AFP Africa

At least 26 migrants died Wednesday when two boats sank off the coast of Italy’s Lampedusa island, with around 10 others still missing, the coastguard and UN officials said.Around 60 people were rescued after the sinkings in the central Mediterranean, a stretch between North Africa and Italy described by the UN as the world’s most …

At least 26 migrants dead in two shipwrecks off ItalyWed, 13 Aug 2025 18:28:07 GMT Read More »

Laurent Koadima yearns for the days when his cotton farm in Burkina Faso allowed him to provide for his family, before advancing jihadists forced them to make sacrifices.”Before, we were envied because cotton was a good business and the harvests were good,” the 48-year-old said. “Today, we struggle to live.”Koadima is but one of many …

Jihadist insurgency leaves Burkina cotton farmers hanging by a threadWed, 13 Aug 2025 08:11:40 GMT Read More »

CAF Confederation Cup contenders Djoliba of Mali hope gifts of motorbikes can steer them to success in a competition where they once finished runners-up. Officials at the Bamako club, who have dominated domestic football with neighbours Stade Malien for decades, told reporters they had motivated the squad by presenting 21 motorbikes to players. But the Djoliba bosses …

Mali club hope motorbikes can help drive for CAF Cup gloryWed, 13 Aug 2025 06:52:22 GMT Read More »

The recent auction of a Martian meteorite — for a record-grabbing $5.3 million at Sotheby’s New York — has sparked questions over its provenance and renewed debate over who gets to claim rocks fallen from the heavens.The hefty 54-pound (25-kilogram) stone is the largest Martian meteorite ever discovered on Earth, according to its Sotheby’s listing, …

Auction of world’s largest Mars meteorite sparks ownership debateWed, 13 Aug 2025 01:18:51 GMT Read More »

The United States on Tuesday alleged that human rights were worsening in Western Europe due to internet regulations, in a pared-down annual global report that spared partners of President Donald Trump such as El Salvador.The State Department’s congressionally required report historically has offered extensive accounts of all nations’ records, documenting in dispassionate detail issues from …

US denounces Europe on speech in pared-down rights reportTue, 12 Aug 2025 22:37:43 GMT Read More »

France waged a “war” in Cameroon marked by “repressive violence” during and after the African country’s decolonisation in the late 1950s, President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged in a letter published Tuesday.The letter, sent to his Cameroonian counterpart last month, is the latest example of France’s efforts under Macron to come to terms with its often bloody colonial …

Macron admits French ‘repressive violence’ in Cameroon decolonisation ‘war’Tue, 12 Aug 2025 20:46:17 GMT Read More »

South Africa will offer a “generous” new trade deal to the United States on Tuesday to avoid 30-percent tariffs, government ministers said.Washington on Friday slapped the huge tariff on some South African exports, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, despite efforts by Pretoria to negotiate a better arrangement to avoid massive job losses.The ministers did not …

S.Africa to offer US new deal to avoid 30% tariffTue, 12 Aug 2025 14:50:23 GMT Read More »

Rights activists in The Gambia are calling for justice after a one-month-old baby’s death was linked to female genital mutilation, a widely practised but illegal procedure up for review before the country’s Supreme Court.The Gambia has one of the highest rates of FGM in the world, with 73 percent of women and girls aged 15 …

Gambia baby death heightens alarm over female genital mutilationTue, 12 Aug 2025 14:43:10 GMT Read More »

South African police fired rubber bullets at residents who tried to block the eviction of scores of houses near Johannesburg Tuesday by throwing stones and torching a municipal building, officials said.After police gained access to the housing complex in Ekurhuleni, about 10 kilometres (six miles) east of central Johannesburg, a squad of men moved in …

South Africa police fire rubber bullets at residents in housing stand-offTue, 12 Aug 2025 12:09:55 GMT Read More »

Mali’s junta has carried out arrests to quash an alleged plot to overthrow the government within the army’s ranks, sources told AFP, but the circumstances of the detentions remain unexplained.The west African nation’s junta, which itself came to power in back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, has made 55 arrests, mainly among the National Guard, …

Malian army roots out alleged anti-junta plottersMon, 11 Aug 2025 12:54:22 GMT Read More »