AFP Africa

An attack that killed hundreds of civilians in Burkina Faso last month highlights the ruling military junta’s inability to contain escalating jihadist violence, experts say.Junta chief Captain Ibrahim Traore, 36, seized power in the West African country in a 2022 coup, vowing to swiftly regain control over a nation plagued by jihadist armed groups.Thousands have …

Burkina junta failing to stifle rising jihadist violenceTue, 10 Sep 2024 06:11:20 GMT Read More »

Nigeria’s domestic security agency on Monday arrested one of the country’s top labour leaders, his union said, days after he called on the government to reverse a fuel price hike.Labour unions in June shut down the national grid for a day, stalled domestic flights and closed government offices to protest over Nigeria’s high costs of …

Nigerian security agents arrest top labour leader: unionMon, 09 Sep 2024 19:43:14 GMT Read More »

Distraught parents gathered on Monday at a hospital in central Kenya for DNA tests to identify the victims of a deadly school dormitory fire that claimed the lives of 21 boys.Kenya’s government declared three days of mourning amid public anger over repeated fires and safety lapses in its schools.The children perished after flames engulfed their …

Kenya starts DNA testing for school fire victimsMon, 09 Sep 2024 15:13:08 GMT Read More »

Paramilitary gunfire sounded in Sudan’s southeastern city of Sennar on Monday, a day after shelling blamed on the paramilitaries killed around 30 people at a market, activists and witnesses said.Sennar is one of the few remaining cities in the state of the same name which is not yet controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), …

Paramilitary gunfire in Sudan city a day after deadly shellingMon, 09 Sep 2024 15:02:42 GMT Read More »

A fuel tanker exploded after colliding with a truck carrying passengers and cattle in northern Nigeria, killing at least 59 people, a rescue agency said on Monday.Photographs released by the Niger State Emergency Management Agency or SEMA showed workers burying more than a dozen blackened and charred bodies of victims from Sunday’s early morning incident.Images …

Fuel tanker explosion in Nigeria kills at least 59Mon, 09 Sep 2024 14:10:24 GMT Read More »

Hungary has bucked a trend by Western nations to withdraw from the Sahel region of Africa where Russia has increased its presence, and plans to deploy soldiers to Chad, whose leader Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno is in Budapest for talks.Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met Deby Itno over the weekend and further talks were underway …

Hungary seeks foothold in restive Sahel as West pulls outMon, 09 Sep 2024 13:04:19 GMT Read More »

South African 2019 World Cup winner Sibusiso Nkosi has been banned for three years by World Rugby after testing positive for an anabolic steroid, his club Cheetahs said on Monday.”Sbu had a World Rugby test in May and his A sample was positive. He has been banned for three years,” a Cheetahs official, who requested …

Springbok World Cup winner Nkosi given three-year doping banMon, 09 Sep 2024 11:28:15 GMT Read More »

In the worst drought in southern Africa in a century, villagers in Malawi are digging for potentially poisonous wild yams to eat as their crops lie scorched in the fields. “Our situation is very dire; we are starving,” said 76-year-old grandmother Manesi Levison as she watched over a pot of bitter, orange wild yams that she …

‘We are starving’: Malawi villagers cook toxic yams to survive droughtMon, 09 Sep 2024 05:33:58 GMT Read More »

When he was a witch doctor, Moussa Diallo would regularly smear himself in a lotion made from a clitoris cut from a girl subjected to female genital mutilation.”I wanted to be a big chief, I wanted to dominate,” said the small but charismatic fiftysomething from northwest Ivory Coast. “I put it on my face and body” …

Genitalia from girls mutilated in I. Coast sold for magicMon, 09 Sep 2024 02:23:13 GMT Read More »

DNA testing was due to begin in Kenya on Monday to help identify the boys who lost their lives in a deadly school dormitory blaze last week.The nation has also declared three days of mourning for the 21 young victims of the grim tragedy that has raised fresh concerns about safety standards at Kenyan schools.The …

Kenya starts DNA testing to identify school fire victimsMon, 09 Sep 2024 02:06:22 GMT Read More »