AFP Africa

Faced with a lack of running water, unsanitary conditions and poverty, the Kinshasa neighbourhood of Pakadjuma has struggled to end a cholera epidemic that has claimed hundreds of lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) this year. Some 20 African countries have been tackling outbreaks of the severe intestinal infection since the start of the …

Kinshasa slum battles deadly cholera outbreakFri, 25 Jul 2025 15:22:54 GMT Read More »

Democratic Republic of Congo’s ex-leader Joseph Kabila went on trial in absentia Friday on charges including treason over alleged support for Rwanda-backed militants, an AFP reporter at the court said.He stands accused at a military court in Kinshasa of plotting to overthrow the government of President Felix Tshisekedi.He also faces charges including homicide, torture and …

DR Congo ex-leader Kabila goes on trial in absentiaFri, 25 Jul 2025 15:21:22 GMT Read More »

The Easter period usually offers a rare respite in Gedeb, in Ethiopia’s deeply troubled north, but on April 17 death rained from the skies in this sleepy town caught up in a war between rebels and the army.On this important holiday for Ethiopian Orthodox and Protestant Christians, many families had gathered in the morning to …

African armies turn to drones with devastating civilian impactFri, 25 Jul 2025 10:24:36 GMT Read More »

On a quiet November night in 2022, DJ Sumbody — a rising star in South Africa’s music scene — was gunned down in a hail of bullets while heading home. Then in April 2024, engineer Armand Swart was executed in a similar shooting after his company flagged a suspicious government tender in which prices had been …

S.African DJ’s murder exposes nexus between crime and powerFri, 25 Jul 2025 06:29:00 GMT Read More »

The International Criminal Court Thursday convicted a former top Central African Republic football official and a militiaman nicknamed Rambo for war crimes committed during the country’s civil war in 2013 and 2014.Ex-sports minister Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona was a senior leader of mainly Christian militias as the country slid into civil war, while Alfred Yekatom, a former …

ICC convicts pair over Central Africa war crimesThu, 24 Jul 2025 18:05:28 GMT Read More »

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 »