Security

The 6.8 magnitude quake that struck a mountainous area southwest of Marrakech has claimed more than 2,100 lives and injured over 2,400, many of them seriously according to the most recent report.

In Moulay Brahim, a remote village located close to the quake’s epicentre, dozens of people have been confirmed dead and many more are still missing.

Moroccan rescue workers, backed by foreign teams, continued Monday in a race against time to find survivors and provide assistance to hundreds of homeless people whose homes were razed to the ground, more than 48 hours after the earthquake that killed more than 2,100 people.

Ali Bongo release comes after his cousin General Brice Nguema Oligui sworn in as interim leader later on Monday.

Gabon’s deposed president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, has been released from house arrest and is free to leave the country for medical treatment, the military which removed him from power last month has said.

Bongo, who had been held under house arrest since a military coup on August 30, was toppled from power shortly after he was declared the winner of much-criticised elections that would have seen him exended his 14 year as president

East African Community (EAC) Heads of State on Tuesday extended the mandate of its regional force in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by a further three months to December 8 this year.

The decision arose after the leaders gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, for the 22nd Extra-ordinary Summit of the Community, agreeing that three extra months will bring certainty to the security situation as further discussions go on about the actual plan for the troubled eastern DRC.

Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has said a military offensive against al-Shabab aims to eliminate the al-Qaeda linked group in the next five months.

Correspondents say a promise to eliminate the group is hugely optimistic seeing as it has been around since the early 2000s, is deeply embedded in communities and has adapted its tactics in the face of international military pressure.

Yet thousands of government soldiers have been gathering in a town in central Somalia to take part in a new military campaign against the jihadists.