AFP Africa

Kneeling as she gazes out to sea draped in white cloth and strings of pearls, Simenou Dangnitche has just completed the final stage of her annual ritual.Every January for the past 15 years, the 48-year-old local has joined hundreds taking part in Benin’s famed Voodoo festival.Participants gather at the “Door of No Return”, an arch …

Benin Voodoo festival rebrands to draw touristsSat, 13 Jan 2024 06:36:40 GMT Read More »

Oil prices climbed Friday after US and UK forces launched strikes against Iran-backed Huthi rebels, while global stocks were mixed following the kickoff of corporate earnings season.Crude prices spiked more than four percent before ebbing somewhat after the allies launched deadly strikes following weeks of disruptive rebel attacks on Red Sea shipping.”The fear in the …

Oil prices rise on Red Sea escalationFri, 12 Jan 2024 22:09:28 GMT Read More »

Fighting between rival Sudanese forces, including air strikes on the capital Khartoum, have killed at least 33 civilians, pro-democracy lawyers said overnight to Friday.Sudan has been gripped by nearly nine months of war pitting army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his former deputy, paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.The war has claimed at least 12,190 lives …

More than 30 killed in strikes on Sudan capital: NGOFri, 12 Jan 2024 19:44:52 GMT Read More »

Thousands of people turned out on Friday for the last campaign rally of Comoran President Azali Assoumani, who looks poised to win re-election on Sunday against a divided opposition.Nearly 340,000 people are eligible to vote in the predominantly Muslim Indian Ocean archipelago with a population of under a million — nearly half living below the …

Confident Comoros president rallies supporters ahead of voteFri, 12 Jan 2024 19:14:00 GMT Read More »

More than a quarter of the world’s Comorans live in France, but the diaspora is furious that they are yet again being denied a vote in Sunday’s presidential election back home.Incumbent Azali Assoumani is the favourite in the January 14 vote on the islands off Africa’s east coast, with the opposition divided between participation and …

France’s Comorans fume over election cold shoulderFri, 12 Jan 2024 17:41:07 GMT Read More »

The nine-month war between Sudan’s rival generals could create a “generational catastrophe” for the country’s 24 million children, UNICEF’s representative in Sudan has told AFP.”The conflict in Sudan is severely putting at risk the health and wellbeing of Sudan’s 24 million children,” Mandeep O’Brien said in an interview late on Thursday.The fighting will not only …

Sudan war risks ‘catastrophe’ for 24 million childrenFri, 12 Jan 2024 17:13:43 GMT Read More »

African football chief Patrice Motsepe insisted Friday he is confident this year’s Cup of Nations will not see any repeat of the kind of tragedy that marred the last tournament in Cameroon in 2022.”I am satisfied the appropriate steps have been taken to make sure we will totally avoid the painful experience we had in …

CAF boss Motsepe confident AFCON will avoid ‘painful experience’ of CameroonFri, 12 Jan 2024 16:52:58 GMT Read More »

Oil prices surged four percent on Friday after US and UK forces launched strikes against Iran-backed Huthi rebels following their attacks on ships in the Red Sea, fuelling concerns about a wider conflict in the crude-rich region.Wall Street opened higher as the earnings season got underway in earnest with a slew of banks reporting results …

Oil prices surge on Red Sea escalationFri, 12 Jan 2024 16:52:36 GMT Read More »

Burst riverbanks are causing turmoil in DR Congo’s capital Kinshasa, with dark and foul-smelling water pouring into homes across working-class neighbourhoods in the central African megacity. The impoverished metropolis of some 15 million people sits on the Congo River — the second largest in Africa after the Nile — which has swollen to near-record levels over …

DR Congo capital in tumult as river bursts banksFri, 12 Jan 2024 16:08:44 GMT Read More »

A defiant Matteo Salvini, Italy’s far-right deputy prime minister, defended his hard line against illegal migration in court on Friday, saying he had done a “useful service” in blocking migrants from disembarking at an Italian port in 2019. Salvini, a partner in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s coalition, is on trial on charges of deprivation of liberty …

Salvini claims ‘useful service’ for Italy at migrant trialFri, 12 Jan 2024 15:33:25 GMT Read More »