NPR News -Africa

July 15, 20241:53 AM ET
Peter Nyongesa walks through the mangroves to monitor his beehives in the Bangladesh slums in Mombasa, Kenya, on May 30, 2024. The 69-year-old Nyongesa recalled how he would plead unsuccessfully with loggers to spare the mangroves or cut only the mature ones while leaving the younger ones intact. So he has turned to deterring the loggers with bees, hidden in the mangroves and ready to sting.

Gideon Maundu/AP

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Gideon Maundu/AP

MOMBASA, Kenya — Dressed in protective clothing and armed with a smoker, Peter Nyongesa walked through the mangroves to monitor his beehives along the Indian Ocean coastline.
The 69-year-old Nyongesa recalled how he would plead unsuccessfully with loggers to spare the mangroves or cut only the mature ones while leaving the younger ones intact.
“But they would retort that the trees do not belong to anyone but God,” he said.
So he has turned to deterring the loggers with bees, hidden in the mangrove..

July 11, 20245:14 AM ET
Three young spectators cover their faces from rubber debris and smoke at the spinning field, at Wheelz N Smoke arena, on July 7, in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Kyle Thosmon for NPR

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Kyle Thosmon for NPR

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s new minister of sports, arts and culture robbed his first bank at the tender age of 16, but notes that it “wasn’t as glamorous as the movies make it.”
Gayton McKenzie’s career has followed an unusual trajectory from rags to riches, gangs to government, prison to parliament.
A seismic shift in South Africa’s political landscape in May’s election was what ultimately clinched McKenzie a Cabinet position. The African National Congress (ANC) party, which has governed South Africa since Nelson Mandela’s time, lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in 30 years.
Gayton McKenzie at Gallagher Estate on June 1 in Midrand, South Africa. South ..

July 11, 20245:11 AM ET
On July 6, volunteers dispense medication at a makeshift emergency clinic, set up in a former school in eastern Sudan, for people displaced by conflict.

AFP via Getty Images/AFP

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AFP via Getty Images/AFP

On a recent June morning in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, Tedla Damte, UNICEF Sudan’s chief of health, woke up energized thinking of his plans for the day: a visit to a UNICEF school for displaced children and meetings with the Sudan’s minister of health.
Since the country’s civil war started in April 2023, the veteran humanitarian worker has been trying to manage the massive health crisis unfolding in Sudan. It’s a challenge that most days Damte has been ready to meet. But that day in June, he got a text message from Darfur, on the other side of the country, where fighting has escalated over the past few months.
It was from a colleague, informing Damte that the Saudi hospital there had been attacke..

July 3, 20244:32 PM ET
Enlarge this imageElections are happening all over the world.

Aurelien Morissard/ Pool via AP; Rajesh Jantilal/AFP via Getty Images; Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

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Aurelien Morissard/ Pool via AP; Rajesh Jantilal/AFP via Getty Images; Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Elections are happening all over the world.

Aurelien Morissard/ Pool via AP; Rajesh Jantilal/AFP via Getty Images; Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

More than 60 countries around the world are holding national elections. From India to El Salvador, countries accounting for more than half the world’s population are voting this year.
Halfway through the biggest election year in modern history, we’ve already seen some dramatic changes. To name just a few:
India re-elected Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist party for a third term, but not by the landslide many were anticipating. After a decade in power, Modi’s critics are getting louder.
South Africa’s African National Congress p..

July 2, 20244:23 PM ET

NPR’s Ailsa Chang speaks with UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell about her visit to Sudan and what she saw about the toll the country’s civil war has had on children.

June 30, 20247:59 AM ET

International aid organizations say Sudan is at risk of famine. NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe speaks to Alan Boswell from the International Crisis Group about the impact of the country’s civil war.

June 30, 20246:00 AM ET

Elections have consequences.
2024 is an extraordinary year of global elections. Over 60 countries and billions of people are voting in their national elections. They include the world’s three largest democratic countries: India, the United States and Indonesia.
This great democratic exercise takes place at a time when concerns of democratic backsliding are on the rise, with technology turbocharging the process.
Throughout 2024, NPR’s international correspondents are offering sound-rich storytelling and views from voters, thinkers and players. We also provide a global perspective to November’s U.S. presidential election.
Here are some of the elections we have covered since January, and upcoming elections that our correspondents are closely following.

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Bangladesh Parliamentary, Jan. 7
Election campaigning in Bangladesh was marred by violence, a government crackdown on critics and opponents, and the proliferation of AI-generated disinformation..

June 27, 20242:26 PM ET
Enlarge this imageGodfrey Otunge, commander of the Kenyan police in Haiti, attends a ceremony during a visit by Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille, to the base of the newly arrived Kenyan police force at their base in the Clercine neighborhood of Port-au-Prince on June 26. Kenyan police arrived in violence-ravaged Haiti on June 25 on a long-awaited mission to help wrest the Caribbean nation from powerful gangs.

Clarens Siffroy/AFP via Getty Images

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Clarens Siffroy/AFP via Getty Images

Godfrey Otunge, commander of the Kenyan police in Haiti, attends a ceremony during a visit by Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille, to the base of the newly arrived Kenyan police force at their base in the Clercine neighborhood of Port-au-Prince on June 26. Kenyan police arrived in violence-ravaged Haiti on June 25 on a long-awaited mission to help wrest the Caribbean nation from powerful gangs.

Clarens Siffroy/AFP via Getty Images

The fi..

June 26, 20244:50 PM ET
Kenyan President William Ruto gives an address at the State House in Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday. He said he won’t sign into law a finance bill proposing new taxes a day after protesters stormed parliament and several people were shot dead.

Patrick Ngugi/AP

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Patrick Ngugi/AP

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenyan President William Ruto says he will not sign into law a controversial tax bill that has sparked widespread protests across the country, but activists said demonstrations will continue.
More than 20 people died in the protests Tuesday, according to the Kenya Human Rights Commission, which said some were shot by police. Protesters stormed into and set fire to parts of the nation’s parliament buildings.
AfricaDeadly protests break out in Kenya’s capital Nairobi over proposed tax hikesDeadly protests break out in Kenya’s capital Nairobi over proposed tax hikesListen

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June 26, 20244:34 AM ET

The situation remains tense in Kenya after protesters were killed when police fired on crowds demonstrating against proposed tax increases