The blaze, one of the worst residential ones in South Africa’s history, occurred in a building that officials and locals say had become an overcrowded death trap for the hundreds who lived there.

Families on Friday were trying to identify relatives caught in the blaze, a day after it consumed a sprawling settlement in one of the deadliest residential fires in South African history.

Hailed as a climate visionary, Gabon’s president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, was once welcomed to Buckingham Palace but was blindsided by this week’s coup.

Johannesburg, with a severe shortage of affordable housing, has hundreds of illegally occupied derelict buildings that officials and housing advocates say have become firetraps.

A visit and imagery of the five-story building show that it had a litany of major safety issues that made it vulnerable to a deadly fire.

The blaze struck an abandoned building that had become a crowded squatter camp. The authorities were investigating the cause.

The early-morning blaze tore through a five-story building that had become a sprawling informal settlement, officials said. The cause was not yet known.

A 2014 law makes such unions illegal in the country. Anyone found guilty of taking part can also face up to 10 years in prison.

The televised announcement came hours after the Central African nation’s president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, was re-elected for a third term.

Prosecutors used the death penalty provision of a newly passed law to charge a 20-year-old man. The measure has sown widespread fear among gay Ugandans.

Mathieu Belezi has been fascinated by the history of colonial Algeria for years. Acclaim finally came with his latest book, a sign of changing times.

The main regional bloc in southern African and the African Union declined to rubber-stamped the elections and cast doubt on a vote that led to President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s re-election.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa won another five-year term by intimidating voters and manipulating the campaign process.

Since Yevgeny Prigozhin’s brief mutiny in June, the Kremlin has tried to assure African clients that it was in control. But analysts suggested that without its leader, Wagner’s future was uncertain.

A reptile found in Madagascar is impossible to tell apart from tree bark by day. For decades, scientists had mixed it up with a relative.

Other voters in Zimbabwe had to return the next day to vote for president, and the police raided election observers. The main candidates both predicted victory.

Of South Asian descent, he was discriminated against as “colored” in South Africa, but he flourished in London as a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet.

Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Indonesia and Egypt are among the potential candidates to expand the five-nation bloc, many of them seeking stronger ties with non-Western powers. Iran is also interested.

Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Indonesia and Egypt are among the potential candidates to expand the five-nation bloc, many of them seeking stronger ties with non-Western powers. Iran is also interested.

The country needs a free and fair election to escape Western sanctions. But familiar concerns about government repression and ballot rigging are dogging the vote.