Africa News Feed

There is more focus on education at the Cop28 climate talks amidst growing acknowledgement of the importance of the sector in responding to the uncertainty and displacement caused by climate change. Georja speaks to Yasmine Sherif, the head of the Education Cannot Wait fund, as she sets out the stakes from amidst the crucial talks in Dubai. 

The clock is countng down towards DRC’s general elections in which  President felix Tshisekedi bids for a second term. Also students are among the victims of Nigeria’s rampant inflation with facing tuition fee hikes of over 300%. And Nairobi hosts international talks on the reduction of  plastic pollution. 

Benin’s forests have long been seen as places of hope for believers of the voodoo religion but urbanisation threatens the green spaces. And Ivory Coast’s ghost children are invisible to the state. The number of babies whose births are undeclared are on the rise. 

People have been ordered to stay home after a blast in an industrial zone causes major destruction.

The concert is part of a planned touring series curated by the rapper that will expand across Africa.

Kenya follows Malawi in sending casual farm workers to fill a labour shortage on Israel’s farms.

A state of emergency is declared in the country after massive blast at an industrial area.

Philip Mpango has not been seen in public since late October, sparking rumours about his health.

In tonight’s edition: Mauritania and Chad say they’re calling time on the G5 Sahel anti-jihadist alliance. Also, Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam offers huge renewable energy prospects, but is also responsible for troubled waters with neighbours Egypt and Sudan. And in DR Congo, election campaigning is in full swing ahead of crucial polls later this month. 

Tigray’s state athletics federation tells the BBC that 76 athletes were killed during the bloody conflict in the Ethiopian region.

A woman who was forced to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM) as a young child in her native Somalia has told FRANCE 24 how she managed to turn her life around and transform her horrific experience into a force for good. Shamsa Araweelo has received around 70 million views of her TikTok videos, in which she explains using rubber models exactly what FGM does to a woman. Now based in the UK, she’s campaigning to help those affected and to try to end the dangerous practice. She spoke to us in Perspective.

The two remaining members of West Africa’s G5 alliance on Wednesday said they were paving the way to dissolving the anti-jihadist grouping, after the other three founding countries left. 

A clip of two men dancing unleashes a torrent of homophobic hatred in Ethiopia.

In tonight’s edition: At least 85 civilians are killed in a drone strike on a village in north-western Nigeria in a miscalculation by the army. President Bola Tinubu has ordered an investigation. Also, Kigali hosts the signing of a new treaty between the UK and Rwanda as Britain scrambles to salvage efforts to ship asylum seekers off to East Africa. Finally, we hear from conservationists who are warning that elephants in Zimbabwe are dying of thirst amidst a devastating drought.

The army was targeting “terrorists” when civilians were hit by accident, the state governor says.

Uganda is examining a law that would ban the sale of used clothes. Discarded by Europeans and Americans, these clothes are often purchased from wholesalers and then shipped to African countries. It’s a multimillion-dollar business. But despite the popularity, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said he wanted to ban the imports to boost the growth of local textile industries.

Niger’s military leaders said Monday that they were ending two European Union security and defence missions in the country, after earlier in the day agreeing to strengthen military cooperation with Russia.

The death toll from landslides and flooding triggered by heavy rainfall in northern Tanzania climbed to at least 63 on Monday, a regional official said, as rescue workers searched for trapped survivors. Tanzania and its East African neighbours Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia are battling flash floods caused by torrential rains linked to the El Nino weather pattern.

Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was charged alongside 10 others for various corruption-related offences.

Six members of President Hage Geingob’s family, including his children, have travelled to Dubai.

A Nigerian army drone strike accidentally killed at least 85 civilians on Sunday in a village in northwest Kaduna State, emergency officials said, in one of the country’s deadliest military bombing accidents. 

Four women living with HIV who won a landmark case tell the BBC about how they were sterilised.

Niger’s junta on Monday scrapped two key military agreements that the West African nation signed with the European Union to help fight the violence in Africa’s Sahel region as the country’s army leaders and a senior Russian defence official discussed military cooperation.

In tonight’s edition: Hundreds of lives have been lost across East Africa as the region is battered by torrential rain and flooding. Also, the drive for more green infrastructure across Africa gets a $175 million boost at the COP28 summit. Finally, we see how Uganda is planning on cracking down on the sale of second-hand clothes shipped in from other countries.

Niger’s junta on November 27 revoked a 2015 law aimed at curbing migration through a key route in the West African country. While the European Union warned that the decision could lead to an increase in migratory flows to Europe, the decriminalisation of Niger’s migrant-smuggling trade could benefit the local economy. 

Considered one of the most significant archaeological museums in Egypt, the Imhotep Museum, in the Saqqara necropolis complex, is reopening its doors after renovation. The museum boasts more than “300 artefacts” from ancient Egypt.

The president of Guinea-Bissau on Monday dissolved parliament ahead of fresh elections saying an “attempted coup” had plunged the West African nation into a new crisis.

The BBC’s Fergal Keane returns ahead of elections next year – 30 years since apartheid ended.

Social activist Ndileka Mandela says “the global north is using economic and legal power to subjugate poor nations”.

Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo on Saturday said this week’s deadly violence involving members of the National Guard was an “attempted coup” as the army ordered them back to barracks.

The military leaders of Burkina Faso and Niger said Saturday they would quit the G5 anti-jihadist force in Africa’s Sahel area, the latest blow to the fight against insurgents in one of the world’s most troubled regions.

We focus on the latest events in Guinea-Bissau. The army maintains that order has been restored in the capital Bissau following a gun battle between army factions. Violence broke out on Thursday night and continued until Friday morning after two senior government officials were improperly released from custody.

Aksum’s authorities say half a million people are there for the first time since the Tigray war ended.

Since the start of Sudan’s brutal civil war in April, mass killings of civilians have been perpetrated in the West Darfur region. Our team investigates atrocities committed against the local Masalit ethnic group.

Four Kenyans have won a legal battle against MSF, Marie Stopes International and a state-run hospital.

Kenya has a severe, generalised HIV epidemic, with 1.4 million cases. But in recent years, the country has experienced a notable decline in the prevalence of the virus, attributed in part to increased access to antiretroviral drugs. In 2016, Kenya became one of the first African countries to make antiretroviral pre‐exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) available for HIV prevention among “key populations”, including female sex workers, who are four times more likely to be infected with HIV than women in the general population. FRANCE 24’s Olivia Bizot and Elodie Cousin report.

Guinea-Bissau’s army said Friday it was in control after a gun battle in the capital between units of the security forces, underscoring the political divisions in the small West African nation with a history of instability.

In tonight’s edition: COP28 kicks off with a historic announcement – a pledge for $420 million to help nations suffering from the effects of global warming. We speak to Nazanine Moshiri from International Crisis Group about the African continent’s expectations at the summit. Also, among the climate solutions is renewable energy. Solar and wind power have taken off in Senegal, but the country is not about to let go of fossil fuels just yet. 

In tonight’s edition: For the first time, a South African court has sentenced a man to 12 years in prison for inciting unrest. More than 350 people died during days of unrest in 2021 sparked by the incarceration of ex-president Jacob Zuma. Also, with COP28 is set to begin, we see how Kenya is leading the way in the fight against climate change. And people in Nigeria are turning to bioethanol, a goopy green gel made with organic materials, as the cost-of-living crisis sees cooking gas prices soar.