MARK BANCHEREAU

A woman votes in a referendum on whether to adopt a new constitution, in Libreville, Gabon, on Nov. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Betines Makosso, File)

Gabon will hold its first presidential election since the 2023 military coup

The oil-rich central African nation of Gabon on Saturday will hold its first presidential election since a 2023 military coup ended a political dynasty lasting over 50 years. The interim president, Gen.

Massad Boulos visits The Great Commoner, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Dearborn, Mich. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

The US is negotiating a minerals deal with conflict-hit Congo, a Trump official says

A Trump administration official says the United States is talking with conflict-plagued Congo about developing its mineral resources under a deal that the Congolese president has said could help make his country safer. U.S.

Demonstrators run after police officers fired tear gas during a protest in support of the main opposition leader Ousmane Sonko in Dakar, Senegal, Monday, May 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)

Senegal revises amnesty law that covered deadly protests

Senegal’s parliament has approved revisions to a law passed under the former president that granted amnesty for offences committed during deadly opposition protests in the West African country.

At least 44 civilians killed in jihadi attack in Niger, authorities say

Niger authorities say an attack by a jihadi group on a village in western Niger has killed 44 civilians.

Former members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) and police officers who allegedly surrendered to M23 rebels arrive in Goma, Congo, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa, file)

Presidents of Congo and Rwanda meet in Qatar to discuss the insurgency in eastern Congo

The presidents of Congo and Rwanda have met in Qatar for their first direct talks since Rwandan-backed M23 rebels seized two major cities in mineral-rich eastern Congo earlier this year.

Former members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) and police officers who allegedly surrendered to M23 rebels arrive in Goma, Congo, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa, file)

M23 rebels withdraw from Congo peace talks, citing international sanctions

The Rwanda-backed rebels who captured key areas of Congo’s mineral-rich east say they have withdrawn from planned peace talks with the country’s government in Angola.

M23 rebels enter the centre of east Congo's second-largest city, Bukavu, and take control of the South Kivu province administrative office, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Janvier Barhahiga, file)

Rebels in eastern Congo abducted 130 hospital patients, UN says

The United Nations says the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have abducted at least 130 sick and wounded men in two hospitals in a major city in eastern Congo.

Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco Embalo enters a hall during his meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (Yury Kochetkov/Pool Photo via AP)

A West African mission sent to Guinea-Bissau to resolve dispute leaves following president’s threats

A political mission sent to Guinea-Bissau by West Africa’s regional bloc to resolve an electoral dispute has left the country.

People who were displaced by the fighting between M23 rebels and government soldiers prepare to leave their camp following an instruction by M23 rebels in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Armed fighters have raped scores of children in eastern Congo, UNICEF says

The U.N. children’s fund is accusing armed men, likely on both sides of the conflict in eastern Congo, of raping scores of children over the past weeks as rebels expand their footprint and push government forces out.

The defense chiefs from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries excluding Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea and Niger, pose for a group photo during their extraordinary meeting in Accra, Ghana, Aug. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Richard Eshun Nanaresh, File)

What’s ahead for a 50-year-old West African bloc after 3 junta-led countries left the group?

A 50-year-old West Africa regional bloc is facing significant challenges after three junta-led countries — Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso — formally left the group, known as ECOWAS.

A man sits outside the closed Isizinda Sempilo clinic in the Johannesburg township of Soweto Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Alfonso Nqunjana)

Africa knew Trump’s ‘America First’ pledge meant it might be last. Then came the freeze on aid

Many Africans knew that Trump’s “America First” outlook meant their continent was likely to be last among his priorities. But they hadn’t expected the abrupt halt to foreign aid from the world’s largest donor.

UN armoured personnel carriers deploy outside Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

International peacekeepers killed as fighting rages around eastern Congo’s key city

People protest in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, against the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels' advances into eastern Congos capital Goma.(AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)

What is happening in eastern Congo, where rebels captured a key city?

Rwanda-backed rebels have captured eastern Congo’s strategic city of Goma, the hub of a region containing trillions of dollars in mineral wealth that remains largely untapped.

Congolese government troops deploy outside Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, as M23 rebels are reported to close in on the town. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Governor of Congo’s North Kivu province dies of his wounds in fighting with rebels, authorities say

Authorities say the governor of eastern Congo’s North Kivu province has died from injuries sustained in fighting on the front line as M23 rebels close in on Goma.

Mariam Nasibu stands by her 10-year-old daughter Deborah, who was wounded in the fighting between M23 rebels and Congolese armed forces, in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

M23 rebels battling Congo’s army close in on Goma as panic spreads among city’s 2 million people

Panic is spreading in Goma in eastern Congo as M23 rebels encircle the city, battling Congo’s army. Many civilians have been wounded in the crossfire.

Nate Debos, known by his stage name NaTRILL Dizaster, who said he would apply for Benin citizenship, poses inside an old school bus in New Orleans, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Benin grants citizenship to slave descendants as it faces its own role in the trade

Some African Americans are among those are taking advantage of a new law in Benin that grants citizenship to those who can trace their lineage to the slave trade. It’s part of efforts by the West African nation to face up to the role it played.

Niger junta suspends BBC accusing it of ‘spreading false news’ in coverage of attack

Niger’s ruling junta suspended the BBC for three months over its coverage of an extremist attack that allegedly killed dozens of Nigerien soldiers and civilians.

This undated photograph released in April 2022 by France's military shows Russian mercenaries boarding a helicopter in northern Mali. (French Army via AP, File)

Rights group accuses Russian mercenaries of abuses against civilians in Mali

Human Rights Watch says Mali’s armed forces, supported by Russian mercenaries, committed abuses against civilians since the withdrawal of a UN peacekeeping mission late last year.

FILE - Arrested members of the Wazalendo sect are sat and lined up in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on Aug. 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa, File)

Rights group demands probe of ex-governor, 2 army officers in Congo for possible humanitarian crimes

Amnesty International has called for an investigation into a former governor and two top army officials in Congo for “possible crimes against humanity” during a deadly protest crackdown last year.

A view of the general Hospital Panzi in southwestern Congo, Thursday, Nov 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Lucien Lufutu)

A mystery illness has killed dozens of people in Congo. UN experts are now investigating

The World Health Organization said Friday it deployed experts to investigate a mystery flu-like disease that in recent weeks killed dozens of people in southwest Congo.

Biram Senghor, whose father was killed in 1944, holds a phone with a photo of his father, in Rufisque, Senegal, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

Senegal demands answers as the West African country commemorates a French colonial massacre

On Dec. 1, 1944, hundreds of West African riflemen who fought for France during World War II were likely killed by the French army after demanding their unpaid wages.

Interpol clamps down on cybercrime and arrests over 1,000 suspects in Africa-update

Interpol says it arrested 1,006 suspects in Africa during a massive two-month operation, clamping down on cybercrime that left tens of thousands of victims, including some who were trafficked, and produced millions in financial damages.

FILE - Workers stand by a memorial for Democratic Republic of the Congo independence hero Patrice Lumumba, in Kinshasa, Congo, June 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi, File)

The mausoleum holding Congo independence hero Lumumba’s gold-capped tooth is vandalized

Congo’s government says the mausoleum of assassinated independence leader Patrice Lumumba has been vandalized. It is not immediately clear whether Lumumba’s remains which are a single gold-capped tooth were damaged or stolen.

Australian mine company to pay Mali junta $160 million after its CEO and 2 employees were detained

Australia’s Resolute Mining says it will $160 million to Mali’s ruling junta to resolve a tax dispute, more than a week after the company’s CEO and two other employees were detained in the West African country.

A woman casts her vote for legislative elections, at a polling station in Dakar, Senegal Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)

Senegal’s governing party poised for parliamentary majority in boost for reform agenda

Senegal’s governing party is poised to win a majority of seats in the National Assembly. The country’s main opposition parties conceded defeat Monday in the country’s parliamentary election.

FILE - Senegal's President Bassirou Diomaye Faye attends a press conference in Dakar, Senegal, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Annie Risemberg, File)

Senegal votes in election that will decide if president can carry out the reforms he promised

People in Senegal are voting in a parliamentary election that will decide whether the country’s president will be able to carry out ambitious reforms, six months after he was voted in on an anti-establishment platform.

FILE - Senegal's President Bassirou Diomaye Faye attends a press conference in Dakar, Senegal, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Annie Risemberg, File)

Senegal enters last day of tense campaign ahead of key legislative election

Politicians in Senegal are wrapping up a tense electoral campaign ahead of a key legislative election this weekend that’s set to determine if the country’s newly-elected president can carry out ambitious reforms.

FILE - Mohamed Toumba, one of the soldiers who ousted Nigerian President Mohamed Bazoum, addresses supporters of Niger's ruling junta in Niamey, Niger, Sunday, Aug. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)

Niger junta bans French aid group amid tensions with France

Niger’s military junta has banned the French aid group Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development, or Acted, from working in the country amid tensions with France.

FILE - Fishing boats line the shore of Bargny beach, some 35 kilomters (22 miles) east of Dakar, Senegal, April 22, 2021. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)

The EU says it won’t renew a fishing agreement with Senegal criticized by many in the country

The European Union says it will not renew a fishing agreement with Senegal that has been criticized by many Senegalese.

A visitor explores the international exhibit at the Dakar Biennale of Contemporary African Art in Dakar, Senegal, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)

At an art festival in Dakar, artists from both sides of the Atlantic examine the legacy of slavery

The Dakar Biennale of Contemporary African Art, or Dak’Art, has opened in the Senegalese capital. The international arts festival, founded in 1989 by the government, has over the years become one of the most important platforms promoting African artists.