AFP Africa

A huge uranium shipment that left northern Niger in late November has been stuck for weeks at Niamey airport.The cargo has created a diplomatic headache for the junta that seized power in 2023 and has since turned away from traditional ally France and closer to Russia. Here is what we know about the shipment, estimated at …

Niger faces dilemma over uranium shipment stuck at airportThu, 15 Jan 2026 20:03:10 GMT Read More »

The Gambia opened its first trial Thursday against a member of the country’s notorious “Junglers” paramilitary unit, which acted as a death squad under the reign of ex-dictator Yahya Jammeh.Sanna Manjang, who was the head of the squad, pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder at the country’s High Court in Banjul.In December, Manjang …

Gambia opens its first trial of member of notorious ‘death squad’Thu, 15 Jan 2026 16:30:05 GMT Read More »

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres lashed out Thursday at world leaders who he said were seeking to “put international cooperation on deathwatch” amid brazen violations of international law, but held off naming offending countries.He also reiterated that he was “deeply concerned about the violent repression in Iran,” ahead of an emergency Security Council meeting on the …

UN chief attacks world leaders putting cooperation on ‘deathwatch’Thu, 15 Jan 2026 16:12:28 GMT Read More »

Hosts Morocco and Senegal will fight it out in a heavyweight Africa Cup of Nations final this weekend after tense last-four victories on Wednesday, but Mohamed Salah is left wondering if his dream of winning the title will forever remain unfulfilled.The tournament has delivered a final showdown for the trophy between Africa’s two modern footballing …

Morocco and Senegal prepare for final showdown but Salah’s AFCON dream fadesThu, 15 Jan 2026 16:09:34 GMT Read More »

Polls closed in Uganda on Thursday after a chaotic day of voting that took place under an internet blackout and with long delays caused by technical breakdowns as President Yoweri Museveni seeks to extend his 40 years in power.Museveni, an 81-year-old who came to power at the head of a rebel army in 1986, is …

Polls close in Uganda after delays, internet blackoutThu, 15 Jan 2026 16:06:00 GMT Read More »

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni admitted even he had problems voting as technical issues disrupted Thursday’s election, in which he hopes to extend his 40-year rule, amid an internet blackout and a police crackdown.Museveni, 81, is widely expected to win a seventh term in office thanks to his total control of the state and security apparatus. The …

Uganda election hit by delays after internet blackoutThu, 15 Jan 2026 12:48:36 GMT Read More »

Michel Tama Sadiakhou’s future dramatically changed course some 15 years ago thanks to a clan of spear-wielding apes: instead of the dangerous work in informal gold mines that is the fate of many in Senegal’s far southeast, he now researches rare chimpanzees. He is among five people from local villages, all but one without a high …

In remote Senegal, chimp researchers escape gold mines’ perilsThu, 15 Jan 2026 10:44:34 GMT Read More »

A shriek broke the dawn on the savannah, followed by more screeches and the rustle of branches: The wild Fongoli chimps were bidding each other good morning in the dry, scraggly Sahel.The rare chimpanzees — who live in the bush of hot, southeast Senegal rather than the forest as is more common — exist on …

Senegal’s spear-wielding savannah chimps yield clues on humanity’s pastThu, 15 Jan 2026 10:44:07 GMT Read More »

Uganda’s opposition said voting had been deliberately delayed in Thursday’s election as President Yoweri Museveni seeks to extend his 40-year rule amid an internet blackout and a police crackdown.Museveni, 81, is widely expected to win a seventh term in office thanks to his total control of the state and security apparatus. The former bush fighter faces …

Uganda opposition says voting deliberately delayed amid internet blackoutThu, 15 Jan 2026 09:14:42 GMT Read More »

It’s been nine months since Mariam Soumah, a 23-year-old Guinean woman, says she last saw her baby girl Sabina. The mother is in Guinea, while her daughter is — against her will — in an orphanage in Belarus. Several months ago, Belarus forcibly deported the young migrant mother to her west African homeland without her baby, …

‘I begged them’: the Guinean mother deported from Belarus without her babyThu, 15 Jan 2026 07:15:40 GMT Read More »