Mugabe no-show at hearing:

Africa

Former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe on Wednesday failed to turn up for a parliamentary hearing where he was due to give evidence on corruption in the diamond mining industry.

The 94-year-old, who is in frail health, had been summoned to a session at 9:00 am (0700 GMT), but when he did not show up, lawmakers rescheduled the session for Monday.

Committee head Temba Mliswa, an independent lawmaker, told reporters that the parliamentary committee was “cognizant of the fact that 9:00 am was a bit too early” for the former president to show up.

He said the Monday session had been set for 2:00 pm, although no-one in Mugabe’s office would say whether or not he would attend.

Lawmakers want to question him over his 2016 claim that Zimbabwe lost $15 billion in revenue due to corruption and foreign exploitation in the diamond sector. (AFP)

Mugabe

Nwawe declined to give further details but said no ransom was paid. (AFP)

Cameroon summons US envoy:

Cameroonian authorities summoned the US ambassador in the country on Wednesday, sources said, days after he accused government forces of abuses against separatists in English-speaking regions.

Government and diplomatic sources told AFP that the foreign ministry had summoned Ambassador Peter Barlerin.

Barlerin alleged on May 18 that government forces had carried out “targeted killings” and other abuses against militants demanding independence for two English-speaking regions.

“On the side of the government, there have been targeted killings, detentions without access to legal support, family, or the Red Cross, and burning and looting of villages,” he said in a statement. (AFP)

Kidnappers demand bitcoin ransom:

A gang who kidnapped a South African teenager from a playground at the weekend have demanded a ransom in bitcoin cryptocurrency worth about $123,000, police said Tuesday.

The 13-year-old boy was taken in the eastern province of Mpumalanga while he was playing with friends near his home and was driven away by captors in a car. (AFP)

Somaliland storm kills dozens:

More than 50 people have died in Somaliland, livestock has been wiped out and hundreds of farms destroyed by heavy rains and floods caused by a tropical cyclone that hit the Horn of Africa, officials and aid agencies in the breakaway Somali region said.

Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991 and operates as an independent state but has not won international recognition. (RTRS)