AFP Africa

Namibia’s first woman president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah on Thursday said her victory in a disputed vote last week had broken a “glass ceiling”.The vice-president secured just past 57 percent of the vote, well ahead of the candidate for the main opposition Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) on 25.5 percent, the election authority announced on Tuesday.Yet the …

Namibia’s first woman president says ‘breaks glass ceiling’Thu, 05 Dec 2024 13:50:13 GMT Read More »

Togo will hold its first elections for the upper house of parliament, the senate, on February 2, one of the last steps towards implementing a contested new constitution, the government said on Thursday.The overhaul abolishes the election of the head of state by universal suffrage and introduces a parliamentary system.It has been slammed by opposition …

Togo to elect first senate in February under constitution overhaulThu, 05 Dec 2024 12:48:43 GMT Read More »

UNESCO on Wednesday welcomed attieke, the quintessential dish of Ivory Coast, and the skills involved in making the fermented ground cassava meal into its list of humanity’s intangible cultural heritage.Pronounced “atchekay”, attieke looks a tad like couscous, takes a couple of days to make from scratch and is a mainstay staple all over the country …

Ivory Coast staple cassava meal gains UNESCO heritage statusThu, 05 Dec 2024 01:18:53 GMT Read More »

Six bodies have been extracted over the past two days from an abandoned mine in the town of Stilfontein in South Africa, where hundreds of clandestine miners are still underground, a community leader told AFP Wednesday.”Six bodies were retrieved in two days, four today and two yesterday,” said Johannes Qankase, a spokesman for the nearby …

Six bodies pulled from illegal South African goldmineWed, 04 Dec 2024 20:11:18 GMT Read More »

Joe Biden on Wednesday lauded a landmark railway infrastructure project aimed at countering China’s investments in Africa as a “game changer” while on a historic first visit to Angola by a US president.On the second day of his trip to the former Portuguese colony, Biden said the “Lobito Corridor”, a major railway route that should …

Biden hails ‘game changer’ Africa investment on Angola visitWed, 04 Dec 2024 17:02:22 GMT Read More »

Emerging filmmakers from Africa and the Arab world gathered in Marrakesh this week for a series of workshops to refine their film projects, secure funding and build industry connections.Held during the Marrakech International Film Festival, the Atlas Workshops brought together filmmakers from 13 countries working on projects at various stages of development. “Having it (the workshops) …

‘Creating connections’: Arab, African filmmakers gather at Morocco workshopsWed, 04 Dec 2024 15:53:05 GMT Read More »

A historic drought across southern Africa has jeopardised access to food for 26 million people, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned Wednesday, calling for urgent funding. The crisis, worsened by the 2023-2024 El Nino climate phenomenon, is expected to deepen until at least the next harvests due in March or April next year.”Today we …

Drought hits food access for 26 million in southern Africa: UNWed, 04 Dec 2024 13:59:55 GMT Read More »

A leading Niger civil society figure and critic of the military-led authorities has been arrested after returning from a trip abroad, his NGO and other sources said.The reason for the detention late on Tuesday of Moussa Tchangari, who has voiced “total support” for Niger’s ousted president Mohamed Bazoum, is not known.He is among those who …

Niger civil society figure critical of junta arrestedWed, 04 Dec 2024 13:38:18 GMT Read More »

Dressed in a white singlet with a scarf tied around his head, Frank crouched near a muddy pit, preparing to plunge his hands into the soil in search of gold.Around him, shirtless men, their bodies smeared with dirt and glistening with sweat, worked tirelessly under the blazing sun, near Ghana’s capital Accra.Some shovelled sand into …

Ghana’s illegal mining boom seeps into presidential electionWed, 04 Dec 2024 11:51:14 GMT Read More »

French nuclear group Orano said Wednesday that authorities in Niger had taken “operational control” of its uranium mining unit, in an escalating spat between the company and the country’s military junta.The junta, which took power in a coup in July last year, has vowed to revamp rules regulating the mining of raw materials by foreign …

France’s Orano says Niger junta controls uranium firmWed, 04 Dec 2024 11:39:08 GMT Read More »