AFP Africa

In his small Freetown workshop, engineering student James Samba tinkered with batteries and electrical parts he hoped could help clean up Sierra Leone’s polluting public transport system.Rush hour in the West African country’s major cities is a frenetic medley of minibuses, mopeds, shared taxis and three-wheeled vehicles known as “kekehs” –- each spluttering toxic emissions …

Sierra Leone student tackles toxic air pollutionSat, 21 Dec 2024 05:27:26 GMT Read More »

The lawyer responsible for setting up Liberia’s long-awaited war crimes court told AFP that the first trials will take place in the next five years, more than two decades after the brutal civil wars that left around 250,000 people dead.Justice has so far proved elusive for the victims of the back-to-back conflicts that raged in …

Official says Liberia to begin war crimes trials in next five yearsSat, 21 Dec 2024 05:11:50 GMT Read More »

Ghana-born midfielder Manu Duah, a 19-year-old midfielder for the University of California at Santa Barbara, was selected by expansion side San Diego FC with the first pick in Friday’s MLS Draft.Duah started all 14 contests last season for the Gauchos, who went 8-3-3, and will be called upon to help the first-year club flourish when …

San Diego takes Ghanaian MF Duah with MLS Draft top pickFri, 20 Dec 2024 20:08:04 GMT Read More »

An Italian court on Friday acquitted Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini of illegally blocking migrants on a rescue ship at sea in 2019, for which he had risked six years in prison.”I’m happy. After three years, common sense has won,” the far-right leader, a member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government, told reporters outside the …

Italy’s far-right Salvini acquitted in migrant blockade trialFri, 20 Dec 2024 20:05:22 GMT Read More »

French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday its military base in Djibouti could assume a greater role, speaking after Paris was forced to pull troops out of several other African countries.”Our role is changing in Africa because the world is changing in Africa, because public opinion is changing, because governments are changing,” he said.Macron was addressing …

Macron sees new role for French military base in DjiboutiFri, 20 Dec 2024 19:41:56 GMT Read More »

France began withdrawing soldiers from Chad on Friday, the country’s defence ministry said, after N’Djamena last month abruptly ended military cooperation with the former colonial power.A contingent of 120 soldiers left for France from a military airport in the capital, the ministry said in a statement on Facebook, 10 days after French fighter aircraft left …

France withdraws first contingent of soldiers from Chad: N’DjamenaFri, 20 Dec 2024 19:29:07 GMT Read More »

The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously Friday to renew the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo for one year even as the mission gradually withdraws at Kinshasa’s request.MONUSCO is made up of some 16,000 military and police personnel, and is one of the UN’s priciest peacekeeping operations, with …

UN Security Council renews DRC peacekeeping mandateFri, 20 Dec 2024 16:42:38 GMT Read More »

France’s President Emmanuel Macron faced accusations of racism Friday over an alleged comment on problems in hospitals, which his office strongly denied he made, adding to controversy over an angry remark during a visit to an Indian Ocean territory ravaged by a cyclone.With Le Monde daily printing a sequence of articles about the behind-the-scenes atmosphere …

Macron slammed over ‘racist’ remarks which his office deniesFri, 20 Dec 2024 16:16:02 GMT Read More »

President Emmanuel Macron faced accusations of racism Friday over an alleged comment on problems in French hospitals which the Elysee strongly denies he made.It comes a day after he was also accused of sexist remarks about women opposition leaders and a homophobic quip about a former prime minister he appointed himself. Le Monde daily said that …

Macron slammed over racist remarks Elysee denies he madeFri, 20 Dec 2024 15:40:19 GMT Read More »

Mozambique is braced for an escalation in protests after the announcement due by Monday of final results of a disputed election, a turning point in two months of unrest that has killed 130 people and caused major disruption.Opposition leader Venancio Mondlane has threatened “chaos” if the Constitutional Council validates the initial results that found he …

Tensions peak in Mozambique as results due in disputed voteFri, 20 Dec 2024 09:43:51 GMT Read More »