World News

Democracy is the norm across the continent, but soldiers are still seizing power The coup is back in Africa. Last week, soldiers in Mali overthrew the unpopular president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, completing the west African country’s second coup in eight years. In Sudan, in April last year, after months of massive protests, the Sudanese military toppled the 30-year dictatorship of ...

The authorities in Niger say recent flooding in the capital, Niamey, has forced over 225,000 people from their homes. The number of deaths has risen to 45. Parts of the city have been submerged since Tuesday when the River Niger breached its banks. Heavy rain since then has caused further damage. Rescuers used canoes to help victims, the AFP news ...

West African mediators say the leaders of last week’s coup in Mali want to stay in power for a three-year transition period. But the Ecowas team say they told the coup leaders that an interim government – headed by a civilian or retired military officer – should last for a year at the most. The mediation team was led by ...

A civil society group in Malawi wants MPs to be allowed to debate in their vernacular in parliament. The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) says the legislators would better express themselves in vernacular than in English. The centre director Sylvester Namiwa said the people would also understand the debates better if they were in their language. “We ...

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says more than 40,000 people across Africa are registered as missing as a result of conflict, migration and climate shocks. It says almost half of them are children. Conflicts in Ethiopia, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya and Cameroon are having a big impact. But the situation is most severe in ...

French President Emmanuel Macron has been urged to intervene on Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara’s bid for a third term in October’s election – which his opponents say is unconstitutional. Former Ivory Coast rebel leader Guillaume Soro has told President Macron in a letter that “Ivorians have noticed France’s deafening silence” on the matter. He said France had hailed Mr ...

The World Food Programme (WFP) has said serious hunger and malnutrition looms for millions of refugees across eastern Africa who depend on assistance from the food agency to survive. It said that the socio-economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has reduced vital funding from donors. The WFP has already reduced food or cash transfers by up to 30% for more ...

Amnesty International says it has documented an alarming escalation in attacks and abductions in northern Nigeria, with more than 1,100 deaths since the beginning of the year. The rights group says the authorities have left rural communities at the mercy of rampaging gunmen and describes the lack of protection as “utterly shameful”. The research focused on seven states in north-west ...

Talks in Mali aimed at resolving the political situation in the aftermath of last week’s coup have ended without agreement. West African leaders have said that the deposed President, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, should be reinstated. But envoys from regional body Ecowas failed to convince Mali’s military leaders that this was the way forward. Mr Keïta faced huge street protests before ...

Medical workers say at least two people have died during clashes in Ivory Coast following President Alassane Ouattara’s decision to run for a third term. They were killed in the southern town of Divo where opposition supporters clashed with those of Mr Ouattara. Residents said one of the dead was a teenager who died after protesters set fire to a ...