Africa (except North Africa)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A group of miners from an unregistered, rival union are holding hundreds of their colleagues underground for a second day at a gold mine in South Africa over a union dispute, police and mine officials said Tuesday. Some 15 miners have been injured in scuffles, the head of the mine said.

KINSHASA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Elaboration on the withdrawal plan of the peacekeeping mission from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will be completed by Nov. 15, DRC Vice Prime Minister Christophe Lutundula said late Monday.

Lutundula, also the Congolese foreign minister, outlined the key phases of the withdrawal plan of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), at a press conference held Monday evening in Kinshasa, the capital of DRC, saying the elaboration on the plan already began Monday between the Congolese side and MONUSCO.

JUBA, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- The cross-border impact of the ongoing conflict in Sudan has significantly affected trade between Sudan and South Sudan amid an influx of returnees, the United Nations humanitarian agency said Monday.

The conflict, which began between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in mid-April, has resulted in reduced imports from Sudan, leading to a rise in the cost of the food basket in South Sudan, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

GOMA (DR Congo), Oct 17 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — Seven members of a family were burnt to death on Saturday night in an “arson attack” in Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, police said.

The fire broke out at around 11pm in the Katoyi neighbourhood, according to neighbours who heard the occupants of the burning house shouted for help.

According to these witnesses, the house was locked from the outside while the father, mother and children were inside.

YAOUNDE, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- President of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo on Thursday urged African nations to act together in fighting against neo-colonialism.

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Many poor countries in Africa face the harshest effects of climate change: severe droughts, vicious heat and dry land, but also unpredictable rain and devastating flooding. The shocks worsen conflict and upend livelihoods because many people are farmers — work that is increasingly vulnerable in a warming world.

LUANDA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Angola's national carrier, TAAG Angola Airlines, announced on Tuesday its plans to order four Boeing 787 wide-body aircraft for its fleet, according to a press release issued by the company.

"Our goal is to work with the best manufacturers in the world toward a multi-type fleet in order to ensure we have the appropriate airplanes for each flight typology, namely our intercontinental connections," said Eduardo Fairen, chief executive officer of TAAG Angola Airlines.

NAIROBI, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese-built Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) has been a catalyst for transformation in Kenya since its launch six years ago, a group of foreign envoys based in Kenya have said.

Speaking during a ride at the SGR passenger train from Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, to the coastal city of Mombasa Friday, the envoys noted that the modern railway project has unleashed myriad benefits including seamless mobility of people and cargo, revitalization of commerce and investments along its 472-km corridor.

ABIDJAN, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara has removed the prime minister and dissolved his government, the presidency's secretary general Aboudramane Cisse said on Friday.

No reason was provided for the unexpected move.

"The president expresses his gratitude to Prime Minister Patrick Achi and to all members of the government for their commitment to serving the nation over the past years," Cisse said.

They will remain in temporary charge until a new prime minister and government are appointed, he added.

MOGADISHU, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- More than 30 al-Shabab militants were killed and several others injured in heavy fighting between al-Shabab and Somali National Army (SNA) backed by forces from Galmudug State near Wisil town in central Somalia Wednesday, an official said Thursday.

Deputy Minister of Information, Culture, and Tourism, Abdirahman Yusuf Al-Adala, said that the joint forces defeated al-Shabab militants who were regrouping in areas east of the Mudug region by flushing them out of their strongholds.