde.
EU Chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier says the UK and EU have "very little time remaining" for an agreement.
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Ethiopia offers cash reward in hunt for Tigray leaders
Kalkidan Yibeltal
BBC News, Addis Ababa
Ethiopia's defence ministry has announced a
reward of 10 million-birr ($256,000) for tips leading to the arrest of Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) figures that the government says are
wanted.
The announcement of was made on Friday by Lt Gen Asrat Denero who said the reward was meant to help arrest the wanted individuals quickly.
Last month arrest warrants were issued for more than 60 senior
leaders of the TPLF.
More arrest warrants were later issued for dozens of other
current and former army officials.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed last month announced the end of the military offensive after Tigray's capital, Mekelle, fell to the federal army.
Nothing has been heard from the TPLF leaders in recent days, but they had earlier vowed to continue fighting until federal troops - whom they
call invaders - leave Tigray.
The whereabouts of many of the TPLF leaders including its
chairman Debrestion Gebremichael are unknown.
The government had earlier said
that it had apprehended just two top TPLF figures.
One of them, former speaker
of the upper house of parliament Keria Ibrahim, was said to have surrendered to authorities more than two weeks ago but she has not been seen since.
It is also not clear if she has been taken to any court.
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BreakingBurundi's ex-president Buyoya dies at 71
Didier Bikorimana
BBC Great Lakes Service
AFPCopyright: AFP
Former President of Burundi Pierre Buyoya has died aged 71,
his cousin and a diplomatic source have confirmed to the BBC.
The family source said he died in Paris on Thursday
due to Covid-19 complications.
The retired army major had two spells in power for a total of 13
years after overthrowing his predecessors.
In October, he was sentenced in absentia to life
imprisonment by a Burundi court accused of assassinating the country’s first
democratically elected President Melchior Ndadaye in 1993 – which sparked the
killing of an estimated 300,000 people.
He denied any wrongdoing.
Last month, he resigned from an African Union role as envoy
to the Sahel region, saying he wanted to devote more time on clearing his name.
BreakingBurundi's ex-president Pierre Buyoya dies at 71
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
Burundi's former President Pierre Buyoya has died, according to the head of communications in the president's office, Willy Nyamitwe.
He tweeted that "the death of the former President Pierre Buyoya
is confirmed, there is no longer any doubt"'
The AFP nquotes family members as saying that the former president died in Paris of Covid-19.
Mr Buyoya, an ethnic Tutsi, was president twice, from 1987 to 1993 and from 1996 to 2003.
He was later involved in the peace process that ended a brutal civil war and led to the election, in 2005, of former Hutu rebel leader Pierre Nkurunziza as president.
Ethiopia probing cross-border attack on Sudanese troops
Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has said his government is "closely following" a cross-border attack on Sudanese troops by Ethiopian forces and militia.
Sudan's army on Wednesday issued a statement saying one of its units was hit by "an ambush by Ethiopian forces and militias inside Sudanese territories", AFP reported.
There were "casualties and damage".
Mr Abiy has said such incidents will not break the bond between the two countries as "we always use dialogue to resolve issues".
"Those fanning discord clearly do not understand the strength of our historical ties," he tweeted.
The governor was serving his second and final term after he was re-elected in 2017.
His deputy, Amos Nyaribo, will take over as governor for the remaining period of the term until the 2022 elections in accordance with Kenya's constitution.
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Moroccan man jailed for life over foiled Paris train attack
Hugh Schofield
BBC News, Paris
A Moroccan man who tried to carry out a gun attack on a high-speed train between Brussels and Paris in August 2015 has been sentenced to life in prison by a French court.
Three other men were found guilty of helping the 31-year-old plan the attack. They were given sentences of between seven and 27 years as accomplices.
Ayoub el-Khazzani was overpowered by fellow passengers on the Thalys train, including two off-duty American soldiers.
He had boarded the train with a kalashnkov and a pistol hidden in his back-pack, but when he emerged from the lavatory ready to shoot he was immediately confronted by fellow-passengers.
In the fight that followed his gun initially failed to fire, and he was overpowered and delivered to the police.
In his summing up, the judge said there was no doubt el-Khazzani had intended to carry out a mass-killing.
He’d only failed because of an unlikely combination of circumstances, and the bravery of those who intervened.
El-Khazzani had come to Europe from Syria earlier in 2015 in the company of an Islamic State agent called Abdelhamid Abaooud.
He was the man who three months later organised the Bataclan and street café massacres in Paris.
UN donates $35m aid for civilians in Tigray
The United Nations has announced a $35m (£26m) emergency aid package for civilians caught up in the fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
Government forces have been battling Tigray fighters since 4 November.
The UN said $25m will be used to purchase medicines for the sick and injured civilians in Ethiopia, and to buy food and drinking water.
A further $10.6m will be used to provide shelter, health care and drinking water for the tens of thousands of refugees who have fled to neighbouring Sudan.
“Conflicts like this are hard to stop once they get out of control, the lives they extinguish cannot be brought back, and the grievances they create are long lasting. Right now, children are cut off from help. We need unfettered access now,” UN emergency relief coordinator, Mark Lowcock, said.
Kenya senators uphold Nairobi governor's impeachment
Emmanuel Igunza
BBC News, Nairobi
The governor of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, Mike Sonko Mbuvi, has been removed from office
after the senate upheld his impeachment by the regional assembly.
Senators found Mr Sonko guilty of four charges including gross violation of
the constitution, abuse of office, gross misconduct and other crimes under the
national law.
Among allegations filed against
him by Nairobi county legislators were accusations of using public monies to
fund his daughter's trip to New York in 2018 and misuse of bursary funds for
underprivileged children in Nairobi.
Mr Sonko, known for his flashy
lifestyle and clothes that include gold jewellery, denied the charges claiming he
was a victim of corrupt cartels in Nairobi, which are fighting his attempts to
stop public looting.
The ousted governor is no
stranger to controversy. Prison authorities in Kenya recently accused him of
escaping from a maximum facility 20 years ago. Mr Sonko has publicly admitted
to the prison break during a live television interview.
Last December, he was
arrested on suspicion of corruption.
He once included bottles of
Hennessy as part of Covid-19 sanitation kits distributed to Nairobians claiming
“ the alcohol content in the drink could stop coronavirus".
Mr Sonko was elected Nairobi governor in 2017 on a ticket of President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee Party.
But the two have since fallen
out with President Kenyatta forcing through a deal that saw major functions of
the county moved to the national government.
Mr Kenyatta also appointed a
serving military general to run the county, and in effect making Mr Sonko a
ceremonial governor
Sonko, who took part in the ceremony
to hand over the county functions, later claimed that he had been drunk while
signing the documents.
A populist, who started his
political career in Eastlands Nairobi, the former governor enjoys massive
support among the youth in poor and slum areas of the capital.
He runs his own Sonko Rescue
Team - which provide ambulances, fire engines, hearses and wedding
limousines to residents of the capital. But critics accuse his outfit of being a
parallel public service provider with no clear source of funding.
Residents of Nairobi will now
have to go for a by-election in 60 days as Mr Sonko has no serving
deputy.
He becomes the second sitting
governor to be impeached after Kiambu county’s Ferdinand Waititu was removed
from office in January facing similar charges. Mr Waititu denied any wrongdoing.
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