Africa (except North Africa)

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 11 (Reuters) - South Africa's last white president F.W. de Klerk, who died on Thursday aged 85, stunned the world when he scrapped apartheid and negotiated a peaceful transfer of power to a Black-led government under Nelson Mandela.

But while he was feted globally and shared the Nobel Peace prize with the revered Mandela, de Klerk earned only scorn from many Blacks outraged by his failure to curb political violence in the turbulent years leading up to all-race elections in 1994.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — American and British citizens have been swept up in Ethiopia’s mass detentions of ethnic Tigrayans under a new state of emergency in the country’s escalating war, The Associated Press has found.

NAIROBI, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Ethiopian authorities have detained more than 70 drivers working with the United Nations, a U.N. spokesperson said, amid international alarm over reported widespread arrests of ethnic Tigrayans as the war in the country's north escalates.

The ethnicity of the 72 drivers was not clear. The U.N. spokesperson said the drivers are contractors of the U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) and were arrested in Semera, the capital city of Afar region.

MOGADISHU, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Somali National Army (SNA) on Wednesday killed nine al-Shabab terrorists during the ongoing security operation in Awdhigle district in the southern part of the country.

The SNA commanders said the troops which have intensified the onslaught against the extremist group destroyed the militants' key hideout at Shamgare and Raqeyle villages in the Lower Shabelle region.

According to SNA Radio, the SNA troops later took over Kabis jungle, al-Shabab's biggest hideout in the Gedo region during the security operation in the region.

9 Nov 2021; MEMO: Sixteen UN national staff have been detained in Ethiopia, while six others have been released, according to a spokesman on Tuesday.

"We are, of course, actively working with the Government of Ethiopia to secure their immediate release," Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said at a news conference.

"No explanation was given to the international body why the staffers were detained," said Dujarric.

Ethiopian authorities have yet to comment.

9 Nov 2021; MEMO: President Hakainde Hichilema, on Tuesday, ordered Zambians who live and work in Ethiopia to leave because of civil unrest in the East African nation.

"Fellow Zambians, on my orders, we have today safely evacuated our fellow citizens from Ethiopia. We thank the Ethiopian authorities for their cooperation and everyone involved in this operation and we pray that the conflict in Ethiopia is resolved as soon as possible," Hichilema's office said in a statement.

CAPE TOWN, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) said Sunday that it will not form coalitions with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party to govern over a quarter of municipalities across the country.

DA will not enter into any coalition agreement with the ANC and the third largest party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), DA leader John Steenhuisen virtually briefed media after the country's local government elections.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A new round of deadly attacks and forced conscription has begun against ethnic Tigrayans in an area of Ethiopia now controlled by Amhara regional authorities in collaboration with soldiers from neighboring Eritrea, people fleeing over the border to Sudan tell The Associated Press as the yearlong war intensifies.

FREETOWN, Nov 6 (Reuters) - At least 99 people were killed and more than 100 injured in the capital of Sierra Leone late on Friday when a fuel tanker exploded following a collision, local authorities said.

Emergency crews worked to clear the scene on Saturday in Freetown's eastern suburb of Wellington where a burnt body and the blackened shells of cars and motorbikes blocked the road following the crash, a Reuters reporter said.

The wounded were treated in hospitals and clinics across the capital, deputy health minister Amara Jambai told Reuters.

DAR ES SALAAM, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian authorities said Saturday that between 80,000 and 100,000 people will be vaccinated against COVID-19 daily during the second phase of the inoculation campaign.

A statement by the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children said the permanent secretary in the ministry, Abel Makubi, revealed the acceleration of the vaccination in a meeting with regional medical officers and COVID-19 vaccination coordinators in the capital of Dodoma.