Tbilisi / AFP NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday said ex-Soviet Georgia has moved closer to membership, in a show of support for the tiny Caucasus nation despite fierce opposition from Russia. “You are continuing to strengthen your democracy and civic institutions and this has helped Georgia to move closer to NATO,” Stoltenberg told a news conference after …

  El Fasher /AFP President Omar al-Bashir on Wednesday declared that peace had returned to Sudan’s war-torn Darfur despite a deadlock in African Union-brokered ceasefire talks and persistent fighting that has driven thousands from their homes this year. Bashir made the declaration in the North Darfur state capital El Fasher at a ceremony attended by Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin …

  Sittwe / AFP People forced from their homes by religious violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state gathered on Wednesday to meet former UN chief Kofi Annan, as the envoy toured displacement camps during his peace mission. Annan has been asked by the leader of Myanmar’s new government, Aung San Suu Kyi, to head a commission tasked with trying to heal …