Africa Business

The United States would drastically reduce its diplomatic footprint in Africa and scrap State Department offices dealing with climate change, democracy and human rights, according to a draft White House order.The executive order, framed as a strategy to cut costs while “reflecting the priorities” of the White House, also lays out measures to slash US soft …

Trump eyes gutting US diplomacy in Africa, cutting soft power: draft plan Read More »

Qatar’s chief negotiator voiced frustration over talks for a truce in Gaza in an interview with AFP, a month after Israel resumed its strikes on the Palestinian territory and another round of negotiations ended without a deal.”We’re definitely frustrated by the slowness, sometimes, of the process in the negotiation. This is an urgent matter. There …

Qatar’s chief negotiator says ‘frustrated’ by pace of Gaza talks Read More »

For a week, eight-year-old Mohamed has suffered the pain of shrapnel stuck in his arm. But he is one of the lucky ones in Sudan’s western city El-Fasher, which is under paramilitary attack.”One of our neighbours used to be a nurse. She helped us stop the bleeding,” Mohamed’s father, Issa Said, 27, told AFP via …

Neighbours improvise first aid for wounded in besieged Sudan city Read More »

The mayor of the DR Congo town near where a boat caught fire earlier this week told AFP on Saturday that at least 33 people had died in the disaster, significantly fewer than previously reported.More than 200 passengers were crowded onto a wooden boat on the Congo River in northwest DRC on Tuesday when the …

DR Congo boat fire toll revised down to 33 Read More »

A Tunisian court has handed down jail sentences of up to 66 years to multiple defendants, including prominent opposition figures, in a mass trial criticised by rights groups.The trial, decried by a defence lawyer as a “masquerade”, is of unprecedented scale with around 40 defendants including vocal critics of President Kais Saied.A prosecutor cited on …

Tunisia opposition figures get jail terms in mass trial Read More »

Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese civilians, who had already endured months of famine, have fled in “disastrous conditions” after paramilitaries overran their camp in Darfur, medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Friday.”We are treating children who were literally dying of thirst on their journeys,” MSF project coordinator Marion Ramstein said from the small town …

Sudan camp assault survivors in ‘disastrous conditions’: MSF Read More »

Artists, entertainers and government officials are among two dozen high-profile figures summoned by Senegal’s justice system in recent days for allegedly misusing public funds intended for the country’s Covid-19 response.The 1 trillion-CFA-franc ($1.7-billion) fund issued by the Senegalese state and donors between 2020 and 2021 was supposed to reinforce the healthcare system, support households and …

High-profile Senegalese suspected of misusing Covid-19 funds Read More »

The deaths of three Tunisian sixth-formers in a school wall collapse in the small inland town of Mezzouna has fuelled anger over underinvestment and neglect in the nation’s hinterland.Since Monday’s accident, angry residents have blocked roads leading to the town’s National Guard post with burning tyres, as young men clashed repeatedly with security forces.”We’re asking …

Deadly Tunisia school wall collapse sparks outcry in nation’s hinterland Read More »

It had been nearly two years since AFP journalist Abdelmoneim Abu Idris Ali set foot in his home in war-torn Khartoum, after the sound of children playing in the street gave way to the fearsome fire of machine guns.Sudan’s once-peaceful capital awoke to the sound of bombs and gunfire on April 15, 2023 as war …

‘War has taken everything’: AFP reporter returns home to Khartoum Read More »

Along one of the many dirt tracks leading into Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp there is a large hidden compound, where inside, twice a week, adolescent girls gather to learn taekwondo, the martial arts lessons offering a safe space in the often chaotic settlement.Kakuma is Kenya’s second-largest refugee camp, home to over 300,000 people — from …

‘Defend ourselves’: Refugee girls in Kenya find strength in taekwondo Read More »