MISPER APAWU

Muslims gather to break their fast with fruits and juice during the holy month of Ramadan in Nima, Accra, Ghana, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
AP PHOTOS: From the Atlantic coast to the Sahelian plain, Ramadan brings West Africans to the table
Quiet hunger gives way to the clattering of plates as the sun sets each night and Muslims end their day-long fasts. In homes, mosque courtyards and under the warm glow of streetside food stalls, believers gather to share meals woven with tradition, faith and the warmth of community.
 
Aminata Doumbia, president of the women's group, sits next to a pit on farmland that was leased with help from USAID but has not yet been cultivated because the funding has ceased in Kimbirila-Nord, Ivory Coast, Feb. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
Ivory Coast is losing US aid as al-Qaida and other extremist groups are approaching
The Trump administration’s sweeping cuts in foreign aid have impacted programs in northern Ivory Coast to counter the spread of al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. The U.S. had committed $20 million to programs in dozens of villages.
 
Afeli Bernice Adzo leans against the remains of her father's room as she looks at the ocean that destroyed her family home in Avegadzi, Ghana, Wednesday, March 5, 2025 (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
AP PHOTOS: ‘We don’t have anywhere to go.’ In Ghana, rising seas, powerful waves sweep away homes
The waves usually came in the evening, washing against the walls of the home where Afeli Bernice Adzo and her family slept. Sometimes they would subside for a week, sometimes months or years before hitting them again.
 
Efua, a 25-year-old fashion designer and single mother in Ghana who became pregnant in 2023, poses for a photo in Accra, Ghana, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. Efua sought an abortion at a health clinic but worried the procedure might be illegal. More than 20 countries across Africa have loosened restrictions on abortion in recent years, but experts say that like Efua, many women probably don't realize they are entitled to a legal abortion. Efua spoke to the AP on condition that only her middle name be used, for fear of reprisals from the growing anti-abortion movement in her country. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
Abortions are legal in much of Africa. But few women may be aware, and providers don’t advertise it
More than 20 countries across Africa have loosened restrictions on abortion in recent years, but experts say many women probably don’t realize they are entitled to a legal abortion.