AFP Africa

For more than 40 years, Bongani Ncube and Patricia Baleni have carried the pain of losing their fathers in the Matabeleland massacres in which thousands of Zimbabweans were murdered in the 1980s. But neither believe village-level hearings launched by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in July as a “pilgrimage towards healing” will bring closure.Ncube said he was three …

Too little too late: Zimbabwe massacre survivors cry foulThu, 12 Sep 2024 06:15:04 GMT Read More »

The restoration of a centuries-old earthen tomb in northern Mali had finally got under way when part of its roof caved in under the burden of heavy rains and the passage of time.The collapse was a stark reminder of the threat posed by extreme weather events, which are expected to multiply in the coming years …

Imperilled Mali monument gets new lease of lifeThu, 12 Sep 2024 05:54:41 GMT Read More »

Taylor Swift on Wednesday repeated her call for fans to register to vote in the US presidential election as she accepted MTV’s top Video Music Award.Swift won the Video of the Year for “Fortnight,” which also featured Post Malone, and thanked her loyal Swifties for bestowing her with the fan-chosen award, which she took home …

Taylor Swift again urges fans to vote at MTV VMAsThu, 12 Sep 2024 04:53:16 GMT Read More »

Ghana’s government on Wednesday announced a 45-percent increase in the producer price of cocoa for the 2024/2025 crop season, in a bid to curb smuggling.The policy is also designed  to improve the welfare of cocoa farmers as the new season begins, said Agriculture Minister Bryan Acheampong.The new price, effective from Wednesday, raises the payment for …

Ghana raises cocoa price by 45% to deter smugglingWed, 11 Sep 2024 22:46:36 GMT Read More »

UN experts called Wednesday for the creation of a global system to trace the extraction and production of critical minerals that are needed in the transition away from fossil fuels.The massive effort to develop renewable energy, essential in the fight against climate change, requires minerals and metals such as copper, cadmium, nickel and lithium, necessary …

UN experts call for global system to trace critical mineralsWed, 11 Sep 2024 20:22:58 GMT Read More »

Severe flooding in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri has claimed at least 30 lives and forced 400,000 people from their homes, officials said Wednesday.”The death toll is 30,” National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) spokesman Ezekiel Manzo told AFP a day after water from an overflowing dam swept away thousands of homes in the capital …

Nigeria floods kill 30, displace 400,000: rescuersWed, 11 Sep 2024 18:56:38 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 magicWed, 11 Sep 2024 18:30:39 GMT Read More »

Mali’s ruling junta has suspended French-language channel TV5 Monde for three months for what it called a lack of “balance” in a news item, the media regulator said in a statement received by AFP Wednesday.The High Authority for Communication (HAC) criticised TV5 Monde for having reported on the death of at least 15 civilians in …

Mali junta suspends French-language channel TV5 Monde for 3 monthsWed, 11 Sep 2024 17:35:49 GMT Read More »

Employees at Kenya’s main airport called off their day-long strike which had stranded thousands of passengers as scores of flights were cancelled or delayed, union leaders said on Wednesday. The decision came after they reached an agreement with the management, brokered by ministry of transport officials and the umbrella trade union organisation. “We have agreed. We have …

Striking Kenya airport staff to resume workWed, 11 Sep 2024 16:31:18 GMT Read More »

The president of medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) accused Italy’s hard-right government Wednesday of seeking to criminalise humanitarian aid to drowning migrants, as a court suspended authorities’ blockage of its ship.The organisation’s search and rescue vessel, the Geo Barents, has been at port in Salerno, Italy, for two weeks after being placed under administrative …

Aid group MSF protests Italy migrant policy, but rescue ship free to resumeWed, 11 Sep 2024 14:28:43 GMT Read More »