Monday, 25 Nov 2024

Africa

Get today’s live news on Africa: current events, photos, infographics and News24x7world exclusive stories from eyewitnesses…

How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting elections in Africa?

As COVID-19 spreads in the continent, Ethiopia postpones August vote while Guinea goes ahead with disputed referendum. Back in February, things did not look too promising for Peter Mutharika, Malawi’s 79-year-old president. The country’s constitutional court had just annulled the May 2019 vote that declared him the winner by a narrow margin, citing widespread “irregularities”. […]

Up to 20 Malian soldiers killed in attack on military base

Fighters attacked a military base in the northern town of Bamba early on Monday, according to officials and a witness. At least 20 Malian soldiers have been killed in an armed attack, local politicians and a military official said, in the latest bout of violence in the West African nation. Fighters attacked a military base […]

Crisis in The Sahel Becoming France’s Forever War

Riding along with French troops hunting Islamist militants in France’s unwinnable West African war. French Foreign Legion soldiers from the Operation Barkhane Counterterrorism Force taking positions as Merlin helicopters land in the Liptako-Gourma zone in northeastern Mali.Credit… Supported by By Ruth Maclean Photographs by Finbarr O’Reilly AWAGATE FOREST, MALI — For two days, dozens of […]

War-torn Libya reports first coronavirus case

TRIPOLI (AFP) – Libya has reported its first case of the new coronavirus, a particular source of concern in the North African country where civil war has badly degraded the public healthcare system. Libya has been mired in chaos since the 2011 overthrow of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi and is divided between the Tripoli-based Government […]

Guineans heading to polls in historic constitution vote

CONAKRY (AFP) – Voters in the West African state Guinea were being called to the polls on Sunday (March 22) for a bitterly-disputed referendum that critics say is a ploy by President Alpha Conde to stay in power. Mr Conde is proposing a change to the constitution to codify gender equality and introduce other social […]

The ‘evil genius’ trumpeter who influenced Fela Kuti

Nigeria has been mourning music legend Victor Olaiya, who created Nigeria’s highlife rhythms and influenced a generation of musicians including Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Nduka Orjinmo looks back at the life of the trumpeter, who died last month at the age of 89. Just like the well-turned out government filing clerk that he was, Olaiya always carried […]

Bracing for coronavirus in a South African township

As the number of coronavirus cases in South Africa rises quickly, BBC Africa correspondent Andrew Harding visits a poor neighbourhood in the main city Johannesburg to see how it will cope with an outbreak. In the narrow, muddy alleys, lined with makeshift homes, that lead down to a rubbish-strewn stream on the edge of Alexandra […]

Coronavirus: First death in Sub-Saharan Africa as WHO warns 'prepare for worst'

GENEVA (AFP) – Sub-Saharan Africa on Wednesday (March 18) recorded its first coronavirus death, a high-ranking politician in Burkina Faso, as the head of the World Health Organisation urged the continent to “prepare for the worst”. “Africa should wake up,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference in Geneva, pointing out that “in other countries […]

Sudan's June crackdown may have killed 241 people: Rights group

Killings by security forces followed a protest movement that led to the stepping down of President Omar al-Bashir. Sudanese security forces deliberately killed scores of people, possibly as many as 241, in a crackdown on a pro-democracy protesters last June, an international rights group said on Thursday. It was the deadliest episode of a months-long […]