Rival groups kill six hostages in tit-for-tat CAR violence

Three hostages seized in Central African Republic this week were killed and three more seized later by another group were killed as well, apparently in retaliation, a government spokesman said on Tuesday.

Three officials from the mostly Muslim Seleka alliance were attacked while driving through a neighborhood controlled by the rival militia on Monday.

'Mass killings and cannibalism' in South Sudan, says African Union

African Union investigators discovered mass graves in South Sudan and found evidence of horrific crimes, including forced cannibalism, according to a long-awaited report.

President Salva Kiir's faction in the conflict is also accused of recruiting an irregular tribal force before the outbreak of war in December 2013.

Ivory Coast's Ouattara wins second term in landslide election

     
Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara earned a blowout poll victory and a second five-year term in a weekend vote intended to draw a line under years of turmoil, the elections commission announced on Wednesday.

Ouattara won a total of 2,118,229 votes, or 83.66 percent of ballots cast, President of the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) Youssouf Bakayoko announced at a press conference. Sunday’s vote had a turnout of 54.63 percent, he said.

Burkina Faso coup general ‘charged with attacking state security’

General Gilbert Diendere (right) and Djibrill Bassolé have allegedly been charged with ‘attacking state security’

The general behind Burkina Faso’s failed coup was charged, together with a former top aide to ousted president Blaise Compaoré, with “murder” and “attacking state security” on Tuesday, judicial sources said.

'We have the support of the army,' Burkina coup leader tells FRANCE 24

Speaking to FRANCE 24 on Thursday, General Gilbert Diendéré said that the coup in Burkina Faso had the support of the army and that those leaders seized in the coup would be freed.

Acting President Michel Kafando and Prime Minister Isaac Zida were detained along with two ministers when members of the Presidential Security Regiment (RSP) burst into a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Coup fears as Burkina Faso interim president ‘detained’

Soldiers from Burkina Faso’s powerful presidential guard interrupted a cabinet meeting on Wednesday and detained the interim President Michel Kafando, the prime minister and two cabinet members, military and government sources said.

“Members of the presidential guard burst into the room of the cabinet of ministers at around 14:30 and took hostage the president of Burkina Faso, the head of state, Michel Kafando, the Prime Minister Yacouba Isaac Zida, and the minister of public administration ... and the minister of housing,” Moumina Cheriff Sy, the head of the transitional parliament, said in a statement.