AFP Africa

Worshippers in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, home to Africa’s biggest Catholic populations, on Friday voiced joy over the new pope’s election and hopes he would carry on the legacy of his liberal predecessor.In the Congolese capital, the election of Pope Leo XIV drew particular interest as the city’s archbishop had been seen …

African worshippers hope Pope Leo carries on Francis’s workFri, 09 May 2025 12:21:17 GMT Read More »

Joyce Lokonyi sits on an upturned bucket, fingers weaving palm fronds as the wind pulls her dress to expose the stump of her amputated foot, lost to a little-known disease ravaging Kenya’s poorest county.Mycetoma is a fungal or bacterial infection that enters the body through any open wound, often as tiny as a thorn prick.Starting …

Rare bone-eroding disease ruining lives in Kenya’s poorest countyFri, 09 May 2025 06:09:57 GMT Read More »

Martha Karua, among the first to declare a run for the Kenyan presidency in 2027, told AFP the country is in “total disarray” due to corruption, police killings and economic decline.Karua served in government in the 2000s and, as a lawyer, has lately represented jailed opposition figures in neighbouring Tanzania and Uganda.She hopes to harness …

Kenya is ‘in total disarray’: opposition candidate Martha KaruaFri, 09 May 2025 06:01:42 GMT Read More »

Robert Francis Prevost became the first pope from the United States on Thursday, picking the papal name Leo XIV after cardinals from around the world elected him leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.Tens of thousands of people packed in St Peter’s Square cheered as Prevost appeared on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, waving …

Prevost becomes first US pope as Leo XIVThu, 08 May 2025 17:33:44 GMT Read More »

Chinese-made weapons supplied by the United Arab Emirates have been identified with Sudan’s paramilitaries, Amnesty International said Thursday, as drone attacks prompted civilians to flee the army-held aid hub of Port Sudan.The Britain-based watchdog said that its research had detailed the use by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces of sophisticated Chinese-made artillery and guided bombs …

Amnesty says UAE supplying Sudan paramilitaries with Chinese weaponsThu, 08 May 2025 17:15:08 GMT Read More »

Paramilitary drone strikes targeting Sudan’s wartime capital have sought to shatter the regular army’s sense of security and open a dangerous new chapter in the war, experts say.Since April 2023, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) group has been at war with the army, which has lately recaptured some territory and dislodged the paramilitaries from the …

Drones drag Sudan war into dangerous new territoryThu, 08 May 2025 16:00:29 GMT Read More »

The head of Ivory Coast’s main opposition party on Thursday claimed the government was trying to silence dissent before upcoming presidential elections, as crowds gathered to protest his ban from standing.A court in the west African country last month barred Tidjane Thiam from being a candidate in the October 25 vote, saying he lost Ivorian …

Banned I.Coast candidate accuses govt of silencing oppositionThu, 08 May 2025 15:30:46 GMT Read More »

A prayer ceremony was held in the Malian capital Bamako on Thursday for a 22-year-old man who was stabbed to death in a mosque in the south of France.Aboubakar Cisse was stabbed dozens of times while praying in the southern French town of La Grand-Combe on April 25.Olivier Hadzovic, a 20-year-old French national of Bosnian …

Body of Malian killed in French mosque repatriated: ministryThu, 08 May 2025 15:25:17 GMT Read More »

Senegalese lawmakers on Thursday began debating whether to allow several former ministers to face charges before a special court over accusations they embezzled funds meant for the country’s fight against Covid.Senegal’s National Assembly is largely controlled by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye’s party, who was elected in March last year on a promise to change how …

Senegal MPs weigh graft cases against ex-ministersThu, 08 May 2025 10:53:18 GMT Read More »

Paramilitary drones struck army-held areas of eastern and southern Sudan for a fifth straight day Thursday, army sources said, prompting an exodus of civilians from Port Sudan, seat of the army-backed government.Attacks targeted the country’s main naval base outside Port Sudan, as well as fuel depots in the southern city of Kosti, two sources said, …

Drone strikes spark civilian exodus from army-controlled Sudan aid hubThu, 08 May 2025 09:44:43 GMT Read More »