Armed men abducted a German nurse working for the International Committee of the Red Cross from a compound in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu in what the government said Thursday was believed to be an inside job. The organisation said the attack happened around 8.00 pm local time on Wednesday evening when unidentified armed men entered its compound, adding it was “in contact with various authorities to try and secure her release”. “We are deeply concerned about the safety of our colleague,” said Daniel O’Malley, deputy Somalia head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Former Mozambican guerrilla leader Afonso Dhlakama, who was due to run for the presidency next year, died on Thursday aged 65. Dhlakama, who headed the former rebel Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo) movement, was found dead in the central town of Gorongosa, a party stronghold, state broadcaster TVM said on Thursday. President Filipe Nyusi, whose ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) movement fought a long and bitter civil war against Renamo, said Dhlakama’s death marked “a bad time” for Mozambique. “To me is even worse because I was in a full alignment with him to solve the problems of this country,” he said on TVM.

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.”