Geography of Africa

Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez on Wednesday said that once a maritime accord between Ankara and Libya's Tripoli-based government is approved and registered by the United Nations, Turkey will start working on licensing for oil and gas exploration and production in the region.

"I think we will start the process in the first months of 2020," Donmez said.

Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez on Wednesday said that once a maritime accord between Ankara and Libya's Tripoli-based government is approved and registered by the United Nations, Turkey will start working on licensing for oil and gas exploration and production in the region.

"I think we will start the process in the first months of 2020," Donmez said.

Egypt has appealed to the United Nations over a maritime zone pact signed by Turkey and Libya, describing it as illegal, as Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias has embarked on a tour of the Middle East with officials reportedly expressing concern about the ramifications of the accord.

Turkey will improve its cooperation with Libya and is ready to provide military support for the Tripoli-based government or back joint steps in the eastern Mediterranean, broadcaster NTV cited President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying on Wednesday.

Following the controversial deal signed between Libya's UN-supported government and Turkey on maritime boundaries in the Eastern Mediterranean, which was condemned on Friday by European Union leaders for being in breach of international laws, officials in Athens are trying to establish exactly when and where Ankara will choose to escalate tension in the region by sending an exploration vessel t

Libya's embassy in Egypt was closed indefinitely from Dec. 15, the mission said on its Facebook page citing security concerns.   

About one-third of tropical African plants are threatened with extinction, according to a new study cited by the BBC.

Much of West Africa, Ethiopia, as well as vast areas of Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are the regions found to be most at risk, that will lose about 40 percent of their plant diversity

A plane crashed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, AFP reported. A small plane, with 15 passengers on board, crashed in the densely populated Goma region, Busy Bee reported.

An airstrike that killed at least seven workers at a biscuit factory in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, is under investigation and could amount to a "war crime," the UN envoy to the North African nation Ghassan Salame said on Nov. 18.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva arrived from Windhoek in Luanda. She will be on a two-day official visit to the Republic of Angola at the invitation of Foreign Minister Manuel Domingos Augusto, the first of its kind since 1989, the Foreign Ministry said.