This week, Chad’s parliament voted to introduce a new constitution that will allow two more terms for President Idriss Deby, who has led the country since 1990. On May 17, Burundians will vote on a constitutional amendment that would enable President Pierre Nkurunziza, president since 2005, to stay in office an additional 16 years. And in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a worsening humanitarian crisis unfolds while President Joseph Kabila refuses to step down, despite reaching the end of his mandated time in office nearly 18 months ago. An analysis by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) earlier this year found that less than 40 percent of countries have enforced constitutional term limits, and leaders in just 15 countries have stepped down after two terms. An author of that study says the consequences can be severe. Joseph Siegle is the director of research at ACSS and worked on the report. He told VOA, “The lack of term limits has created these systems where populations cannot change their leaders through constitutional and established political means.”

Seven Zimbabwean government ministers and several allies of President Emmerson Mnangagwa were defeated in primary elections for parliament, results showed on Thursday, as disputes threaten to divide the party ahead of polls set for July. The internal ZANU-PF poll was a major test of the party’s capacity to organise following last November’s resignation of the long-ruling 94-year-old Robert Mugabe, who was ousted from power when his top army generals turned against him in a de facto coup. Voting in the primaries, which took place on Sunday, was extended to Tuesday in some constituencies due to disagreements over who should vote, late ballot deliveries and accusations of bribery and cheating by some candidates.

The United States has formally complained to China after alleging that the Chinese military injured two U.S. airmen by directing high-grade lasers at American aircraft in Djibouti. Pentagon spokeswoman Dana W. White said at a briefing on Thursday that the United States has requested China investigate multiple incidents in recent weeks in which U.S. aircraft in Djibouti have been affected by unauthorized Chinese laser activity. White said the Pentagon was confident that Chinese nationals were responsible. She said there had been more than two but fewer than 10 such incidents, which she said had increased in frequency in recent weeks. “It’s a serious matter,” White said. “And we’re taking it very seriously.”

Various Libyan factions are accusing each other of trying to postpone parliamentary and presidential elections, following the suicide-attack against the headquarters of the country’s electoral commission in Tripoli. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the bombing, while the military spokesman in the east of the country downplayed that claim. The suicide bomber attack Wednesday against Libya’s electoral commission headquarters left a trail of death and destruction. Libyan TV showed the charred remains of the badly damaged building and reported more than a dozen people had been killed. Arab media said the so-called Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.