Daily News on Issues Affecting Africa for November 26, 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: Human rights in Sudan, Tanzania's Masai, the containment target for Ebola, trade between African nations, border reopened by Egyptian authorities, the shedding of tower infrastructure,  and electronic voting in Namibia.

Sudan tells UN-AU mission 'to shut human rights office'

Sudan's government has asked the UN-Africa Union force in Darfur (Unamid) to shut its human rights office, the joint peacekeeping mission says.

The move comes amid tensions over the mission's attempt to investigate allegations of mass rape by Sudanese troops in the Darfuri village of Tabit.

The authorities initially refused access to the village; when Unamid did get there it found no evidence.

To read more from BBC News, click here.

Tanzania's Masai 'breathe sigh of relief' after president vows never to evict them

The president of Tanzania has pledged never to evict the Masai people after an international outcry against plans to turn their ancestral land into a commercial hunting ground for Arab royalty.

Last week the Guardian revealed claims by Masai activists that the government had reintroduced plans to forcibly relocate 40,000 pastoralists to make way for a luxury hunting and safari company based in the United Arab Emirates.

To read more from the Guardian, click here.

UN: Ebola emergency response mission will miss containment target

The United Nations' Ebola Emergency Response Mission will miss a Dec. 1 target for containing the virus due to escalating numbers of cases in Sierra Leone, the head of the agency has said.

The mission set the goal in September of having 70 percent of Ebola patients under treatment and 70 percent of victims safely buried. That target will be achieved in some areas, Anthony Banbury told Reuters on Monday, citing progress in Liberia.

To read more from Al Jazeera, click here.

Tunisia's Essebsi wins first round of poll

Tunisian secularist leader Beji Caid Essebsi has beat incumbent President Moncef Marzouki in the first round of the country's landmark presidential election, but the two men will now have to stand again in a December run-off, early results show.

Essebsi, from the Nidaa Tounes party, received 39.46 percent in Sunday's poll, short of the overall majority needed but ahead of Marzouki, who got 33.4 percent, according to the latest figures.

To read more from Al Jazeera, click here.

Zimbabwe, South Africa to Boost Trade Ties

Zimbabwe and South Africa will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen trade and industrial relations, Industry and Commerce Minister Mike Bimha has said. "This framework is expected to further strengthen trade and industrial relations between our two countries. South African business people should take advantage of this framework to explore investment opportunities in Zimbabwe," Minister Bimha said.

The Industry and Commerce Minister said this while addressing delegates to a Zimbabwe Trade and Investment executive breakfast meeting hosted by The Herald Business in Johannesburg last Friday

To read more from AllAfrica, click here.

Egypt opens crossing to Gaza for 1st time in month

Egyptian authorities temporarily re-opened a border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday to allow Palestinians stranded outside the territory to return home, officials said.The crossing had been closed since Oct. 24, when a militant ambush killed 31 Egyptian soldiers near the border town of Rafah.

Since the October attack, Egypt declared a three-month state of emergency and a dusk-to-dawn curfew for much of northern Sinai. Soldiers also started demolishing houses along the border to create a security buffer zone and block cross-border smuggling tunnels.

To read more from The Washington Post, click here.

Operators selling off towers

In September alone, Bharti Airtel sold more than 3,500 towers to Eaton Towers, while MTN Nigeria sold 9,151 to IHS Holding. This was the ninth tower transaction for IHS, with previous acquisitions from Etisalat and MTN in Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Rwanda and Zambia. Others divesting their infrastructure include Vodafone Ghana and Orange Kenya.

Shedding tower infrastructure allows operators to focus on efficiency, and prevents unnecessary duplication while reducing infrastructure costs by up to 20%.

To read more from Africa Business, click here.

Namibia prepares for Africa's first electronic vote

Namibia will vote in Africa's first electronic ballot Friday, a General Election that will usher in a new president and quotas to put more women in government.

But opposition parties have launched an 11th-hour challenge to the use of the Indian-made e-voting machines, claiming the lack of a paper trail could open the door to vote rigging.

To read more from The East African, click here.