Top Africa News

FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011 file photo, hundreds of newly trained al-Shabab fighters perform military exercises in the Lafofe area some 18 km south of Mogadishu, in Somalia. The U.S. Africa Command, signaling concern over the Pentagon's potential cuts, has emphasized the Somalia-based al-Shabab as a threat to the U.S. homeland, in intent if not yet in capability _ and warning that neither China nor Russia is doing much to counter Africa's extremist groups. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh, File)

AP Explains: Why US troop cuts in Africa would cause alarm

Jan. 23, 2020 12:54 PM EST

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Even as destroyed U.S. military aircraft smoldered from an al-Shabab attack that killed three Americans this month in Kenya, the al-Qaida-linked group issued a taunting message to African troops: The U.S. will abandon you just as it did the Kurds. Islamic extremists are already...

In this photo taken Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020, a Samburu boy uses a wooden stick to try to swat a swarm of desert locusts filling the air, as he herds his camel near the village of Sissia, in Samburu county, Kenya. The most serious outbreak of desert locusts in 25 years is spreading across East Africa and posing an unprecedented threat to food security in some of the world's most vulnerable countries, authorities say, with unusual climate conditions partly to blame. (AP Photo/Patrick Ngugi)

AP Explains: How climate change feeds Africa locust invasion

Jan. 23, 2020 12:12 PM EST

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Locusts by the millions are nibbling their way across a large part of Africa in the worst outbreak some places have seen in 70 years. Is this another effect of a changing climate? Yes, researchers say. An unprecedented food security crisis may be the result. The locusts "reproduce...

In this March 5, 2015 photo, Isabel dos Santos, reputedly Africa's richest woman, attends the opening of an art exhibition featuring works from the collection of her husband and art collector Sindika Dokolo in Porto, Portugal. On Monday, Jan. 6, 2020, Angola's foreign minister Manuel Augusto said that there is no political motivation behind the government's demand for more than $1 billion from dos Santos, her husband and a Portuguese business partner. Isabel dos Santos is a daughter of Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled the oil- and diamond-rich nation for 38 years until 2017. (AP Photo/Paulo Duarte)

Portugal police: Banker in Angola scandal hangs himself

Jan. 23, 2020 10:50 AM EST

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — A Portuguese banker named in a major Angolan money-laundering and corruption scandal has died in an apparent suicide at his home, police said Thursday. Nuno Ribeiro da Cunha, named as a suspect by Angolan authorities in an investigation targeting the billionaire daughter of...

FILE - In this Thursday Sept, 19, 2019 file photo, Zimbabwean medical staff march on the streets of Harare. A billionaire has offered to pay striking doctors in Zimbabwe to help end a months-long protest over grave hospital conditions as the economy crumbles, and a doctors' group on Thursday Jan. 23, 2020, said it was encouraging members to embrace the money and return to work. But Dr. Masimba Ndoro, vice president of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, warned that “nothing much has changed” in the conditions at public hospitals that include the lack of basic items such as bandages and gloves. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi, File)

Billionaire's cash helps Zimbabwe's doctors back from strike

Jan. 23, 2020 5:50 AM EST

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — A billionaire has offered to pay striking doctors in Zimbabwe to help end a months-long protest over grave hospital conditions as the economy crumbles, and a doctors' group on Thursday said it was encouraging members to embrace the money and return to work. But Dr. Masimba Ndoro,...

A man carries his belongings salvaged from the shack he lived in near the airport in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Thursday Jan. 23, 2020. Construction crews leveled shacks near the airport, part of a crackdown on informal settlements following the death of a teenage boy who had managed to hide aboard as a stowaway on a flight to Paris earlier in the month. (AP Photo/Diomande Ble Blonde)

Ivory Coast clears homes near airport after stowaway death

Jan. 23, 2020 11:25 AM EST

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Construction crews began leveling homes deemed too close to the airport in Ivory Coast's commercial capital on Thursday, part of a crackdown on informal settlements after a teenage boy died earlier this month as a flight stowaway. The tragedy involving an Air France jet bound...

At least 13 killed in torrential rains in Madagascar

Jan. 23, 2020 12:32 PM EST

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) — At least 13 people have died in flooding and landslides caused by torrential rains in Madagascar this week, authorities said Thursday, with the military deployed to help evacuate people at risk from rising waters. Another 19 people are missing and more than 47,000 people are...

Burkina Faso to arm civilians in fight against extremists

Jan. 23, 2020 10:12 AM EST

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Burkina Faso's parliament has approved legislation allowing the military to use civilian volunteers in the fight against Islamic extremism, a decision that underscores how outnumbered soldiers are amid rising attacks across the West African country. The plan to put weapons...

U.S. President Donald Trump leaves the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020. Trump's two-day stay in Davos is a test of his ability to balance anger over being impeached with a desire to project leadership on the world stage. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Trump: Travel ban expansion coming, nations aren't yet final

Jan. 22, 2020 3:10 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday the U.S. would soon be imposing visa restrictions on more countries — though it's not clear yet how many nations will be affected by his expansion of the travel ban. Seven additional nations were listed in a draft of the proposed restrictions...

In this March 5, 2015 photo, Isabel dos Santos, reputedly Africa's richest woman, attends the opening of an art exhibition featuring works from the collection of her husband and art collector Sindika Dokolo in Porto, Portugal. On Monday, Jan. 6, 2020, Angola's foreign minister Manuel Augusto said that there is no political motivation behind the government's demand for more than $1 billion from dos Santos, her husband and a Portuguese business partner. Isabel dos Santos is a daughter of Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled the oil- and diamond-rich nation for 38 years until 2017. (AP Photo/Paulo Duarte)

'Africa's richest woman' now a formal suspect in graft probe

Jan. 22, 2020 4:12 PM EST

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Africa's reputed richest woman is a formal suspect in an investigation into mismanagement and the siphoning off of funds during her time with Angola's state-run oil company, the country's attorney general announced Wednesday. The remarks by Helder Pitta Gros to reporters in the capital,...

Latest Africa News

FILE - In this Sept. 24, 2019 file photo, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly. Egypt’s president has called for “decisive” and “collective” action against countries supporting terrorism.

El-Sissi dubs Egypt 'oasis of stability' amid clampdown

Jan. 24, 2020 12:02 AM EST

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said Thursday his country has become “an oasis of security and stability” under his rule, amid reports of a new clampdown on dissent in the lead-up to the eighth anniversary of the 2011 pro-democracy uprising. El-Sissi, who became president...

FILE - In this Dec. 11, 2019, file photo, an Emirates jetliner comes in for landing at Dubai International Airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Dubai International Airport, the world's busiest for international travel, said Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020, that it is taking special precautions to screen the droves of Chinese tourists expected for the Lunar New Year holiday after the outbreak of a pneumonia-like virus that has led to China's lockdown of the entire city of Wuhan. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell, File)

Airports taking precautions after China virus outbreak

Jan. 23, 2020 11:29 PM EST

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Airports are adding passenger screenings and taking other precautions to prevent a new virus from being spread by Chinese tourists going abroad for the Lunar New Year holidays. China has imposed an unprecedented, open-ended shutdown of Wuhan, the city of 11 million people...

Passengers wearing protective face masks enter the departure hall of a high speed train station in Hong Kong, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020. China closed off a city of more than 11 million people Thursday, halting transportation and warning against public gatherings, to try to stop the spread of a deadly new virus that has sickened hundreds and spread to other cities and countries in the Lunar New Year travel rush. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

China confirms 1st death outside epicenter of viral outbreak

Jan. 23, 2020 7:57 PM EST

BEIJING (AP) — China moved to lock down at least three cities with a combined population of more than 18 million in an unprecedented effort to contain the deadly new virus that has sickened hundreds of people and spread to other parts of the world during the busy Lunar New Year holiday. The open-ended...

Yasmin Ullah, a member of the Rohingya community, is all smiles as she walks out of the International Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020, after the court ordered Myanmar take all measures in its power to prevent genocide against the Rohingya. The United Nations' top cour issued a decision on a request by Gambia. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Rohingya hail UN ruling that Myanmar act to prevent genocide

Jan. 23, 2020 4:15 PM EST

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The United Nations' top court on Thursday ordered Myanmar to do all it can to prevent genocide against the Rohingya people, a ruling met by members of the Muslim minority with gratitude and relief but also some skepticism that the country's rulers will fully comply. The ruling...

A policeman uses a digital thermometer to take a driver's temperature at a checkpoint at a highway toll gate in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020. China closed off a city of more than 11 million people Thursday in an unprecedented effort to try to contain a deadly new viral illness that has sickened hundreds and spread to other cities and countries amid the Lunar New Year travel rush. (Chinatopix via AP)

UN agency: China virus 'too early' for emergency declaration

Jan. 23, 2020 3:09 PM EST

LONDON (AP) — A viral illness in China that has sickened hundreds of people and prompted Chinese authorities to effectively shut down at least three cities is not yet a global health emergency, the World Health Organization said Thursday. The U.N. health agency issued its evaluation after Chinese...

Greek police find 1.25 tons of cannabis hidden in date paste

Jan. 23, 2020 3:01 PM EST

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities say they found more than a ton of processed cannabis camouflaged among a shipment of date paste headed by sea from Lebanon to Libya, police said Thursday. A police statement said the drugs were discovered on Jan. 16 in a ship's container on a freighter that had...

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, second left, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, and Antonio Guterres, second right, Secretary-General of the United Nations, attend a conference on Libya at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2020. (Kay Nietfeld/DPA via AP, Pool)

Libya's neighbors, global envoys seek solutions to conflict

Jan. 23, 2020 2:46 PM EST

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Top diplomats from Libya's neighboring countries and beyond met in the Algerian capital on Thursday amid intensifying international efforts to end the conflict tearing apart the oil-rich North African country. The meeting brought together foreign ministers from Egypt, Sudan, Chad,...

A militia member uses a digital thermometer to take a driver's temperature at a checkpoint at a highway toll gate in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020. China closed off a city of more than 11 million people Thursday in an unprecedented effort to try to contain a deadly new viral illness that has sickened hundreds and spread to other cities and countries amid the Lunar New Year travel rush. (Chinatopix via AP)

The Latest: WHO says China virus not global health emergency

Jan. 23, 2020 1:28 PM EST

LONDON (AP) — The Latest on the outbreak of the new coronavirus in China (all times local): 6:20 p.m. The World Health Organization says a viral illness in China that has sickened hundreds of people is not yet a global health emergency. The decision came after Chinese authorities moved to lock down three...

FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011 file photo, hundreds of newly trained al-Shabab fighters perform military exercises in the Lafofe area some 18 km south of Mogadishu, in Somalia. The U.S. Africa Command, signaling concern over the Pentagon's potential cuts, has emphasized the Somalia-based al-Shabab as a threat to the U.S. homeland, in intent if not yet in capability _ and warning that neither China nor Russia is doing much to counter Africa's extremist groups. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh, File)

AP Explains: Why US troop cuts in Africa would cause alarm

Jan. 23, 2020 12:54 PM EST

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Even as destroyed U.S. military aircraft smoldered from an al-Shabab attack that killed three Americans this month in Kenya, the al-Qaida-linked group issued a taunting message to African troops: The U.S. will abandon you just as it did the Kurds. Islamic extremists are already...

At least 13 killed in torrential rains in Madagascar

Jan. 23, 2020 12:32 PM EST

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) — At least 13 people have died in flooding and landslides caused by torrential rains in Madagascar this week, authorities said Thursday, with the military deployed to help evacuate people at risk from rising waters. Another 19 people are missing and more than 47,000 people are...

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