AFP Africa

Senegal’s fast-tracked presidential campaign period wraps up Friday, having put candidates through the unprecedented endurance test of running for high office during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.For the first time in the Muslim-majority West African nation, presidential hopefuls have had to forego food and drink while traversing the country in an attempt to win …

Ramadan puts Senegal presidential candidates to the testFri, 22 Mar 2024 06:25:45 GMT Read More »

A nationwide doctors’ strike in Kenya on Thursday paralysed health services at some government-run hospitals which were already suffering due to a lack of medicines and equipment.The medics are taking the action, now in its second week, to demand an increase in pay and better working conditions, their union said. Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists …

Doctors’ strike hits Kenyan government-run hospitalsThu, 21 Mar 2024 17:34:27 GMT Read More »

Surrounded by lush mangrove forests, Julien Arfang Diatta shows the flooded road leading to his village on Senegal’s tiny island of Kailo.Encroaching water levels caused by climate change drive fears that Kailo and surrounding islands in southern Senegal could disappear in a matter of years. Yet the 18 candidates running for president on Sunday have largely …

Climate urgency takes back seat in Senegal electionThu, 21 Mar 2024 16:24:47 GMT Read More »

Britain’s Conservative government insisted Thursday that it still aimed to send migrants to Rwanda in the coming months, despite a parliamentary stand-off over the controversial plan.The bill is Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s answer to stopping asylum seekers, who risk their lives to cross the Channel from France to England in small boats.He hopes putting irregular …

UK parliament in stand-off over Rwanda migrants planThu, 21 Mar 2024 14:46:50 GMT Read More »

Ghana’s parliament speaker has halted the approval of new ministers in an apparent standoff over President Nana Akufo-Addo’s delay in signing off on a highly contested anti-LGBTQ+ bill passed last month.Widely criticised outside Ghana for undermining rights, “The Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values bill” seeks to criminalise gay relationships and advocacy, with …

Ghana president caught in squabble over anti-LGBTQ billThu, 21 Mar 2024 14:15:07 GMT Read More »

Waking up to a gunman shining a light around his house, Nigerian Yusuf Thomas took his chance to escape when his would-be kidnapper told him to lie still and walked away to make a call.He was lucky. More than 80 residents from his village in northwest Nigeria’s Kaduna State were snatched after gunmen marched them …

Lucky escape in Nigerian kidnapping attackThu, 21 Mar 2024 13:13:44 GMT Read More »

Former prime minister Amadou Ba has stepped out of the shadows telling supporters the “bandits” will not win as he battles to be Senegal’s next president after Sunday’s election.Before a crowd of hundreds in the central town of Diourbel, he claimed the role of a last bastion against disorder.The once discreet technocrat has reincarnated himself …

Senegal’s Amadou Ba moves in to the spotlight for presidential raceThu, 21 Mar 2024 07:02:31 GMT Read More »

A South African bank on Wednesday announced a partial freeze on accounts of ex-president Jacob Zuma, two months ahead of a general election in which he is hoping to relaunch his political career.The First National Bank (FNB) said a court ordered the measure over a dispute related to money spent by the 81-year-old to renovate …

S.Africa court orders partial freeze on Zuma’s accountsWed, 20 Mar 2024 15:07:36 GMT Read More »

Seven million Senegalese are due to head to the polls on Sunday to vote in a wide open presidential election following weeks of chaos and uncertainty.Whoever comes out on top will be tasked with steering the traditionally stable West African nation out of years of turmoil, and managing revenues from recently discovered oil and gas …

Senegal heads for wide open presidential poll SundayWed, 20 Mar 2024 09:28:20 GMT Read More »

Ladias Konje’s maize field in northeastern Zimbabwe is normally green at this time of the year, but it is already parched yellow.The drought from the El Nino weather pattern has withered leaves, wilted cobs and raised the spectre of hunger for the 38-year-old and millions of others.”On a good year we would be relying on …

Zimbabwean farmers buckle under El Nino droughtWed, 20 Mar 2024 06:27:05 GMT Read More »