Africa (except North Africa)

17 Nov 2018; AFP: Eight United Nations peacekeepers were killed in an operation against a rebel militia in eastern DR Congo, the UN Security Council said on Thursday.

One Tanzanian and seven Malawian peacekeepers were killed, the council said, raising the toll from an earlier count.

The deaths mark the biggest loss by the large UN force in the Democratic Republic of Congo since the rebels killed 15 troops nearly a year ago.

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Congo’s latest Ebola outbreak is the worst in the country’s recorded history with 319 confirmed and probable cases, the health ministry said.

The deadly virus has killed about 198 people since the outbreak was declared Aug. 1 in the volatile east, the ministry said. Those dead include 163 confirmed Ebola cases, with 35 probable deaths. Nearly 100 people have survived Ebola.

This is Congo’s 10th outbreak since 1976, when the hemorrhagic fever was first identified in Yambuku, in the Equateur province, the ministry said.

CAPE TOWN, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- A major South African trade union on Friday added its voice to the chorus for lifting the decades-old U.S. embargo against Cuba.

The economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba for almost six decades "is evil, deplorable, unjust, severe and extended system of unilateral sanctions ever applied against any country," the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said.

Addis Ababa, Oct 25 (AFP) Ethiopia on Thursday appointed a woman to the largely ceremonial position of president for the first time.

In a unanimous vote, Ethiopian lawmakers picked career diplomat Sahle-Work Zewde to replace Mulatu Teshome who resigned.

Sahle-Work, who is in her late 60s, has been Ethiopia's ambassador to France, Djibouti, Senegal and the regional bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

Just prior to her appointment as president she was the UN's top official at the African Union.

Kinshasa, Oct 6; GANASHAKTI: About 50 people died and 100 were burnt on Saturday after an oil tanker collided with a vehicle on an arterial highway in the west of DR Congo, the acting governor of the region said.

"We have about 50 dead and a 100 people have suffered second degree burns," said Atou Matabuana, the interim governor of Kongo Central region, according to the actualite.cd website.

The accident occurred on a highway linking the capital Kinshasa to the country's sole port at Matadi on the Atlantic Ocean.

CAPE TOWN, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- The South African government on Thursday welcomed the decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which orders the United States to ensure that sanctions against Iran do not affect humanitarian aid and civil aviation safety.

The ICJ, which is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, ordered the United States on Wednesday to remove any impediments to the free exportation to Iran of goods required for humanitarian assistance, as well as goods and services required for the safety of civil aviation.

JOHANNESBURG; 29 Sep 2018; (AP) — The World Health Organization says the risk of the deadly Ebola virus spreading from Congo is now “very high” after two confirmed cases were discovered near the Uganda border.

The outbreak in northeastern Congo is larger than the previous one in the northwest and more complicated for health officials. Some of their work was briefly suspended in the past week following a deadly attack in Beni by one of several rebel groups active in the region.

ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia has cut mobile internet access in the capital city Addis Ababa, amidst deadly unrest that left five people dead in the city on Monday.

Officials from the state telecom monopoly Ethio-Telecom weren't immediately available for comments on the reason for the mobile internet cut, or why the cut was restricted to Addis Ababa and its surrounding region.

It is estimated that the majority of Ethiopia's 50 million plus mobile phone users browse webpages largely or exclusively through their mobile handsets.

BANGUI, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Central African Republic (CAR) stands ready to join the Belt and Road Initiative and wants its central location in Africa to be an advantage, President Faustin-Archange Touadera said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

In the run-up to the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), Touadera said the Belt and Road Initiative is "the important subject of connectivity."

by Ronald Ssekandi

LUWEERO, Uganda, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- At a middle school called Everest College in Luweero town of the Luweero district in central Uganda, Smith Mugisha said that he already has learned the Chinese language for nearly one year.

Customs in the Chinese culture must be followed in Chinese language learning, just like chopsticks have to be used when eating food, Mugisha said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Mugisha is among the 500 students at this middle school who have enrolled to learn the Chinese language.