AFP Africa

Beneath yellow fruit, hidden within the roots of the iboga plant in the forests of Gabon, lies a sacred treasure that the country is keen to make the most of.For centuries, religious devotees have eaten it — a psychotropic shrub that users say has addiction-fighting powers.It fascinates foreign visitors, psychiatric patients and rich pharmaceutical companies …

Gabon longs to cash in on sacred hallucinogenic remedySat, 10 May 2025 05:44:08 GMT Read More »

Out west, they groove with fast, evenly spaced beats. In the east, it’s more free-form and fluid.Like humans, chimpanzees drum rhythmically — and two subspecies living on opposite sides of Africa even have their own signature styles, according to a study published Friday in Current Biology.The idea that ape drumming might hold clues to the …

Jungle music: Chimp drumming reveals building blocks of human rhythmFri, 09 May 2025 18:55:15 GMT Read More »

A posse of turban-clad soldiers perched on “ships of the desert” may conjure images of the past but Mauritania’s camelback cavalry play a vital role in the fight against jihadism today.They are the Meharists, heirs to the camel-riding army units founded back in the time when imperialist France ruled the west African nation, who AFP …

On patrol for jihadists with Mauritania’s camel cavalryFri, 09 May 2025 17:40:53 GMT Read More »

Italy has handed over to France the man accused of stabbing a young Malian to death in a mosque two weeks ago, a French prosecutor said Friday.Aboubakar Cisse was stabbed dozens of times while attending prayers at the mosque in the southern French town of La Grand-Combe on April 25.Olivier Hadzovic, a 20-year-old French national …

Italy extradites mosque murder suspect to France: prosecutorFri, 09 May 2025 16:48:22 GMT Read More »

South Africa had “expressed concern” to the United States after reports it will accept from next week the first white Afrikaners it had offered to resettle, the foreign ministry said Friday.US media reported Thursday that Donald Trump’s administration plans to welcome the first group of white South Africans as early as Monday, after the US …

S.Africa protests to US over first resettlement of white AfrikanersFri, 09 May 2025 16:26:04 GMT Read More »

Adele Koue Sungbeu underwent female genital mutilation as a teenager but now holds her head up high and smiles broadly as she walks to work in Abidjan after reconstructive surgery.The 45-year-old midwife is one of 28 women from the west African country who underwent the procedure last month in a public hospital in Ivory Coast’s …

Ivorian women fight FGM with reconstructive surgeryFri, 09 May 2025 16:04:53 GMT Read More »

Worshippers in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, home to Africa’s biggest Catholic populations, on Friday voiced joy over the new pope’s election and hopes he would carry on the legacy of his liberal predecessor.In the Congolese capital, the election of Pope Leo XIV drew particular interest as the city’s archbishop had been seen …

African worshippers hope Pope Leo carries on Francis’s workFri, 09 May 2025 12:21:17 GMT Read More »

Joyce Lokonyi sits on an upturned bucket, fingers weaving palm fronds as the wind pulls her dress to expose the stump of her amputated foot, lost to a little-known disease ravaging Kenya’s poorest county.Mycetoma is a fungal or bacterial infection that enters the body through any open wound, often as tiny as a thorn prick.Starting …

Rare bone-eroding disease ruining lives in Kenya’s poorest countyFri, 09 May 2025 06:09:57 GMT Read More »

Martha Karua, among the first to declare a run for the Kenyan presidency in 2027, told AFP the country is in “total disarray” due to corruption, police killings and economic decline.Karua served in government in the 2000s and, as a lawyer, has lately represented jailed opposition figures in neighbouring Tanzania and Uganda.She hopes to harness …

Kenya is ‘in total disarray’: opposition candidate Martha KaruaFri, 09 May 2025 06:01:42 GMT Read More »

Robert Francis Prevost became the first pope from the United States on Thursday, picking the papal name Leo XIV after cardinals from around the world elected him leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.Tens of thousands of people packed in St Peter’s Square cheered as Prevost appeared on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, waving …

Prevost becomes first US pope as Leo XIVThu, 08 May 2025 17:33:44 GMT Read More »