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Top Africa stories: Mugabe, Ebola, Mozambique

'I feel sorry for principled Robert Mugabe,' says Zim finance minister

Zimbabwe's finance minister Patrick Chinamasa has reportedly said that he "feels sorry" for "principled" ex-president Robert Mugabe, as his wife Grace took advantage of his old age.

Mugabe, 94, stepped down from power following a military intervention "targeting criminals around him" in November.

According to New Zimbabwe.com, reflecting on his unceremonious demotion by Mugabe through a mini cabinet reshuffle in October last year, Chinamasa said that he learnt about the cabinet reshuffle through social media, "as he was in Washington for a crucial government meeting then".

Patrick Chinamasa

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WATCH: Teenage Nigerian female boxers fighting out of poverty

A group of female teenage boxers from a "poor part of Lagos" are reportedly hoping to win gold for Nigeria at the 2020 Olympics.

According to BBC, the young boxers have a big dream despite the fact that they do have adequate training facilities at their disposal. 

"The teenagers train in a makeshift boxing ring in the dirt and share the space with wild chickens," the report says.

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'We're not out to humiliate Mugabe,' says Zim committee probing alleged diamond theft

Former president Robert Mugabe, who failed to appear on Wednesday before a parliamentary committee probing alleged diamond theft, has now been invited to appear early next week, an official said. 

Temba Mliswa, who chairs parliament's committee on mines, said the 09:00 time scheduled for Mugabe's appearance on Wednesday could have been "too early" for the 94-year-old.

"As you'll appreciate, when he was in office, (Mugabe) would start cabinet at 12:00. So, we are not here to humiliate him. We expect him to have enough time to prepare so on Monday at 14:00 we expect him to be here," Mliswa told reporters at parliament.

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Amnesty highlights sex-for-food claims in Boko Haram-hit Nigeria

Amnesty International on Thursday urged Nigeria to act on claims soldiers and members of the civilian militia have raped women and girls in remote camps for people displaced by Boko Haram but the government said the rights monitor was repeating false accusations.

"This... is just a wild goose chase report, in essence... the report seemed like the one in 2015, and the one in 2016, and the one after that year, the same things being recycled again and again," presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said.

Amnesty said it had gathered multiple testimonies about alleged abuse by the security forces, including claimed that soldiers coerced vulnerable survivors into having sex in exchange for food.

Boko Haram

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DRC says Ebola cases have reached 30, warns against rumours

Democratic Republic of Congo's fight to rein in a deadly Ebola outbreak has authorities crossing the border to buy up available thermometers, a World Health Organisation official said, as the health ministry on Thursday announced that confirmed cases had reached 30, including eight deaths.

The spread of the often lethal hemorrhagic fever to a provincial capital of 1.2 million people has health officials scrambling to monitor for Ebola at busy ports in the capital, Kinshasa, which is downstream from the infected city of Mbandaka on the Congo River.

Mbandaka is one of three health zones with confirmed Ebola cases, complicating efforts to find and monitor hundreds of people who have been in contact with those infected. Two of the health zones are rural and remote, with few roads or other infrastructure.

Ebola

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Mozambique talks restart after Dhlakama death: party

Mozambique peace talks have restarted after the unexpected death of rebel leader Afonso Dhlakama earlier this month threatened to end the tentative negotiations, his party said on Thursday.

Face-to-face talks between President Filipe Nyusi and Dhlakama, the head of the Renamo opposition party, began after a truce ended unrest that erupted from 2013 to 2016.

Dhlakama played a key role in advancing the peace process, and his death from a suspected heart attack aged 65 threw the talks into doubt.

Mozambique

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Mnangagwa govt slams minister's 'unlawful and reckless' military comments

President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government has slammed as "unlawful" and "reckless" comments by Zimbabwe's deputy finance minister who said the army wouldn't allow MDC leader Nelson Chamisa to win elections.

Terence Mukupe was quoted by the private NewsDay as telling supporters in eastern Harare on Monday that the army would never allow "a child” to govern the country after forcing Robert Mugabe to resign last year.

"How can we say, honestly, the soldiers took the country, practically snatched if from Mugabe, to come and hand it over to Chamisa?," Mukupe was quoted as telling a Zanu-PF meeting in Harare’s Mandara suburb.

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