GUINEA-BISSAU PRESIDENT RESIGNS AFTER ONE DAY
One of the two men who had been declared president of Guinea Bissau resigned on Sunday - after just one full day in office.
"I have no security... My life is in danger, the life of my family is in danger, the life of this people is in danger. I cannot accept that, that is why I took this decision," Cipriano Cassamá told reporters.
Despite not being in the December ballot Mr Cassamá was appointed by parliament, the majority of whose deputies have refused to acknowledge the election victory of the former opposition leader, Umaro Sissoco Embalol.
Mr Embalol was sworn in as head of state at a luxury hotel on Thursday after the electoral commission had again declared him the winner of December's presidential vote.
The ruling PAIGC party is contesting that result in the Supreme Court.
Despite the resignation of one president, Guinea-Bissau still has two rival prime ministers.
LIBYA CONFLICT: 'STRESSED' GHASSAN SALAME RESIGNS AS UN ENVOY
The UN's special envoy for Libya has resigned saying his efforts to bring peace in the North African country had led to stress.
Ghassan Salame said on Twitter he could not "take this much stress".
Talks between the UN-backed government based in the capital, Tripoli, and fighters loyal to renegade Gen Khalifa Haftar have floundered.
Libya has been torn by conflict since the 2011 uprising which ousted long-time strongman Muammar Gaddafi.
Last week Mr Salame brought representatives of the Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Haftar-led Libyan National Army (LNA), the two warring sides, to Geneva for peace talks, but the representatives suspended their involvement.
Mr Salame tweeted on Monday that he had "sought for two and a half years to unite Libyans, prevent foreign intervention, and preserve the unity of the country".
"I can no longer continue with this level of stress and therefore I have asked the [UN] secretary general to relieve me of my duties," he added.
The UN mission in Libya and the UN office in Geneva were not immediately available for comment, news agency Reuters reports.
The conflict in the oil-rich nation has been complicated by the involvement of foreign states.
Turkey passed a controversial law in January to deploy troops to help GNA forces, in Tripoli.
Qatar also backs the GNA, which is led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj,
The capital has been under an 11-month-long siege by forces loyal to renegade Gen Haftar.
According to the UN, the campaign has killed hundreds of people and displaced thousands more from their homes.
The LNA, which controls much of eastern Libya, is backed by Egypt, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
UN chief António Guterres, in an interview with the BBC last month, termed the conflict a "proxy war", adding that it was "unacceptable".
Last month, EU foreign ministers agreed to a new naval and air mission to prevent further weapons reaching Libya.
SECRETARY GENERAL HAJJI QUITS UNDER-FIRE CAF
The ongoing crisis in the Confederation of African Football (Caf) took a new step on Monday as Secretary General Mouad Hajji resigned from his post.
The Moroccan had been in power for less than a year, having taken charge in April 2019.
His resignation comes at a time when Caf is under close scrutiny from football's world governing body Fifa, who recently commissioned an audit that proved to be damning for African football's ruling body.
"I would like to warmly thank President Ahmad Ahmad for giving me the opportunity to serve the football of our continent at such a level of responsibility," Hajji said in a statement.
Hajji resigned for "personal reasons" while expressing a need to "return to Morocco as soon as possible", the statement added.
His resignation was accepted by Caf President Ahmad, who will now convene an emergency committee meeting in order to appoint an Acting Secretary General.
"I have no doubt that the President will continue to work for the good development of the most beautiful sport possible," Hajji said.
Caf's statement specified that Ahmad - who saluted 'a committed (and) loyal' colleague - had agreed to allow Hajji to serve out a shorter notice period than his contract stipulated.
Last month, BBC Sport Africa published details of the Pricewaterhouse Coopers audit, which revealed Caf to be in a state of disarray as it questioned the body's accounting, governance and payments.
Amongst other details, the audit found that Caf's accounting was "unreliable and not trustworthy" while its workforce was "understaffed", "overworked" and "demotivated".
As it seeks to return to a more stable footing, Caf must now look for its third Secretary General in the space of a year, after Hajji replaced Amr Fahmy eleven months ago.
Fahmy, who died after a two-year battle with cancer last month, was dismissed shortly after complaining to Fifa about corruption within the leadership of Caf.
While Caf has denied any wrongdoing, the Egyptian's complaints helped prompt Fifa to open an investigation into Caf which is still ongoing.
No official reason was ever given for Fahmy's dismissal, which opened the door for Hajji - a former dentist - to fill a role he has now chosen to vacate.
TUNISIA CONFIRMS CORONAVIRUS CASE
Tunisia has confirmed its first case of the new coronavirus, the country's health minister told journalists on Monday.
Abdelatif el-Maki said the patient was a 40-year-old Tunisian man, who arrived in the country by boat from Italy on 27 February.
He and the other passengers had been advised to monitor themselves. When his fever spiked, he contacted emergency services.
In Africa, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt and Nigeria have all confirmed cases of the virus.
FIRST CASE OF CORONAVIRUS FOUND IN SENEGAL
The first case of coronavirus in Senegal has been confirmed by the country's health minister, Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr.
The patient is a French man who lives in Senegal and flew back from France on 26 February, Mr Sarr told a press conference in the capital, Dakar.
The patient reported to a private hospital on 27 February with symptoms including a headache.
The authorities are monitoring everyone who travelled on the same flight as well as the patient's family.
The minister said the country was prepared to deal with the virus, pointing out that Senegal had the facilities to test for the coronavirus.
This is the second case in sub-Saharan Africa after one was confirmed in Nigeria last week.
WHAT IS HAPPENING IN GUINEA-BISSAU?
One of the two men declared president of Guinea-Bissau has resigned from the post after just one full day in office, saying his life was in danger.
Cipriano Cassamá was chosen by lawmakers as president following disputed elections in December.
This was despite the fact that former army general Umaro Cissoko Embaló had already been sworn in as president at a hotel in the capital, Bissau.
Currently on the streets of the capital ministry buildings are closed and surrounded by armed guards, as the country lurches through a protracted crisis that some parliamentarians are calling a coup.
A truck of soldiers from a regional force, deployed to the country about eight years ago, are guarding the home of Aristides Gomes, one of two men laying claim to the post of prime minister.
The soldiers are perched on their white truck, with a mounted machine-gun pointed outward and at the ready.
Mr Gomes' home is just a few hundred metres from the presidential palace.
On the same street, the Ministries of Finance, Justice and Fisheries are all closed and guarded by armed officers.
But residents appear to be continuing with their daily lives - cashew vendors are still on the streets, and residents are still withdrawing money from cash machines along Avenue Amilcar Cabral, named after the revolutionary who led Guinea-Bissau's campaign for independence.
EGYPT'S MOST-WANTED MAN 'SENTENCED TO DEATH'
An Egyptian court has sentenced to death Hisham Ashmawy, an ex-special forces officer turned Islamist militant, over several terror attacks, reports AFP news agency.
The Cairo criminal court condemned Ashmawy and 36 co-defendants to hang on 54 charges, a judicial source told AFP.
He was an officer with Egypt's special forces but discharged in 2012 over extremist religious views.
He hit the headlines after he became one of the prime suspects in an attempted assassination of the former interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim in a 2013 suicide car bombing.
Mr Ibrahim survived the bombing near his Cairo home but some 20 policemen and civilians were wounded.
He was since dubbed Egypt's "most-wanted man" by the country's press.
Security forces in Libya caught him in the port city of Darnah in 2018. They said at the time that he was wearing an explosive vest but was unable to detonate it.
KENYAN ARTWORK CATCHES THE EYE OF COMEDIAN STEVE HARVEY
A pencil portrait drawn by Kenyan artist Collins Omondi Okello has won praise on Twitter and caught the attention of its subject, American comedian Steve Harvey.
Okello first tweeted a photo of his piece last Friday. He then posted the finished work on Sunday and asked Harvey to buy it.
The response came a day later, with the comedian saying he would be honoured to acquire the artwork. The comedian tweeted the artist directly to invite him to meet either in South Africa or Botswana, where he is due to visit.
The artist responded, inviting him to Kenya instead.
His previous works include pencil portraits of US actor and film director Tyler Perry, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta. Article share tools
SUDAN SACKS DOZENS OF DIPLOMATS 'LINKED TO BASHIR'
Sudan's government has dismissed more than 100 diplomatic staff for alleged links to the regime of former President Omar al-Bashir, a government committee has said.
The announcement was made by the Empowerment Removal Committee (ERC), which was formed last year to break apart structures still lingering from Mr Bashir’s 29-year rule.
The sackings were meant to "eliminate the empowerment of the former regime in the foreign ministry that suffered a lot from the interference of the former regime," government spokesman Mohamed al-Faki is quoted as saying by France-based news site Sudan Tribune.
The 109 people fired from Ministry of Foreign Affairs included ambassadors, diplomats and administrators, Mr Faki told a press conference in the capital, Khartoum.
Some of the dismissed diplomats were appointed by Mr Bashir through presidential decrees, an ERC member told journalists.
EGYPT CONFIRMS SECOND CORONAVIRUS CASE
Egypt's health ministry on Sunday announced that one foreigner, whose nationality was not announced, had tested positive for coronavirus.
The ministry said that the patient was being treated in an isolation facility.
This is the second confirmed case in the country. The first coronavirus patient, who was announced last month, has reportedly recovered.
Egyptian health authorities are quoted by Reuters news agency as saying they were enforcing strict preventive measures for people who came into contact with this new patient.
Reports indicate that recently confirmed cases in France, the US and Canada involve people who travelled to Egypt.
French Health Minister Olivier Véran announced that two elderly people, who returned from a group trip in Egypt, tested positive for the virus.
Egypt said it had requested further information about those two patients and sent a medical team to look into the places they had visited.
US authorities on Sunday said a California couple with chronic health conditions who had recently travelled to Egypt tested positive for the virus and were now hospitalised.
Two people in Canada who tested positive for coronavirus had recently returned from Egypt.
Credit to Source: Bbc News
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