Newscast - Africa

Borno State Senator and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Ali Ndume, says President Muhammadu Buhari should directly address the nation on the matter of insecurity, rather than issuing statements through his media advisers.
Mr Ndume added that he was really disappointed with the response of so many leaders.
Mr Ndume’s comments comes days after terrorists attacked a prison in Kuje, the Federal Capital Territory.

Chile’s new draft constitution has been submitted to President Gabriel Boric, after a year-long process that saw constituent assembly members debate and writes up a document to replace the country’s Pinochet-era Magna Carta.
Boric, a left-wing former protest leader says Chileans have chosen more democracy, not less.
He immediately signed a decree calling for a referendum on September 4, where voting in the deeply polarised country of 19 million people will be obligatory.

United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier Liu discussed economic issues including international trade and supply chains, as the Biden administration considers lowering tariffs on Chinese goods to tame soaring inflation.
China’s Ministry of Commerce says the pragmatic and frank talks touched on the macroeconomic situation and the stability of global supply chains.
China also expressed concerns about US tariffs and sanctions against Chinese firms, the ministry said, adding that both sides had agreed to continue the dialogue.

President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops to press their offensive deeper into the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine after Moscow’s forces seized the strategic city of Lysychansk.
The loss of Lysychansk over the weekend prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to step up calls for an increased supply of weapons from the West so Kyiv can keep up the resistance and regain lost territories.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin at a meeting that Moscow’s forces were now in full control of the Lugansk region.
Putin told Shoigu that troops stationed there must continue their operations.

Uganda's Lawmaker has approved the adoption of Swahili as an official language.
The cabinet also recommended that the teaching of Swahili in primary and secondary should be made compulsory.
The Ugandan cabinet says the decision followed a directive by the East African Community bloc to adopt the language to ease communication among member countries

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the military leader of neighbouring Sudan Lt Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan have agreed to peacefully settle the long-running border dispute that has led to armed clashes.
The talks between the two leaders follow the recent flare-up in the volatile fertile border region of al-Fashaga claimed by both countries.
The two leaders held talks on the sidelines of a meeting of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a seven-country regional body, in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

Sudan's military leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, says the army will make way for a civilian government.
He says the armed forces would not stand in the way of a democratic transition and were committed to working towards elections.
He says the military will no longer be involved in talks to end the country’s political crisis, with its place in the negotiations taken up by civil society groups.

The acting Director-General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, Mr Michael Ohiani, says the commission intended to gazette a pipeline of 53 eligible and bankable Public-Private Partnership projects valued at about $22 billion this year.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, says the federal government and African governments must provide an enabling environment for the private sector to support infrastructure development.
He says African governments must also resist pressure to erect trade barriers for intra-African trade to flourish adding that currently, intra-African trade amongst African states is about 10 per cent of total exports – the lowest amongst other regions in the world.

The federal government maintained that removing the petrol subsidy would result in unintended consequences, insisting that this is a most inauspicious time to withdraw the price buffer.
Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, says that many other nations were introducing measures to help citizens cope with high oil energy prices.
Mohammed says Nigeria could not be an exception despite the daily killings and attacks across the country.

Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, has called for increased collaboration among security agencies to adequately tackle the insecurity in the country.
The governor also stressed the importance of a cordial civil-military relationship, especially in the South East which has witnessed a series of attacks by armed men in recent times.
General Yahaya, reiterated the commitment of the Nigerian Army to ensuring that there was peace and stability in the county.
The army chief also thanked the people and government of Imo State for their hospitality as army personnel converge on the state capital from all over the country for the celebration.