AFP Africa

US President Donald Trump in March ridiculed Lesotho as a place “nobody has ever heard of” and then this week hit the tiny African kingdom with the highest of his reciprocal trade tariffs for any single nation.Here are some things to know about the country sometimes called  the Switzerland of Africa because of its mountainous …

Lesotho, Africa’s ‘kingdom in the sky’ jolted by TrumpThu, 03 Apr 2025 16:53:55 GMT Read More »

Africa’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Thursday that the continent faces “an unprecedented financing crisis” that could lead to between two to four million additional deaths annually.Members of the African Union pledged in 2001 to allocate at least 15 percent of national budgets to health, but only three countries — Rwanda, Botswana …

‘Unprecedented crisis’ in Africa healthcare: reportThu, 03 Apr 2025 16:34:31 GMT Read More »

Russia and a group of west African countries led by military juntas hailed growing military ties at a summit in Moscow on Thursday, with some condemning Ukraine as a “terrorist” state.Facing isolation in the West following its full-scale offensive against Ukraine, Moscow has tried to build new partnerships in Africa, where it has been growing …

Russia, African juntas blast Ukraine as they deepen tiesThu, 03 Apr 2025 15:21:33 GMT Read More »

Prince Harry on Thursday hit out at “blatant lies” over Sentebale, the African organisation he co-founded, and said he believed a charity watchdog probe would “unveil the truth” of why he had to resign as a patron.Sentebale has been at the centre of an explosive boardroom row that escalated over the weekend when its chairperson …

Prince Harry blasts ‘blatant lies’ as watchdog launches charity probeThu, 03 Apr 2025 14:28:50 GMT Read More »

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni arrived in South Sudan Thursday after the arrest of First Vice President Riek Machar heightened fears of a return to civil war.Machar was detained last week by forces loyal to President Salva Kiir, as international observers expressed concern over recent clashes between forces loyal to the two men and the United …

Ugandan leader in S.Sudan after arrest of vice presidentThu, 03 Apr 2025 13:16:52 GMT Read More »

Musa was asleep in the village of Dusuman in northeast Nigeria when he was awoken by a sharp burst of gunfire and Boko Haram stole his main source of livelihood — his livestock.”They came at about one in the morning and started firing in the air,” said the Fulani herdsman, whose name AFP has changed …

Livestock theft is central to jihadist economy in west AfricaThu, 03 Apr 2025 05:29:51 GMT Read More »

They are often disparaged as ugly, sly and cruel scavengers but for South African artist Hannelie Coetzee, hyenas are symbols of female power and the normalisation of queerness.The walls of her studio in the university district of downtown Johannesburg are covered in drawings in ink and rooibos tea of the sloped-back carnivores, her heroines of …

South African artist champions hyenas in ‘eco-queer’ questThu, 03 Apr 2025 05:23:04 GMT Read More »

Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo said on Wednesday he could have become a delinquent if the sport of athletics had not given him a focus.Tebogo, who stunned the field in Paris last year to became Botswana’s first Olympic gold medallist in any sport, said he would take the lessons he learned from his childhood into …

Letsile Tebogo says athletics saved him from life of crimeWed, 02 Apr 2025 13:39:29 GMT Read More »

President Bola Tinubu dismissed the entire leadership of Nigeria’s state-run oil company Wednesday, naming a former Shell executive to lead the outfit in a sweeping overhaul that one commentator described as “long overdue”.The National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited’s group chief executive, Mele Kyari, as well as its chairman Pius Akinyelure — a close ally of …

Nigerian president sacks board of state oil companyWed, 02 Apr 2025 11:30:26 GMT Read More »

Niger’s junta said Tuesday it had freed around 50 people, including ministers from the government it toppled in July 2023, in line with recommendations of a “national conference” in February.Those freed include former ministers, a diplomat, a journalist and soldiers accused of a coup bid in 2010. However ousted former president Mohamed Bazoum is still …

Niger junta frees ministers of overthrown governmentTue, 01 Apr 2025 23:45:03 GMT Read More »