Africa (except North Africa)

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Double-amputee Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius was granted parole Friday, 10 years after shooting his girlfriend through a toilet door at his home in South Africa in a killing that jolted the world. He will be released from prison on Jan. 5, but will be constantly monitored by parole officials for five years until his sentence expires, the Department of Corrections said.

PRETORIA, Nov 22 (NNN-SANEWS) –The BRICS group of nations has strongly called for an immediate and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities in the situation in the Middle East.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, as Chair of the BRICS group of nations, convened a BRICS Extraordinary Joint Meeting on Tuesday to exchange views on the current situation in Gaza and other Palestinian Occupied Territories as well as its spillover effects. 

CAPE TOWN, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The South African parliament on Tuesday voted in favor of a motion to shut down the Israeli embassy in Pretoria and suspend all diplomatic relations with Israel until it agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza.

A total of 248 members of the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, voted in favor of the non-binding motion, while 91 lawmakers opposed it.

The motion was tabled by the opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters, and was backed by the ruling African National Congress.

LUSAKA, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the European Union (EU) on Monday signed two financing agreements with a total value of 48.2 million euros (53 million U.S. dollars).

The new grants to COMESA will focus on improving the overall trade competitiveness of COMESA member states and enhancing their market access.

COMESA Secretary-General Chileshe Kapwepwe commended the EU for the financial support, saying the two agreements will play an important role in enhancing overall competitiveness.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders from the BRICS bloc of developing countries will hold a virtual meeting on the Israel-Hamas war on Tuesday, with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also participating.

The leaders of fellow BRICS members Brazil, India and South Africa, as well as of Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, which are set to join the bloc in January, will also take part, according to the office of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

KINSHASA, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- The campaign for the presidential, legislative and local elections, scheduled for Dec. 20, 2023, officially began Sunday in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Twenty-six candidates for the presidential elections have been registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), including President Felix Tshisekedi who is competing for his reelection.

DAR ES SALAAM, Nov 18 (NNN-DAILYNEWS) — TANZANIA has called on the international communities to support economic growth of developing countries including Tanzania in order to widen the scope of participation of their citizens.

The call was made by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa while presenting the government declaration the inaugural session of the Second Voice of Global South Summit (VOGSS) held virtually on Friday under the chairmanship of Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India.

MONROVIA, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Liberia President George Weah on Friday conceded election defeat to opposition leader Joseph Boakai after a tight race, ending a presidency marred by graft allegations but helping to ensure a smooth transition of power in the once volatile African nation.

Boakai, 78, a former vice president who lost to Weah in the 2017 election, led with 50.9% of the vote over Weah's 49.1%, with nearly all the votes counted, the country's elections commission said on Friday.

HARARE, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe's capital city Harare has declared a state of emergency following rising cases of cholera which have seen the country recording 51 cholera-related deaths, while the number of suspected cholera-related deaths stood at 149 as of Thursday night.

Harare City Council spokesperson Stanley Gama told Xinhua Friday that the council on Thursday held a special meeting where it decided to declare the pandemic a state of emergency.

KIGALI, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, in collaboration with the Rwandan Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources and the City of Kigali, launched a campaign on Thursday to plant fruit trees in 100 schools in the Rwandan capital.

The campaign, dubbed "Healthy Forest, Healthy Planet," aims at promoting environmental awareness and sustainable agriculture in schools and in farms by planting more than 20,000 trees.