🇬🇳 IMF board approves $71 million for Guinea under food shock window

The International Monetary Fund's executive board has approved a disbursement of $71 million for Guinea under its new "food shock window," to help it address urgent balance of payment needs related to the global food crisis, the IMF said on Thursday.

#Guinea

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🇺🇦 Ukraine to boost diplomacy in Africa, other regions

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that Kyiv would intensify diplomatic efforts in Africa, Latin America and Asia to take advantage of "colossal economic potential" and other international benefits.

#Ukraine

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🇲🇱 Mali suspends agricultural exports

Effective immediately, the Malian government has banned the export of rice, millet, sorghum, corn and cotton.

In doing so, Mali joins the list of dozens of countries which have banned food exports this year to protect domestic food security amid market chaos caused by the blockage of Russian and Ukrainian exports. This further aggravates food shortages in former export destinations.

🇩🇪🇹🇳 Germany's KfW lends Tunisia 300 million euros to finance development

German state lender KfW lent 300 million euros ($319 million) to Tunisia to finance projects in renewable energy, water and rural development, officials said.

The agreement was signed in Tunisia's foreign ministry.

#Germany #Tunisia

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🇨🇩 Congo's M23 rebels withdraw from seized positions in goodwill gesture

Democratic Republic of Congo's M23 rebels on Friday began withdrawing from some territories they had seized in recent offensives as part of what one of the group's leaders termed a goodwill gesture in a ceasefire brokered by East African regional leaders.

The rebels handed over positions they had occupied around Kibumba, some 20 km (12.4 miles) north of the Congolese city of Goma, to commanding officers of the East African Community regional force.

#DRC

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🇿🇦 Eight killed in Boksburg in gas tanker explosion

At least eight people were killed on Saturday morning when a gas tanker exploded in Boksburg on the East Rand.

According to Ekurhuleni emergency services, the tanker became stuck under a subway bridge in Hospital Road and caught alight and exploded.

“It ripped the railway bridge completely off. We can confirm eight fatalities for now,” said spokesperson William Ntladi.

#SouthAfrica

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🇿🇦 Footage shows gas tanker stuck under the bridge before explosion in Boksburg, South Africa

#SouthAfrica

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🇲🇼 Malawi's cholera outbreak passes 400 deaths

Health authorities in Malawi announced on Thursday that the death toll from the cholera outbreak has passed 400.

Since the first cases were reported in March the number of infections has been increasing nearing almost 14 thousand.

#Malawi

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🇪🇹 Ethiopia: State investigators releases final report on deadly 2019 Boeing 737-8 Max crash

Nearly four years after the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 that killed 157 people, Ethiopian officials reiterated their accusations towards Boeing over mechanical faults they say downed the 737-MAX 8 aircraft.

The head of Ethiopia's investigation, Amdeye Ayalew, blamed Boeing for their failure to "disclose early and attentively" issues with the 737-MAX 8's Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS).

The aircraft, which was bound for the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, came down minutes after taking off from Addis Ababa.

#Ethiopia

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🇸🇩 Sudan: FFC denies setting specific date target for Final Agreement as negotiations take longer

Shehab Ibrahim, spokesperson for the mainstream Forces for Freedom and Change-Change-Central Council (FFC-CC), denied the FFC set any date for signing the Final Agreement with the military junta and admitted that a two-week period is not sufficient to resolve the five outstanding issues.

The thorny issues are concerned with justice and transitional justice, security and military reform, approaches to empowerment removal, possible amendments to the Juba Peace Agreement, and governance issues regarding eastern Sudan.

#Sudan

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🇺🇳🇧🇫 U.N. says Burkina Faso has no grounds to expel senior official

he United Nations on Saturday said Burkina Faso had no grounds for ordering senior U.N. official Barbara Manzi to leave the country and that the doctrine of "persona non grata" could not be applied to her.

Burkina Faso's military government on Friday put out a statement instructing Manzi to leave the West African country with immediate effect.

#UN #BurkinaFaso

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🇱🇾 Eastern Libyan commander announces 'final opportunity' to hold elections - TV

The Libyan National Army (LNA) of eastern commander Khalifa Haftar on Saturday announced "a final opportunity" to draw up a road map for elections, Libyan al-Hadath TV reported.

Haftar waged war on factions in the west after the country split in 2014.

Libya has risked sliding back towards civil war with politicians thwarting progress towards elections and military leaders threatening violence.

#Libya

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🇿🇦 South Africa: Power cuts to continue into 2023

South Africa must prepare for a prolonged electricity crisis, Eskom warned on Friday, as it struggles to power the continent's top industrial powerhouse.

The state-owned company promised a Christmas Day reprieve from the unprecedented and prolonged blackouts the country has been suffering for months, attributed to sabotage but mostly to outdated coal-fired power stations, as well as problems of incompetence and outright corruption.

#SouthAfrica

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🇳🇬 Nigeria to reschedule $53 bln in loans to cope with downturn

Nigeria will restructure a total of $53 billion in short-term loans owed to its central bank to 40-year debt at 9% interest, President Muhammadu Buhari said in a letter to parliament seeking approval for the transaction.

Africa's largest economy has struggled with low revenues due to crude theft in its oil-producing region. Oil theft cost it more than $2 billion during the first eight months of this year, a Senate investigation found in November.

#Nigeria

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🇬🇦 Gabon's PDG appeals to president Ondimba to seek re-election

The Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) ended a congress on Saturday with a call for the Head of State, Ali Bongo Ondimba, to seek re-election next year.

Gabon will go to the polls in august 2023 to pick a new president.

#Gabon

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🇿🇦 South Africa counts damage, death by tanker truck explosion

South Africa was coming to grips Sunday with the full extent of the destruction and deaths caused by a Christmas Eve tanker truck explosion near Johannesburg as officials reported the death toll rising to 15.

#SouthAfrica

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🇨🇩 DRC forces describe M23 withdrawal as a "decoy"

The Congolese army described the withdrawal of M23 rebels from a strategic town near the regional capital, Goma, as a "decoy".

According to the army, the rebels were strengthening their positions in other areas.

In recent months the M23 rebels have conquered vast areas in eastern Congo advancing within a few dozen kilometres of Goma.

#DRC

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🇩🇿 Algeria's ride hailing services app Yassir eyes expansion to more countries

Algerian transport services app Yassir has seen its workforce grow from five employees in 2017 to over 1,000 in six countries, and its co-founder says there is more room for growth.

The popular phone app provides ride-hailing, grocery drop-off and payment services, operating in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, South Africa, Senegal and France.

#Algeria

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