AFP Africa

President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that France’s envoy to Niger is living like a hostage in the French embassy and accused military rulers of blocking food deliveries to the mission.The ambassador is living off “military rations”, Macron told reporters in the French town of Semur-en-Auxois.”As we speak, we have an ambassador and diplomatic staff …

Macron says ambassador to Niger ‘literally held hostage’Fri, 15 Sep 2023 19:02:07 GMT Read More »

Over a decade of bloody power battles in Libya have resulted in vital infrastructure falling into disrepair, culminating in the catastrophic death toll in Sunday’s flood, politicians and analysts have said.Wracked by conflict and division ever since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, the North African country is currently …

Tragic Libya flood toll result of years of division: analystsFri, 15 Sep 2023 16:21:40 GMT Read More »

Heinrich Klaasen slammed 174 off 83 balls to lead a South African batting assault against Australia in the fourth one-day international at SuperSport Park on Friday.Klaasen shared an extraordinary fifth wicket partnership of 222 off only 94 balls with David Miller (82 not out) as South Africa piled up 416 for five, their fifth-highest total …

Klaasen hammers century as South Africa post 416-5 in 4th ODIFri, 15 Sep 2023 15:42:53 GMT Read More »

The cost of fuel in Kenya hit a record high on Friday after the energy regulator revised pump prices, adding to the economic hardship facing millions of people.The announcement by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority has brought the retail price of a litre of petrol to an unprecedented  more than 200 Kenyan shillings ($1.36).Kenyans …

More pain for Kenyans as fuel prices hit all-time highFri, 15 Sep 2023 14:58:02 GMT Read More »

Justine Ndoumba and her two daughters wander round the aisles of a school supplies shop carrying a long list of items required to start the new term in the Gabonese capital Libreville.”The prices have increased and it’s a bit difficult for us,” she admits.Even with the country’s new military strongman declaring an end to enrollment …

Cost of back-to-school weighs on Gabon parentsFri, 15 Sep 2023 11:19:11 GMT Read More »

Thousands of migrants began departing the Italian island of Lampedusa Friday for Sicily, alleviating strain on the hotspot where record recent arrivals equalled the tiny island’s population.Men, women and children lined up to board buses and vans headed to the island’s port to take boats to Sicily further north, where they will be sent to …

Pressure eases as Italian island begins migrant transfer to SicilyFri, 15 Sep 2023 10:08:49 GMT Read More »

Nine-year-old Moroccan girl Ibtissam Ait Iddar was fortunate to have been rescued from under the rubble, but like other children she remains traumatised by the earthquake that devastated her village.”My father called me and I cried back ‘I’m here, I’m here’,” Ibtissam recalled five days after the disaster that left nearly 3,000 people dead and …

Children traumatised by Morocco ‘nightmare’ quakeFri, 15 Sep 2023 09:37:55 GMT Read More »

Police officers arrive en masse, force their way into a house and unceremoniously throw furniture and household appliances out on the street, as the helpless residents look on.The scene is a common one in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s bustling capital Kinshasa, where property disputes are endemic. Unbridled corruption and soaring land prices often fuel the …

Property disputes, evictions plague DR Congo capitalFri, 15 Sep 2023 06:25:51 GMT Read More »

Emergency teams on Friday kept up their search for the thousands still posted as missing from the tsunami-sized flash flood that swept the Libyan port city of Derna, killing at least 4,000 people.The enormous surge of water burst two upstream dams late Sunday and reduced Derna to an apocalyptic wasteland where entire city blocks and …

Libya’s flood-ravaged Derna in grisly hunt for thousands still missingFri, 15 Sep 2023 05:48:23 GMT Read More »

About eight hours passed after Morocco’s earthquake before help reached the hamlet of Ardouz, one of many tiny mountain villages whose remoteness is both appealing and cruelly risky.Some of the settlements perched in the High Atlas are still not accessible by road nearly a week after the nation’s deadliest quake in generations, though the authorities …

Quake exposed risk in Morocco villages’ isolationFri, 15 Sep 2023 05:20:50 GMT Read More »