Nevertheless off-the-field trouble continues to trouble the corruption-prone continental football body.

The international body governing football FIFA will take control of the Confederation of Africa Football following the detention and release of CAF boss Ahmad in France earlier this month.

FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura will become the General Delegate for Africa while retaining her FIFA position.

The AFCON competition will go ahead as planned in Egypt which stepped in when security concerns forced the body to pull the plug on the original host Cameroon.

The post Egypt to keep the lied on demonstrations during Afcon appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

At least five other heads of government will join deliberations on Africa’s two most troubling issues.

It’s in his capacity as rotating chair of the African Union that Egypt’s President Abdelfattah El Sisi has called the summits.

AU commission chair Moussa Faki will be there along with the Presidents of Chad, Djibouti, Rwanda, DRC and Somalia.

Five more African countries are sending foreign ministers or special advisers.

On Sudan they’ll consider how best to back stability and peace following the coup ousting Omar Al Bashir easier this month.

With rebel-led fighting around Tripoli, the African leaders will seek ways of dealing with the Libyan crisis and eradicate the terrorism fueling the conflict.

The post Egypt hosts summits on Sudan and Libya appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

They have reservations about the military seizing power but welcome the removal from power of Robert Mugabe.

Maryland Senator Ben Cardin, who’s the most senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says the removal of Robert Mugabe is a desirable outcome by a less than desireable means.

He says US lawmakers obviously don’t like coups.

However it’s time for Zimbabwe to  move on and he hopes it will find a democratic outcome.

Arizona Republic Senator Jeff Flake, who made headlines last month slamming President Donald Trump as he announced his intention not to run again, expressed his pleasure at Mugabe’s departure.

He spent time in Zimbabwe in the eighties as a Mormon missionary and wrote his master’s thesis trying to explain Mugabe’s hold on power.

The post US lawmakers welcome Robert Mugabe departure appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The former rebel leader says he’s confident he can still negotiate a peace deal with President Salva Kiir

Ends intro

Riek Machar was South Sudan’s vice president until President Salva Kiir accused him of plotting a coup.

He became a rebel leader in the resulting civil war that’s left more than 25 000 people dead and displaced one-and-a-half million more.

Under international pressure, Kiir brought him back as vice president.

However fighting resumed between bodyguards of the two, Machar himself was wounded in the clash and he fled the country.

He tells the BBC program Hard Talk he has to return because his credibility is at stake.

The post Riek Machar vows to go home after medical treatment in Johannesburg appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The post Lesotho opposition leader flees to Botswana appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

In a tweet, the president’s thanked the country’s army for its patriotism and its people for their patience.

The attempted coup was launched when President Pierre Nkurunziza was attending a summit in Tanzania on the crisis in Burundi.

For security reasons, his staff says his exact whereabouts cannot be revealed.

There’s no clarity either about the location of Major General Godefroid Niyombare who claimed to have led the coup.

Washington’s reiterated its recognition of Nkurunziza as the legitimate president of Burundi.

The United Nations says more than 70 000 Burundians have fled into neighbouring countries to escape the violence.

The post Nkurunziza says he’s back home and in control of Burundi appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

He’s returned to Tanzania where he was attending a summit about the crisis caused by his determination to win an unconstitutional third term at the helm.

Even though the borders seems to be closed against him, President Pierre Nkurunziza’s military commander insist they retain control of the presidency.

Maj General Godefroid Niyombere says he has sacked the president because of his unacceptable bid to cling to power with elections next month.

General Prime Niyongabo counters that the attempted coup has been stopped.

East African leaders have condemned the action and called for the earliest restoration of democracy in the tiny, overcrowded Great Lakes country that seen more than 20 people killed in two weeks of protests.

The post Pierre Nkurunziza not allowed to return home appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The military says President Pierre Nkurunziza, who’s attending a regional summit in Tanzania on the crisis in his counry, has been sacked and parliament’s suspended.

Ends intro

President Pierre Nkunrunziza’s delegation to the summit in Dar es Salaam have abandoned the negoiting table and rushed off with the mobile phones to get information from home.

The presidential spokesman insists the attempted coup has failed.

But police, who have been the president’s backbone, have disappeared from the streets and troops have surrounded strategic sites like the national broadcaster.

Maj General Godefroid Niyombare says the military’s been forced to take control because Nkurunziza’s determination to seek a third mandate in next month’s election is totally unconstitutional.

At least 20 people have died in two weeks of protests against the president clinging to power.

The post Military coup playing out in Bujumbura appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

The man who last came to power, 32 years ago, via a coup says it’s just a matter of time before incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan concedes defeat.

Muhammadu Buhari’s All Progressives Congress says Nigeria’s witnessing history – the first party democratically to throw out a sitting president.

APC spokesman Lai Mohammed asserts the people of Nigeria have taken over.

He’s calling on Goodluck Jonathan to keep his promise to relinquish power after being voted out in a free and fair election.

Buhari’s played heavily on his tough military image in a country that has affectively been held to ransom by the Islamist terror group Boko Haram.

They killed 20 people with gunfire on polling day. Apart from that, this election has been one of Nigeria’s most peaceful.

The post Buhari claims victory in Nigerian presidential race appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Their sentences, like all capital punishment determinations, are subject to review by the Grand Mufi, Egypt’s top Sunni Muslim authority.

The sit-ins that followed Egypt’s military coup in mid-2013 turned violent when they broke up and demonstrators attacked police stations, churches and government buildings.

The court has sentenced 14 people to death for this. Those condemned include Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie.

He’s facing a number of trials for the post-coup violence that killed dozens and wounded hundreds.

Indeed he’s been sentenced to death before but this has been commuted to life imprisonment.

El Sisi, who won election as Egypt’s sixth president has banned the Muslim Brotherhood.

The post More post coup death sentences in Egypt appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.