AFP Africa

President Mohamed Bazoum has been languishing for two years along with his wife in Niger’s presidential palace since his ouster by a junta, which is using them as human shields to avert foreign military intervention to free them, according to the couple’s lawyers.  They are only allowed medical visits. Their lawyers say they have exhausted …

‘Human shield’: Niger’s ousted president held by juntaThu, 24 Jul 2025 14:37:10 GMT Read More »

Nigerian troops killed at least 95 members of an armed criminal gang in a shootout and airstrikes earlier this week, according to a situation report shared with the UN and seen by AFP on Thursday.Armed gangs known as “bandits” have taken root across Nigeria’s rural hinterlands amid poverty and government neglect. They raid, loot and …

Troops kill at least 95 ‘bandits’ in northwest NigeriaThu, 24 Jul 2025 11:35:14 GMT Read More »

Resurgent jihadist attacks, huge cuts in foreign aid and a spiralling cost of living: hunger is looming in northeastern Nigeria, where more than a million people face starvation.Before insurgency upended daily life, Damboa was a regional farming hub. Today it stands on the frontline of survival.Located around 90 kilometres (55 miles) south of Borno state …

Millions go hungry in Nigeria as aid dries up, jihadists surgeThu, 24 Jul 2025 03:53:26 GMT Read More »

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s firebrand former justice minister, Constant Mutamba, on Wednesday protested his innocence at the opening of his trial for embezzling public funds, including reparations for war victims. Having achieved national notoriety for his hardline positions, including calling for people caught syphoning off taxpayers’ money to be executed, Mutamba resigned as minister on …

DR Congo ex-minister Mutamba protests innocence at graft trial’s openingWed, 23 Jul 2025 22:11:51 GMT Read More »

The years have passed but the stigma remains for Gambians accused of being witches, who were detained more than a decade ago under the abusive dictatorship of Yahya Jammeh, research published Wednesday revealed.Hundreds of people, many of them elderly women, were targeted under the eccentric west African dictator’s 2008-2009 purge on witchcraft.The victims were taken …

Stigma haunts Gambians accused in state witch purge: studyWed, 23 Jul 2025 21:41:12 GMT Read More »

Thousands of Gambians protested Wednesday in Banjul alleging government corruption and calling for justice over a number of scandals that have rocked the country.The protesters carried handwritten placards with slogans such as “Gambians are not slaves to corruption” as they chanted slogans such as “People! Power!””We have been living under pillage and plunder for so …

Gambians protest corruption following recent scandalsWed, 23 Jul 2025 18:06:05 GMT Read More »

France’s Canal+ said Wednesday it had cleared the final regulatory hurdle for the buyout of Africa’s largest pay TV enterprise MultiChoice and further expand its footprint on the continent.The company said in a statement that the South African Competition Tribunal had given its approval for Canal+ to acquire the approximately 55 percent of MultiChoice shares …

Canal+ clears final hurdle to acquire S.Africa’s MultiChoiceWed, 23 Jul 2025 11:55:32 GMT Read More »

Double Rugby World Cup winners Makazole Mapimpi and Faf de Klerk have been omitted from the South Africa squad for two Rugby Championship Tests against Australia during August. Salmaan Moerat, who captained the Springboks to victory over Italy this month, is also left out of a 37-man squad consisting of 20 forwards and 17 backs.  The …

Springboks omit Mapimpi, De Klerk for Wallabies TestsWed, 23 Jul 2025 11:36:41 GMT Read More »

Nigeria’s countryside is under growing threat from gangs of armed criminal “bandits”, who have in recent years proven more deadly than the west African nation’s jihadist insurgency.Earlier in July, at least 40 people were killed in central Plateau state, while on Friday nine farmers were killed and more than a dozen kidnapped in northwestern Zamfara …

How Nigeria’s ‘banditry’ crisis has evolvedWed, 23 Jul 2025 05:50:51 GMT Read More »

Despite billions of dollars in international support, Somalia’s army has melted in the face of a months-long offensive by the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab insurgency, and donors are running out of patience.Using hundreds of fighters and a vehicle packed with explosives for a suicide attack, Al-Shabaab retook the town of Moqokori on July 7, the latest in …

Somalia donors losing faith as Al-Shabaab surgesWed, 23 Jul 2025 05:35:27 GMT Read More »