Newscast - Africa

Mali is pulling out of a multinational military force fighting Islamist militants in West Africa's Sahel region.
Mali says that this was a protest against its rejection as head of the G5 regional group that also includes Mauritania, Chad, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Mali's junta blamed a lack of progress in the fight against the Islamists and the failure to hold recent meetings in Mali.
Mali's withdrawal could further isolate the country whose economy has been hit by sanctions since the coup.

Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Mr. Simbi Wabote says that French oil major, TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Limited, has invested almost $30 billion in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector within the space of eight years.
The French oil giant says Nigeria remained at the heart of its strategy and indicated plans to expand its business into the country’s electricity sector.
It stressed that the sector offered exciting opportunities that it would like to explore.
He says with the number of investments TotalEnergies had put into the country’s oil and gas sector since its entrance into the space, there was no basis for comparing it with that of Shell, Chevron and ExxonMobil.

The Nigeria Football Federation has announced that Jose Peseiro has been named the Super Eagles' head coach.
The NFF says the appointment is with immediate effect, subject to the signing of agreed terms between the football body and the Portuguese.
The NFF says Peseiro is expected to lead the Super Eagles for the first time during the upcoming tour of the United States of America.

The former Minister of State for Education Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba says the Federal Government is working on a funding structure for public universities in the country as part of moves to tackle the incessant strikes by lecturers in these institutions.
Nwajiuba noted that the government’s funding of public universities is unsustainable.
He says the presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress in the 2023 election maintained that with the number of public universities in the country, these schools have to get new ways of making money to fund their institutions.

Energy giant Shell has agreed to sell more than 400 of its petrol stations in Russia to the country's second-largest oil producer, Lukoil.
Shell Neft, the firm's subsidiary in Russia, will be sold for an undisclosed sum.
Shell says the deal, which includes 411 petrol stations, will protect 350 jobs.
The sale also includes a lubricant blending plant around 200km northwest of Moscow.
Shell announced in February that it would sell its Russian assets because of the invasion of Ukraine.
The firm however says pulling out of Russian deals which include the sale of its stakes in all joint business ventures with Russian state energy firm Gazprom, had cost it $3.9bn.

The World Health Organization says the number of people who have died from Covid-19 in Europe, the long-time epicentre of the pandemic, has passed two million.
The UN health agency says a devastating milestone has passed as reported confirmed Covid-19 deaths from countries in the WHO European Region have exceeded more than 2 million people.

Spain’s interior minister says Madrid and Rabat have agreed to re-open the land borders between Morocco and two Spanish enclaves.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska says the two countries had agreed to open the land borders with Ceuta and Melilla gradually from May 17.
He says crossings will be initially limited to residents of Europe’s passport-free Schengen area and their family members, and will then be expanded to cross-border workers after May 31.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged international organisations and donor agencies to buy Covid vaccines from African manufacturers.
President Ramaphosa says this would ensure the developing capabilities on the continent are retained.
He says international agencies that have had a lot of money donated to them for purchasing and procuring vaccines for developing-economy countries are not buying vaccines from African vaccine manufacturers, even for those vaccines that are destined for African countries.
Mr Ramaphosa says his country was still advocating for an intellectual property waiver to improve global access to vaccines.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s spokesperson says Tanzania is in talks with the International Monetary Fund for a $1.1 billion three-year financing package, and that a team was in the country to examine the request.
The energy minister says Tanzania was in the final stages of securing loans from the World Bank and the IMF to help cushion the rising cost of living.
Finance Minister Mwigulu Nchemba says Russia’s invasion of Ukraine posed a risk to its fiscal budget due to an expected rise in inflation caused by disruptions in the supply chains of various commodities including fuel.

National Bank of Rwanda has maintained the key repo rate--at which it lends to commercial banks-- at 5 per cent and said domestic economic growth is likely to slow down.
The Bank's Governor, John Rwangombwa says that there was low production in the agriculture season A hence leading to the continued rise in commodity prices.
Rwangombwa says that the Bank was working with stakeholders to limit the impact of external pressures on Rwanda's purchasing power.
The Monetary Policy Committee will continue to monitor domestic and global economic developments to inform future decisions.