Happy New Year everyone

From Cape Verde to South Africa, from South Africa to Senegal, from Senegal to Tunisia, from Tunisia to Nigeria, from Nigeria to Congo and to ALL OF AFRICA AND AFRICANS

Police in Tanzania arrest 4 over the kidnap of albino girl

Police in Tanzania said on Wednesday they have arrested four people over the kidnapping of an albino girl in the north of the country, where many are killed and their body parts sold as lucky charms.

Pendo Emmanuelle Nundi, 4, was snatched on Saturday from her home in the Mwanza region by attackers armed with machetes, regional police chief Valentino Mlowola told state television.

"We have arrested four people, including the girl's father. We are still in the process of interrogating them so we can find out where the girl is - if she is still alive," the official said, adding the attackers may have been tipped off by neighbours.

President Zuma tags 2014 a special year in his New Speech to South Africans

President Jacob Zuma said in his New Year speech that South Africa has come to the end of a special year, which marked 20 years of freedom and progress made in building a united, democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous nation.   He said South Africa is a much better place to live in today than it was before 1994, and that the lives of millions of people have improved since the ANC took power.

 

Two Germans killed in Nigeria last weekend.

Two German men have been killed in Nigeria, the foreign ministry in Berlin said on Wednesday, as media reported they were engineers shot dead while on a motorcycle trip.
"Unfortunately we can confirm that two German nationals were killed in Nigeria last weekend," a foreign ministry spokesperson told AFP.
"The German embassy in Abuja is seeking clarification and is in close contact with Nigerian authorities."
The ministry did not release further details, either on the victims or the suspected killers.
Regional German newspaper Ostseezeitung said the men, one aged 34 and the other in his mid-50s, were engineers working for German construction company Julius Berger.
Originally from the eastern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, they had lived in Nigeria for years and were on a private trip when they were killed last Saturday, the newspaper said.

Nigeria's most populous city Lagos awaits the New Year in style

Will the beautiful city of Praia be the first African city to be ushered into the New Year?

Ashes of South African couple who died in a domestic row in Ireland to be brought home

A family member of slain Mpumalanga couple, Angelique Booysen and Cornelius Billing, has flown to Ireland to bring home their ashes and their children.
Billing, 44, and his wife, Booysen, 27, died when they apparently knifed each other on December 17, in a bloody custody fight in Kildystart, Ireland. 

Billing’s sister, Ursula Venter, arrived in Ireland on Sunday. Booysen’s mother, Mossie van Niekerk, said she had not spoken to Venter since then. “Financially, we are not sure what amount we need. We have completed various forms and paperwork which was e-mailed to Irish officials.” 

Africana family sympathizes with the family members of Air Asia passengers

Fears of coup attempt in the Gambia

                                                  President Yahya Jammeh has been in power for two decades

Heavy gunfire has erupted near the presidential palace in The Gambia's capital, Banjul, reports say. Details are sketchy but military and diplomatic sources say soldiers from the presidential guard tried to stage a coup, AFP news agency reports. The fighting was reported while President Yahya Jammeh is abroad. 

Mobile site Badilisha Poetry X-Change offers audio recording of African poets

Mbali Kgosidintsi, from Botswana, can be heard reading her poem I Stand Between My Africa and Me on the site. Photograph: Tristram Kenton

“These days, the language of death
is a dialect of betrayals; the bodies
broken, placid as saints, hobble
along the tiled corridors, from room
to room. Below the dormitories
is a white squat bungalow, a chapel
from which the handclaps and choruses
rise and reach us like the scent
of a more innocent time.”

These are the opening lines of Hope’s Hospice, written by Ghanaian-born Jamaican poet Kwame Dawes. He is among nearly 400 African poets from 24 countries in 14 languages who can now be heard reading their work via mobile phones – a first for Africa and the world.

MTN Launches entertainment streaming service in South Africa

Mobile phone operator MTN has launched a streaming internet entertainment service in South Africa that can be viewed on any connected device.

TV series such as US hit ‘Breaking Bad’ and movies like ‘22 Jump Street’ are available on the video on demand (VOD) service dubbed ‘MTN FrontRow’.

Costs for the service range from R179 a month “for all you can watch” to a monthly price of R399 that includes 10GB of streaming data.

Authorities in Liberia report more ebola cases

Authorities in Liberia say there have been dozens of new Ebola cases erupting along the border with Sierra Leone.
The announcement by Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah on Monday marks a setback for Liberia, which has seen the number of cases stabilise somewhat after having been the hardest hit country in West Africa. 
 

Air Tanzania passengers left stranded after pilots fail to report to work

More than 100 passengers are stranded after pilots at Tanzania's main airport failed to report to work following their Christmas break, officials said. 

They were due to have flown on 27 December from Dar es Salaam to Comoros and other destinations. 

Angry passengers accused the carrier, state-owned Air Tanzania, of treating them badly.
An Air Tanzania spokeswoman said it did not know why the pilots had failed to turn up for work. 

The pilots were off on Christmas Day and the next day and were expected back at work on Saturday.

US airstrike into Somalia targets al-Shabab senior leader

Somalia's army has been fighting the Islamist rebels with help from the African Union

The US says it has conducted an air strike against the Islamist insurgent group al-Shabab in Somalia. Its target was a "senior leader" in the area of Saakow, according to a statement by the US defence department.

 

"At this time, we do not assess there to be any civilian or bystander casualties," it said.
The US has supported the African Union (AU) force that has driven al-Shabab out of the capital Mogadishu and other towns since 2011.

Man mauled to death by three pitbulls in South Africa

Three pitbulls mauled a man to death in Germiston, on the East Rand, Netwerk24 reported on Monday.

More fighting in Libya as Misrata is attacked

  An oil storage tank caught fire after a rocket attack at the oil export terminal in Sidra on Saturday

 

Libya's air force has struck the western city of Misrata for the first time in the latest clash between government and militant forces. A Misrata source confirmed the strikes to the BBC, adding that there were no casualties or material damage.

 

The airstrikes come after a 72-hour ultimatum issued by the air force to militants based in Misrata. Militants had been attacking the oil ports of Sidra and Ras Lanuf in East Libya.
Militants were "still in high spirits, and [the] bombings will not affect our resolve," the Misrata official told the BBC,

Former international football star George Weah wins a seat in Liberia's senate

                                                              Mr Weah comfortably beat off a challenge from Robert Sirleaf, the son of President Sirleaf
 

The former football star George Weah has won a landslide victory in Liberia's senate elections, in polls disrupted by the Ebola outbreak. Mr Weah got 78% of the vote for the Montserrado county seat, which includes the capital Monrovia.
 

He beat Robert Sirleaf, the son of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who took nearly 11%.
Low turnout in the poll, which was first planned for October, was blamed on concerns about Ebola. Strict health controls were in place to try to prevent the spread of the disease.

Somalia says top al-Shabab militant surrenders to police

                                                        Al-Shabab fighters are increasingly launching cross border attacks in neighbouring Kenya

A top al-Shabab militant, Zakariya Ahmed Ismail Hersi, has given himself up, Somali officials say. Mr Hersi, a leading figure in the militant group's intelligence wing, surrendered to police in the Gedo region, they add.

 

In June 2012, the US state department offered $3m (£1.9m, 2.5m euros) for information leading to his capture. It comes three months after al-Shabab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane was killed in a US air strike. 
 
A Somali intelligence officer, quoted by the Associated Press news agency, suggested Mr Hersi may have surrendered because of a dispute with al-Shabab members loyal to the former leader.

South African toddler bitten by cobra recovering

A 10-month-old baby who was bitten by a Mozambican spitting cobra earlier this month is recovering successfully, Beeld newspaper reported on Saturday.
"He is still in the hospital because the wound has to be treated, but he is doing very well," social worker Berdine Venter told the Afrikaans daily.

She said the baby was responsive and recognising people and had already been moved from intensive care to an ordinary ward.
The baby, a foster child living with a couple in Rustenburg in the North West, was bitten in his cot on 17 December.
It was suspected that the Mozambican spitting cobra had fallen from the thatched roof onto the cot.
The baby was removed from his biological parents when he was four-months-old and placed in the care of the Rustenburg couple.

African Union troops killed in Somalia

The heavily fortified compound is also home to the British and Italian embassies and the United Nations

The African Union (AU) force in Somalia says three of its peacekeepers and a civilian contractor have been killed in an attack on its headquarters in the capital, Mogadishu.

An AU statement said al-Shabab gunmen had entered the base disguised as Somali government troops. 

Former first lady of Ivory Coast set to face trial

 

 Former President Laurent Gbagbo and his wife were arrested in 2011

The trial has begun in Ivory Coast of the ex-first lady, Simone Gbagbo, for her alleged role in post-election violence five years ago.

The wife of former President Laurent Gbagbo has been charged along with 82 supporters of her husband.

Sierra Leone declares three-day lockdown in north

                                                            Sierra Leone recently overtook Liberia as the worst affected country in the Ebola outbreak

Sierra Leone has declared lockdown of at least three days in the north of the country to try to contain the Ebola epidemic.

Shops, markets and non-Ebola related travel services will be shut down, officials said.
Sierra Leone has already banned many public Christmas celebrations.
More than 7,500 people have died from the outbreak in West Africa so far, the Word Health Organization (WHO) says, with Sierra Leone the worst hit.
Sierra Leone has the highest number of Ebola cases in West Africa, with more than 9,000 cases and more than 2,400 deaths since the start of the outbreak.
The other countries at the centre of the outbreak are Liberia and Guinea.

Merry Christmas to you all

This is wishing all the blog visitors a very Merry Christmas

Essebsi wins Tunisian election

AP A supporter holds a poster of Tunisian presidential candidate Beji Caid Essebsi as he celebrates after the first results following the second round of the country's presidential election. Picture: Hassene Dridi

Veteran politician Beji Caid Essebsi has won Tunisia's first free presidential election, official results showed on Monday, the final step in a transition to democracy after an uprising that ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. 

But rioting broke out in one southern city, with police firing teargas to disperse hundreds of youths who burned tyres and blocked streets to demonstrate against the victory of an official from Ben Ali's old guard. 

President Mugabe sacks more ministers linked to former VP

                                                     Photo: Nehanda Radio President Robert Mugabe at Heroes day celebrations 

 

In what is seen as a continued purge of the ex-VP Joice Mujuru faction President Mugabe has fired seven more cabinet ministers, a government notice said Sunday.

Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Misheck Sibanda, said the ministers have been fired with "immediate effect".

Sibanda said "it had become apparent that their conduct and performance were below the expected standard and outcome".

Tunisian elections - Candidates refuse to concede

Moncef Marzouki has refused to admit defeat in Tunisia's first free presidential election after exit polls suggested Beji Caid Essebsi had won.

The caretaker president, a former exile, said his rival's declaration of victory was "undemocratic".




Mr Marzouki said his rival's claims of victory in the presidential poll were premature
 
Mr Essebsi, 88, has been celebrating with supporters, telling them all Tunisians now need to "work together", and promising to bring stability. Critics say his success marks the return of a discredited establishment.

Zimbabwe issues special coins in the run up to Christmas

Known as bond coins, they are guaranteed by the central bank and are pegged to the US dollar

Special coins issued by Zimbabwe's central bank have gone into circulation in the run-up to Christmas. Zimbabwe abandoned its currency in 2009 due to hyperinflation and mainly uses the US dollar and South African rand. But with very few coins for these currencies in circulation, shoppers are given change in sweets or pens.

South Africa offer reward for help in finding killers of five women amidst fears of a serial killer on the loose

The City of Cape Town is offering a reward to anyone who can help the police catch the killers of five women whose bodies have been found dumped near train station.

The bodies had been discovered close to the Century City and Akasia train stations over the last ten months, Mayor Patricia de Lille said in a statement on Sunday.

Egyptian court tries 26 men for debauchery

An Egyptian court today tried 26 men for alleged debauchery after accusing them of homosexual activity at a Cairo public bathhouse in a case that sparked international condemnation. 
 
The handcuffed defendants, many of whom were crying, arrived at a Cairo court with their heads bowed as police pushed them inside a metal cage, an AFP correspondent reported.
“I am innocent. I was in the hammam for therapy, I swear in the name of Allah,” said a defendant as he wept inside the cage. 

Villagers in DR Congo flee machete and ax attacks as violence increases

Mourning for a loved one killed by a machete blow during an attack on December 2.

Scores of people have been killed in worsening violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's eastern region, leaving the local population in urgent need of aid, according to the United Nations and Human Rights Watch.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said Friday it had credible reports that at least 256 people, including children, had been killed in ax and machete attacks since October in the Beni area of North Kivu province.

Boko haram release new video of their atrocities in Northern Nigeria

A new video from Nigeria's home-grown Boko Haram extremists shows gunmen mowing down civilians lying face down in a dorm, and a leader saying they are being killed because they are "infidels" or non-believers.

There are so many corpses the gunmen have difficulty stepping to reach bodies still twitching with life. Most appear to be adult men.

"We have made sure the floor of this hall is turned red with blood, and this is how it is going to be in all future attacks and arrests of infidels," the group leader says in a message. "From now, killing, slaughtering, destructions and bombing will be our religious duty anywhere we invade."

Zambia's railways director of finance dies mysteriously

Nyirenda

Zambia Railways Director of Finance Elijah Nyirenda has died mysteriously a day after objecting to Patriotic Front manoeuvres to syphon money from the railway company to fund Presidential campaigns.

Nyirenda who was put to rest at Ndola’s Kansenshi cemetery on Saturday fell ill in his office at the new offices in Lusaka. He asked a company driver to drive him to his residence. He was stating alone as his family was still in Ndola. When the driver went to check on him later, he found him struggling for his life. He was rushed to UTH where he died shortly afterwards.

Kenyan president's new security bill leaves MP's at loggerheads

                                                     Activists protested outside parliament as MPs passed the amended bill

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta has signed into law a controversial security bill which saw MPs trade blows in parliament. It was passed on Thursday during a chaotic parliamentary session, with opposition MPs warning that Kenya was becoming a "police state". The government has said it needs more powers to fight militant Islamists threatening Kenya's security.

 

Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group has stepped up attacks in Kenya. The new anti-terror legislation gives the security and intelligence agencies the right to detain terror suspects for up to one year and requires journalists to obtain police permission before investigating or publishing stories on domestic terrorism and security issues.

Liberia defies Ebola and heads to the polls

Voters who turned out yesterday for senate elections in Liberia were met with health workers at the door of polling stations to check for Ebola. The elections had been delayed twice due to the outbreak.

The vote for 15 of the 30 seats in the upper house of parliament had been postponed twice since October because of the Ebola outbreak. More than 3,340 people have now died from Ebola in Liberia, making it the country with the highest number of fatalities in the current outbreak, followed by Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah had warned that anyone running a temperature higher than 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 Celsius) could be removed from the line, asked to cast their ballots in a separate area, and then sent for screening. A sudden fever is one of the signs of the highly contagious Ebola infection.

Tunisians vote in landmark elections

Voters in Tunisia have been choosing their first freely elected president in a run-off election seen as a landmark in the country's move to democracy. Beji Caid Essebsi, who won the first round with 39% of the vote, is challenging interim leader Moncef Marzouki.

Mr Essebsi represents the secular-leaning Nidaa Tounes party. Tunisia was the first country to depose its leader in the Arab Spring and inspired other uprisings in the region.
Polls closed at 18:00 local time (17:00 GMT). Voter turnout had reached 36.8% after four and a half hours of voting, Tunisia's election authority said.

Shortly after polls closed, Mr Essebsi's office said that there were "indications" that he had won. However, a spokesman for Mr Marzouki said the claims were "without foundation".
'Peaceful' transition Mr Essebsi, who turned 88 this week, held office under both deposed President Zine el-Abedine Ben Ali and Tunisia's first post-independence leader, Habib Bourguiba. He is popular in the wealthy, coastal regions, and based his appeal to voters on stability and experience.

Security was tightened for the election

Over 200 kidnapped by boko haram in north-east Nigeria

                                                          Boko Haram has taken control of several towns and villages in the north-east

Militants have stormed a remote village in north-eastern Nigeria, killing at least 33 people and kidnapping about 200, a survivor has told the BBC. He said that suspected Boko Haram militants had seized young men, women and children from Gumsuri village. The attack happened on Sunday but news has only just emerged, after survivors reached the city of Maiduguri.

 

Meanwhile, Cameroon's army says it has killed 116 Nigerian militants who had attacked one of its bases, AFP reports.
 

The state of Borno has seen at least two militant attacks over the past few days.

Residents told the BBC that armed militants attacked the border town of Amchide on Wednesday, arriving in two vehicles with many others on foot. They raided the market area, setting fire to shops and more than 50 houses.
 
No group has said it carried out either attack but officials have blamed Boko Haram militants.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in militant violence this year alone, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria, near the border with Cameroon.

HIV tagged in South Africa's top three leading causeof death

More men than women are dying from HIV despite a decrease in the number of deaths related to infectious diseases.

According to City Press Statistician General Pali Lehohla on Tuesday released last year’s statistics on the causes of deaths in South Africa at a press briefing in Pretoria.
Lehohla revealed that HIV has become the third-leading cause of death in the country, slowly climbing up as one of the leading causes of death after it was pegged at number six in 2012 and seventh between 2009 and 2011.


The findings were released a day after South Africa commemorated World Aids Day held earlier in the month.
“Ranking natural causes of death that occurred in 2013 placed HIV as the third-leading cause of death in South Africa. The virus has moved from being the seventh leading underlying natural cause of death during 2009 - 2011 and sixth in 2012.
“In 2013 it was responsible for 6% of all deaths, affecting relatively more males than females,” said Lehohla.

He said the results could be an indication that doctors were becoming more “comfortable” recording HIV as an underlying cause of death. In the past doctors were reluctant to state it as a cause and opted to use euphemisms such as “immune compromised” or “retroviral disease positive”.

Lehohla said reporting HIV as the main cause of death could also be as a result of the training of doctors on how to record deaths when certifying deaths.

Uber makes Christmas shopping in South Africa a lot easier

With Christmas around the corner and most mall shopping a nightmare at the best of times, an online solution aims to bring the "ho ho ho" into the festive season.


The kalahari gang was swamped by Capetonians as they made a whistle stop visit in the city bowl. (Duncan Alfreds, Fin24)

Online retailer kalahari.com has partnered with Uber in Cape Town to deliver gifts in the week up to 25 December.
"Named the #UBERSleigh, the service launches officially in Cape Town on 18 December, and will be running between 10:00 and 16:00 daily up until 24 December," kalahari said of the service, which is available to Uber subscribers.
Three vans have been decorated with Christmas trim and marked with both Uber and kalahari branding. They will carry gifts priced at under R1 000 which is payable directly from the Uber application via a credit card.
The idea of the pilot project which launches officially on Thursday is to boost online shopping, particularly at a time of year when malls are notoriously busy.

Tanzania's attorney general resigns amid corruption scandal

                                                          The allegations against Mr Werema (top-centre) and other officials have dominated headlines in Tanzania

Tanzania's Attorney General Frederick Werema has resigned, making him the first casualty of a corruption scandal that has rocked the government. MPs last month accused him of authorising the fraudulent transfer of about $120m (£76m) to an energy firm. 

 

He denied wrongdoing, but quit because the controversy had "disrupted the country's political atmosphere", a presidential statement said. The corruption allegations have led to donors suspending aid to Tanzania. Call for prosecutions

Popular Kenyan blogger in court for 'undermining' President Kenyatta

Blogger Robert Alai was on Wednesday charged in a Kiambu court with undermining President Uhuru Kenyatta in a post on Twitter.

Mr Alai was freed on bond and warned by the magistrate not post on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp or any other publication any content that is similar to the subject before the court.

Mr Alai, who was arrested on Monday, denied the charge read out to him by Principal Magistrate Diana Mochache and was freed on a bond of Sh300,000 with an alternative of a Sh200,000 cash bail.

54 Nigerian soldiers sentenced to death for mutiny

   
The soldiers appeared before a court martial in Abuja
 

A Nigerian court martial has sentenced 54 soldiers to death for refusing to fight Boko Haram Islamist militants.

The soldiers, who were found guilty of mutiny, were accused of refusing to help recapture three towns that had been seized by Boko Haram in August.

A lawyer for the soldiers said the 54 would face a firing squad while five others were acquitted. 

Islamic sect blamed for beheading in Somalia

A Quran teacher in central Somalia was the fifth beheading victim in one week at the hands of Al-Shabaab, the al Qaeda-linked militant group based in Somalia.

"The Quran teacher was snatched from his house in Qandho by Al-Shabaab militants on Friday and they dumped his headless, beheaded body near his home town on Saturday morning," local town spokesman Abdiaziz Durow told CNN.

The teacher was identified as Mohamed Hussein, 45, a resident of the Qandho near the besieged town of Bulo Burde, 217 miles north of Mogadishu in central Somalia.

"The reason the Quran teacher was murdered is that he was one of the few residents that refused orders from Al-Shabaab to leave his village that was recently seized by Somali and AU troops," Durow said.

Rescue operation continues in Kenya after building collapse

Four people have been referred to Kenyatta National Hospital Wednesday morning, after a five-storey building they were in collapsed trapping several other people in Nairobi's Makongeni estate.
The four were among seven people rescued from the building in an ongoing operation that begun shortly after the residential property collapsed at 3am.
The cause of the collapse is yet unknown although construction work on a sixth floor had begun on the building. Nairobi county's director of communications Walter Mong'are confirmed the incident and said the National Youth Service is among groups conducting the rescue operation

Government in Malawi susspends its anti corruption bureau

Malawi Government has indefinitely suspended the works of the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) and the judiciary with effect from Tuesday this week, Malawi24 has established.
A well placed source confided to Malawi24 that to effect the suspension, government has issued a directive to the Malawi Police to seal off all office building belonging to the ACB and Judiciary respectively and stop people from getting in the premises.
The directive, our source understands, follows the recent decision by judiciary to snub government's proposed 20% pay rise.

Zambian National team members survive fatal crash ahead of AFCON

                                                                                                    Photo: Confédération Africaine de Football

 

 

CHIPOLOPOLO defender, Nyambe Mulenga will miss the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals after fracturing his right leg in a fatal road traffic accident which claimed four lives in Kabwe yesterday.

Mulenga with two other players, Green Eagles goalkeeper Satchmo Chakawa and Under-17 midfielder Changwe Kalale, called by coach Honour Janza for preliminary AFCON preparations, sustained serious injuries after a head-on collision involving a Zesco United executive bus and a Toyota Prado near Green Restaurant in Kabwe on the Great North Road.

Ugandan abuse nanny sentenced

A Ugandan maid has been sentenced to four years in jail for assaulting a toddler, in a case which sparked outrage across the country after a video was released.

Jolly Tumuhiirwe, 22, was filmed beating, kicking and stamping on the 18-month-old child.
On Friday, she told a court in Kampala the attack was revenge after she was beaten by the child's mother. 

The mother denied beating her. Earlier charges of torture were dropped.
Chief Magistrate Lillian Buchan told Tumuhiirwe she had committed an "unjustifiable and inexcusable" crime.

Nigerian oil workers go on strike just before the Christmas break

 
Fuel sold on the black market during a previous strikes
 

Nigeria's two main oil workers' unions have begun a nationwide strike, threatening to hurt the output of Africa's largest oil producer.

BBC reporters say long queues have formed at many petrol stations.
The unions, Pengassan and Nupeng, said the strike would continue until the government addressed its concerns.

Probe into the citizenship status of Liberian President's son

Photo: FrontPage Africa

Robert Sirleaf, one of the sons of the President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

The National Elections Commission (NEC) has ordered an inquiry into an allegation that Robert Sirleaf voted in the November 4, 2014, mid-term senatorial election in the United States of America, which if true might disqualify him from contesting the December 16, special senatorial election here in Liberia.
Mr. Robert Sirleaf is a senatorial candidate for Montserrado County and a son of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. He recently filed a lawsuit against his mother's executive order #65, which is yet to be decided upon by the Supreme Court of Liberia.

Miss South Africa crowned Miss World in London

 

 Rolene Strauss (AP)

 

 Miss South Africa, Rolene Strauss, has made the country proud after she was crowned Miss World in London on Sunday, President Jacob Zuma said.

"We are very proud that our very own has earned this prestigious title after months of hard work and dedication."

"Ms Strauss has demonstrated the capability of South Africans to shine on the world stage," Zuma said in a statement.

"We are confident that she will fly the South African flag even higher as she performs her new responsibilities. On behalf of all South Africans, we extend our hearty congratulations and wish her the very best in this new role."

The University of Free State medical student beat out first princess Miss Hungary Edina Kulcsar and second princess Miss USA Elizabeth Safrit to bring the title home.

Many dead afer DR Congo ferry mishap

At least 129 bodies have been recovered from Lake Tanganyika in the Democratic Republic of Congo, after a ferry capsized on Friday.

Local transport minister Laurent Sumba Kahozi said the search for survivors was continuing.
Rescue workers found passengers in the water on Sunday, clinging on to petrol cans and other objects.
Correspondents say such accidents are fairly common in the region as ferries are often overloaded.
Life jackets are also often missing and many people cannot swim.

 

Last week in Africa 4 - 11 December

A woman shows her political allegiance at the national congress of Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party in the capital, Harare, on Saturday. More than 10,000 delegates re-elected President Robert Mugabe, 90, as party leader while his wife Grace was chosen to head the women's wing.

ICC ends war crimes probe on Sudan's president

 
The Sudanese president has faced the threat of ICC prosecution since 2009

The president of Sudan has claimed victory over the International Criminal Court after it ended its probe into allegations of war crimes in Darfur.

The ICC charged Omar al-Bashir in 2009 for crimes in the region dating back to 2003, but he refused to recognise the authority of the court in The Hague. He said the court had failed in its attempts to "humiliate" Sudan.

Zimbabwe's new VP survives an assassination attempt

Photo: New Zimbabwe

President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace talk with vice president-elect Emmerson Mnangagwa after the announcement of his appointment. 

 

A plot to assassinate vice president-elect Emmerson Mnangagwa suffered a still-birth on Tuesday but left his personal assistant fighting for her life in hospital as the country’s dirty succession struggle took a nasty turn.

The assassination bid was revealed by President Robert Mugabe at the Zanu PF extraordinary Central Committee meeting in Harare last Wednesday where Mnangagwa was confirmed as the country’s first vice president.

At least 50 dead in Somalia after drinking from contaminated well

At least 50 people have died in Somalia after drinking contaminated water from a well in northern Mogadishu, an official in that East African country said Thursday.
 

Osman Mohamed, the deputy commissioner for Somalia's Yaqshid district, told CNN about the deaths among those who drank from the newly constructed well. More than 150 people who had water from that well were recently hospitalized.

The parliamentary elections in Mauritius saw the opposition snatch 47 of the 62 available seats

Final results released on Friday showed an opposition coalition led by ex-President Anerood Jugnauth winning Mauritius' parliamentary elections by a large margin.

Jugnauth's center-right Alliance Lepep snatched 47 of the 62 seats in parliament, leaving Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam's coalition to lick its wounds with just 13.

Sierra Leone bans Christmas and New Year celebrations because of the Ebola crisis

Public gatherings could easily help spread Ebola

Sierra Leone has banned public celebrations over Christmas and the New Year, because of the Ebola crisis.

Soldiers are to be deployed on the streets throughout the festive period to keep people indoors, officials say.
Christmas is widely celebrated in Sierra Leone, even though Islam is the largest religion.
Sierra Leone has the most cases of Ebola in the current outbreak. Some 6,580 have died, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
President Ernest Bai Koroma told traditional leaders to stop traditional practices as part of efforts to end Ebola in the country, Awoko newspaper reports.
The president added that despite international aid, it seemed "as if the cases are increasing", especially in north-western areas such as Port Loko and the Bombali region.
Meanwhile in Mali, the last person still to be treated for Ebola has been cured leaving no more cases in the country, the health ministry announced.
The country recorded eight cases of Ebola - including six deaths - and is continuing to monitor a number of people who were in contact with patients.

Mali did have prisoners swapped for Frenchman Lazarevic

 

Serge Lazarevic (l) was greeted by President Hollande on his return to France

Mali has confirmed that four Islamist militants were freed in exchange for the release of French hostage Serge Lazarevic this week. "Yes, we did it and we have done it for Malians before, too," said Justice Minister Mohamed Ali Bathily.