Daily News on Issues Affecting Africa for November 18, 2014

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: selection of interim leader of Burkina Faso, the economic consequences of Ebola, UNHCR relocation of South Sudanese refugees, police operations in Congo-Kinshasa kill youth, potential eviction of thousands of Masai people for new hunting park in Tanzania and mosque raids in Kenya.

Burkina Faso Names Ex-Diplomat as Interim Leader

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — After days of intense political wrangling, a committee of political, military, religious and traditional authorities in Burkina Faso named a former foreign minister and veteran diplomat on Monday to oversee a transition to new elections following the ouster of President Blaise Compaoré.

Mr. Compaoré was overthrown on Oct. 31 after days of mass protests against his plans to modify the Constitution and remain in power. Mr. Compaoré subsequently fled to neighboring Ivory Coast. Initially, the military took power, with Lt. Col. Isaac Zida proclaiming himself as the leader of this impoverished West African country — a move that drew broad censure from African and Western nations.

Under pressure to cede to civilian rule, the military joined an electoral college of 23 mainly civilian representatives, which named Michel Kafando, a former foreign minister and onetime ambassador to the United Nations, as interim president. His prime task is to oversee a transition to elections by November next year.

To read more from the New York Times, click here.

Economic consequences of Ebola: The ignorance epidemic

SAFARI tents remain zipped, hotel pools are empty, game guides idle among lions and elephants. Tour operators across Africa are reporting the biggest drop in business in living memory. A specialist travel agency, SafariBookings.com, says a survey of 500 operators in September showed a fall in bookings of between 20% and 70%. Since then the trend has accelerated, especially in Botswana, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania. Several American and European agents have stopped offering African tours for the time being.

The reason is the outbreak of the Ebola virus in west Africa, which has killed more than 5,000 people. The epidemic is taking place far from the big safari destinations in eastern and southern Africa — as far or farther than the homes of many European tourists (see map). There are more air links from west Africa to Europe than to the rest of the continent, whose airlines have in any case largely suspended flights.

Moreover Ebola is hardly the biggest killer disease in Africa (AIDS and malaria are bigger). Yet, in the mind of many visitors, all of Africa is a single country. One despairing tour operator calls it an "epidemic of ignorance".

To read more from the Economist, click here.

UNHCR starts relocation of 15,000 stranded South Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia

Briefing notes from UNHCR spokesperson Karin De Gruijl:

On 17 November UNHCR has started the relocation by boat of some 15,000 South Sudanese refugees from the Matar way station in western Ethiopia with the movement of the first group of 125 refugees. Later today (Tuesday), they are expected to arrive at Pugnido refugee camp, at a distance of nearly 300 km.

More than 191,000 South Sudanese refugees have sought refuge in Ethiopia's Gambella region since conflict broke out in South Sudan in mid-December 2013. Some 100 refugees continue to cross into Ethiopia per day mainly through the Burbiey border entry point from Upper Nile and Jonglei states in South Sudan. The new arrivals cite insecurity, including sporadic fighting between rival warring factions amid food insecurity as reasons for their flight. A multi-agency response led by the government of Ethiopia and UNHCR is providing protection and assistance to these refugees. Ethiopia is currently Africa's largest refugee hosting country with more than 600,000 refugees overtaking Kenya.

To read more from African Renewal and the UNHCR, click here.

Congo-Kinshasa: Police Operation Kills 51 Youth

Kinshasa — Police in the Democratic Republic of Congo summarily killed at least 51 youth and forcibly disappeared 33 others during an anti-crime campaign that began a year ago, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

"Operation Likofi," which lasted from November 2013 to February 2014, targeted alleged gang members in Congo's capital, Kinshasa.

The 57-page report, "Operation Likofi: Police Killings and Enforced Disappearances in Kinshasa," details how uniformed police, often wearing masks, dragged kuluna, or suspected gang members, from their homes at night and executed them. The police shot and killed the unarmed young men and boys outside their homes, in the open markets where they slept or worked, and in nearby fields or empty lots. Many others were taken without warrants to unknown locations and forcibly disappeared.

To read more from allAfrica, click here.

Tanzania threat to 'evict' 40,000 for hunting park: campaigners

DAR ES SALAAM (AFP) - Tanzania will evict thousands of members of the Maasai community from their traditional lands if it goes ahead with plans to create a hunting park, campaigners claimed Tuesday.

Global activist group Avaaz alleged Tanzania had ambitions to turn 1,500 square kilometres (580 square miles) of land in the Loliondo district into a hunting reserve for a company catering to the United Arab Emirates' royal family.

There was no immediate response from the government, which scrapped similar plans for the land, which is next to the world famous Serengeti reserve in September 2013.

However, Avaaz said Maasai community leaders had been told they would be offered a billion Tanzania shillings ($578,000) for their lands, less than $15 each for 40,000 of them to leave.

To read more from France 24, click here.

Kenyan police shoot dead man and make arrests in mosque raids

(Reuters) - Kenyan police shot dead one man and arrested about 250 others when they searched two mosques in the city of Mombasa that they said had been used to recruit militants and stash weapons, senior officials said on Monday.

The raid sparked a disturbance in the port city in which one more person died.

Kenya has been trying to break up the militant networks that it blames for a series of attacks on Kenya's coastal region, home to most of its Muslims, saying many of the recruits have been inspired by the Somali Islamist group al Shabaab.

"These mosques have been notorious for radicalising our youth and recruiting them into al Shabaab," Nelson Marwa, the commissioner responsible for administering Mombasa County, said after the raids.

To read more from Reuters, click here.