AFP Africa

One month after an attempted coup shook Benin, the west African country will hold parliamentary and local elections Sunday, set to define the political landscape ahead of presidential polls in April.President Patrice Talon’s ruling coalition is expected to strengthen its already powerful hand in the ballots, with the main opposition Democrats party barred from the …

Rattled by coup plot, Benin votes in legislative pollsFri, 09 Jan 2026 07:08:44 GMT Read More »

An endangered mountain gorilla has given birth to twins in the Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, whose remarkable biodiversity has long been threatened by the region’s litany of conflicts.Fewer than one percent of mountain gorilla pregnancies result in twins, according to scientists, with the DRC recording a previous case in 2020, …

Rare gorilla twins born in conflict-hit DR Congo nature parkFri, 09 Jan 2026 01:09:27 GMT Read More »

Senegal’s prime minister insisted on Thursday that his country’s substantial debt was “sustainable”, in a press conference during which he ruled out any restructuring.The west African nation faces a worrisome economic situation, with a budget deficit of nearly 14 percent of GDP and public sector debt estimated at 132 percent of national output at the …

Senegal PM says country’s debt is ‘sustainable’, no restructuring neededThu, 08 Jan 2026 20:10:25 GMT Read More »

Chinese and Iranian warships were docked off South Africa’s main navy base Thursday ahead of exercises that officials said were also meant to involve Russia.The January 9-16 “Will for Peace” drill hosted by South Africa risks further straining its ties with the United States, which is in dispute with many of the countries taking part.AFP …

Chinese, Iranian warships in South Africa for exercisesThu, 08 Jan 2026 19:50:01 GMT Read More »

Morocco coach Walid Regragui on Thursday sought to remove some of the pressure on his team as he suggested Cameroon had more to lose in the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final between the sides.The tournament hosts are the favourites to win the competition given their home advantage as well as the fact they are Africa’s …

Morocco coach Regragui aims to shift pressure to Cameroon before AFCON clashThu, 08 Jan 2026 16:58:30 GMT Read More »

Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua paid a moving tribute on Thursday to the two close friends killed in a car crash in Nigeria, labelling them “brothers” and “great men”.Joshua suffered minor injuries in the December 29 crash and after being discharged from hospital he returned to England before attending the funerals of Latif Ayodele …

Joshua pays tribute to close friends killed in crashThu, 08 Jan 2026 15:38:50 GMT Read More »

Where did our species first emerge? Fossils discovered in Morocco dating back more than 773,000 years bolster the theory that Homo sapiens originally appeared in Africa, scientists said in a study Wednesday.The oldest Homo sapien fossils, dating from over 300,000 years ago, were found at the Jebel Irhoud northwest of Marrakesh.Our cousins the Neanderthals mostly …

Fossils discovered in Morocco shed light on our African rootsThu, 08 Jan 2026 04:11:32 GMT Read More »

The Africa Cup of Nations reaches the quarter-final stage this weekend with a series of mouthwatering ties between the continent’s heavyweights. AFP Sport picks out five stars enjoying their first AFCON to look out for in the last eight:Brahim Diaz (Real Madrid/Morocco)Moroccans were perhaps pinning their hopes of Cup of Nations glory on home soil …

From Diaz to ‘Mazadona’ – five new faces starring at AFCONThu, 08 Jan 2026 04:09:58 GMT Read More »

Faustin-Archange Touadera’s re-election as president of the Central African Republic was not in doubt for most observers, but what challenges loom largest and how he will meet them remains less certain.After a bloody civil war that dragged on from 2013 to 2018, some stability has returned to the country of around 5.5 million people which …

Stability, development: the challenges facing CAR’s re-elected leaderWed, 07 Jan 2026 19:32:26 GMT Read More »

The greeting “namaste” associated with yoga and the Pidgin word for trouble, “wahala”, widely used across the world thanks to Afrobeats, speak to Indian and Nigerian influences on the English language.But the film industries of the two countries, each regional behemoths, have rarely crossed cultures.Indian-Nigerian filmmaker Hamisha Daryani Ahuja, however, did just that, naming her first …

Nollywood meets Bollywood: filmmaker fuses Indian, Nigerian cultureWed, 07 Jan 2026 06:10:42 GMT Read More »