Lusaka / AFP Zambian President Edgar Lungu called for national unity in his inauguration speech on Tuesday, as a defeated opposition candidate dismissed the ceremony as “illegal and unconstitutional”. Lungu, who first took power last year, won the August 11 election by around 100,000 votes but his opponent Hakainde Hichilema has alleged that the result was riddled with fraud. …

  Tripoli / AFP Libya’s UN-backed unity government lost control on Monday of a third oil port seized by rival forces, raising fears of a major outbreak of fresh violence in the chaos-ridden country. The loss comes after fighters backing a rival administration in east Libya seized two other terminals from guards loyal to the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) …

  AFP Stock markets struggled on Tuesday as investors contemplated the US interest rate outlook and oil prices slumped on a gloomy outlook for crude demand. Frankfurt, London and Paris had opened brightly, after a leading US Federal Reserve official tempered comments from her colleagues on the need for an early US interest rate hike. But the gains faded away …