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Daily News on Issues Affecting Africa for January 28, 2015

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Continue reading for a summary of recent news stories relating to some of the most pressing issues on the continent. We draw on a wide range of respected news sources, both from Africa itself and around the world. The themes of today's In the News post are: politics in Zimbabwe, Boko Haram Crisis, FW de Klerk controversy, Zambia's first female vice president, Nigerian elections and the UN authorized military attack against militia in Congo.

Calm returns to Zimbabwe business

The political temperature in Zimbabwe – scaldingly hot for investors in the country in recent years – has shown no sign of abating.

The battle that pitches President Robert Mugabe's wife Grace against vice-president Joice Mujuru is just the latest instalment in the drawn out succession struggle. But in the mining sector, the government still has a few indigenisation plans to rule on before the companies involved will plough in more money.

To read more from the The Africa Report, click here.

Boko Haram crisis: Nigeria army 'warned about Baga attack'

Nigeria's army failed to protect Baga's civilians despite warnings that militants were going to attack, rights group Amnesty International has said.

Some reports say as many as 2,000 people died in Boko Haram's raids on the north-eastern town this month, but the government puts the toll at 150.

Amnesty quotes an unnamed senior army source as saying the Islamist militants told residents about the offensive.

To read more from BBC News, click here.

Cape Town votes to name highway after FW de Klerk despite opposition

A Cape Town highway was renamed after the last president of South Africa's white-minority apartheid government, FW de Klerk, on Wednesday despite fierce opposition.

The proposal was adopted during a chaotic city council meeting, with councillors from South Africa's ruling African National Congress – virulently opposed to the motion – locked out of the venue, local media reported.

To read more from The Guardian, click here.

Zambia: Women Bodies Hail Lungu for Inonge Appointment

The women movement in the country has commended Republican President Edgar Lungu for appointing Inonge Wina as Zambia's first female Republican Vice President.

NGOCC Board Chairperson Sarah Longwe says the NGOCC is pleased that President Lungu has considered a woman for such a high position.

To read more from allAfrica, click here.

Nigeria: Elections 'Too Close to Call' in Nigeria, Says Major Survey

Nigeria's upcoming elections are likely to be the most competitive in the country's history, with the parties running neck-and-neck and the outcome "too close to call", according to a major survey of public opinion published in Lagos on Tuesday.

The survey, carried out by Afrobarometer, the leading continent-wide researcher of African public opinion, portrays Nigerians as people who are deeply unhappy with the country's trajectory, who believe the government is performing badly, and who also distrust the electoral process.

To read more from allAfrica, click here.

Congo and Rwanda: Ever again

The Rwandan genocide of 1994 killed 800,000 people, most of them ethnic Tutsi, in the space of three months and triggered two successive civil wars in neighbouring Congo. Although these more or less ended in 2003, the genocide's fallout can still incite violence and rouse armies. This month the UN Security Council authorised a military attack by a 3,000-strong multinational intervention force against a militia in eastern Congo that was formed two decades ago by Rwandan genocidaires who fled to the region's remote forests after losing power. They have made murderous mischief there ever since in the hope of toppling their former foes.

To read more from The Economist, click here.

 

 

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Africa Program

The Africa Program works to address the most critical issues facing Africa and US-Africa relations, build mutually beneficial US-Africa relations, and enhance knowledge and understanding about Africa in the United States. The Program achieves its mission through in-depth research and analyses, public discussion, working groups, and briefings that bring together policymakers, practitioners, and subject matter experts to analyze and offer practical options for tackling key challenges in Africa and in US-Africa relations.    Read more