Pretoria / AFP An offensive to encircle Iraq’s second city of Mosul should begin “in the next few weeks”, Britain’s Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said Friday, after a visit to the country. Mosul has been held by Islamic State jihadists since June 2014 and British jets are part of a US-led coalition flying missions against them in Iraq and …

  United Nations / AFP The United Nations, African Union, European Union and a fourth international organization made a joint appeal on Saturday to the government and opposition in the Democratic Republic of Congo to exercise restraint amid violent political unrest. The three main international bodies were joined by the 57 International Organization of La Francophonie, which held a high-profile …

  Libreville / AFP Libreville’s nearly empty streets were under the watch of a heavy police and military presence on Saturday after Gabon’s top court upheld President Ali Bongo’s re-election in bitterly disputed polls. Security force checkpoints dotted routes into the capital’s centre, helicopters hovered overhead and elite troops protected the presidential palace, but no violence had been reported. The …