AFP Africa

Biruktawit Tasew’s fingers glide over the strings of the begena, producing a deep, hypnotic sound. Along with six fellow musicians, she breaks into a solemn religious melody, holding their audience spellbound.One of the country’s oldest instruments, the begena was once reserved for the elite — and effectively banned during the Marxist Derg regime between 1974 …

Ethiopia’s ancient instrument begena healing soulsThu, 06 Mar 2025 06:43:33 GMT Read More »

Lesotho was taken aback by US President Donald Trump’s mockery of the southern African nation, its foreign minister said Wednesday, as the country’s main LGBTQ rights organisation denied receiving funds from Washington.Trump called Lesotho a country “nobody has ever heard of” as he defended his sweeping cuts in aid during an address to Congress Tuesday. He …

Lesotho says ‘shocked and embarrassed’ by Trump commentsWed, 05 Mar 2025 16:43:29 GMT Read More »

Our ancestors were making tools out of bones 1.5 million years ago, winding back the clock for this important moment in human evolution by more than a million years, a study said Wednesday.Ancient humans — also called hominins — such as the robust Australopithecus are known to have used fragments of bones to dig up tubers …

Human ancestors making ‘bone tech’ 1.5 million years ago, say scientistsWed, 05 Mar 2025 16:02:56 GMT Read More »

Mozambican police violently dispersed a march by opposition leader Venancio Mondlane using live ammunition and injured at least 14 people, local civil society group Plataforma Decide said Wednesday.Hundreds of supporters had joined Mondlane’s caravan in the capital Maputo, part of his tour of the Southern African country to present his new political party.”We can confirm …

14 injured in Mozambique anti-government protest: NGOWed, 05 Mar 2025 15:39:19 GMT Read More »

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara and his Ghanaian counterpart John Dramani Mahama on Wednesday called on Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to rejoin ECOWAS, after they quit earlier this year.The military juntas who took over in Bamako, Ouagadougou and Niamey after coups between 2020 and 2023 left the West African bloc at the end of …

I. Coast, Ghana urge juntas to rejoin W. African blocWed, 05 Mar 2025 15:29:45 GMT Read More »

Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, who won elections last year after being propelled to power by a junta on his father’s death, has now cemented his rule with a landslide win in the senate.After heading a three-year interim period, Deby, who turns 41 next month and was recently promoted to the rank of field …

Chad’s leader seals authority with electoral grand slamWed, 05 Mar 2025 13:43:15 GMT Read More »

Lesotho’s main LGBTQ rights organisation, the People’s Matrix, on Wednesday said that it had not received eight million dollars in US funding as claimed by US President Donald Trump.In his address to the US Congress on Tuesday, Trump singled out a past US aid project of “eight million dollars to promote LGBTQI+ in the African …

Main Lesotho LGBTQ organisation says ‘not receiving grants from the US’Wed, 05 Mar 2025 11:30:48 GMT Read More »

Faith healer Julie Kaviavu threw a handful of grains into the fire and lit a cigarette as she prepared to ask the dead for advice — a common practice in the war-torn eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.To help curry favour with the ancestor she claimed to be able to talk to AFP brought an offering …

Faith in power of the dead comforts living in DR Congo’s war-torn eastWed, 05 Mar 2025 09:19:07 GMT Read More »

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday mocked tiny Lesotho as a country “nobody has ever heard of” as he defended his sweeping cuts in aid.Trump highlighted the landlocked African constitutional monarchy during an address to Congress as he gave a long list of past US aid projects.”Eight million dollars to promote LGBTQI+ in the African …

Trump jokes ‘nobody has heard’ of LesothoWed, 05 Mar 2025 04:00:48 GMT Read More »