NPR News -Africa

Senegal’s parliament delays presidential election until December

February 5, 20247:23 PM ET
Enlarge this imageSenegalese riot police lob tear gas at supporters of opposition presidential candidate Daouda Ndiaye, in Dakar, Senegal, on Sunday.

Stefan Kleinowitz/AP

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Stefan Kleinowitz/AP

Senegalese riot police lob tear gas at supporters of opposition presidential candidate Daouda Ndiaye, in Dakar, Senegal, on Sunday.

Stefan Kleinowitz/AP

DAKAR, Senegal — Senegal’s parliament voted Monday to delay the West African nation’s presidential election until Dec. 15 in a chaotic voting process that took place after opposition lawmakers were forcefully removed from the chambers as they debated President Macky Sall’s earlier decision to delay the crucial election.
Security forces stormed the legislative building and forcefully removed several opposition lawmakers who were trying to block the voting process on the unprecedented delay of the presidential election initially scheduled for Feb. 25. The adopted bill extend..

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New Grammy category for African music ignores almost all of Africa

February 4, 202410:12 AM ET
Enlarge this imageNigeria’s global star Burna Boy (center) is nominated in Grammy’s new category “best African music performance.” Nominees are from Nigeria, South Africa and Benin. Other African musicians feel neglected. Mulatu Astatke (left) is a pioneer of Ethio-jazz in Ethiopia, which has never earned a Grammy nod. North African musicians have rarely been nominated. At right: Tunisian singer Emel Mathlouthi.

Alexis Maryon, Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Karl Lagerfeld, courtesy of the artist

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Alexis Maryon, Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Karl Lagerfeld, courtesy of the artist

Nigeria’s global star Burna Boy (center) is nominated in Grammy’s new category “best African music performance.” Nominees are from Nigeria, South Africa and Benin. Other African musicians feel neglected. Mulatu Astatke (left) is a pioneer of Ethio-jazz in Ethiopia, which has never earned a Grammy nod. North African musicians have rarely been nominated..

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Namibian President Hage Geingob dies in a hospital where he was receiving treatment

February 4, 20242:16 AM ET
Enlarge this imageFILE – Namibia President Hage Geingob speaks during a plenary session at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, on Dec. 1, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Namibian president has died in a hospital where he was receiving treatment, his office said Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024.

Peter Dejong/AP

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Peter Dejong/AP

FILE – Namibia President Hage Geingob speaks during a plenary session at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, on Dec. 1, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Namibian president has died in a hospital where he was receiving treatment, his office said Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024.

Peter Dejong/AP

CAIRO — Namibian President Hage Geingob died Sunday while receiving medical treatment, his office announced.
In a post on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, the Namibian presidency said Geingob’s medical team at Lady Pohamba Hospital did its best to help him, but Geingob died with his wife, Monica Geingos, and ..

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A fire set off by a gas explosion in Kenya kills at least 3 people and injures 280

February 3, 20245:06 AM ET
Enlarge this imageIn this image made from video, firefighters work on a fire in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Feb. 2, 2024.

AP

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In this image made from video, firefighters work on a fire in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, Feb. 2, 2024.

AP

NAIROBI, Kenya — Liquid petroleum gas cylinders exploded in an illegal depot in a residential area of the Kenyan capital, officials said Friday, setting off a late-night inferno that killed at least three people and injured 280 others. The death toll was expected to rise.
The depot in Nairobi had twice been demolished, and the owner had been found guilty of operating an illegal gas refilling business in May, but continued to do business, officials said. That raised suspicions — in a country where corruption is endemic — that bribes were paid to ignore the operation.
At least 24 people were critically injured, the Kenya Red Cross said, after a huge fireball erupted from the gas..

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After the coups, West Africa’s Brexit moment

January 31, 20246:25 AM ET
Enlarge this imageSupporters of the Alliance Of Sahel States (AES) drive with flags as they celebrate Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger leaving the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Niamey on January 28, 2024.

Hama Boureima/AFP via Getty Images

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Hama Boureima/AFP via Getty Images

Supporters of the Alliance Of Sahel States (AES) drive with flags as they celebrate Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger leaving the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Niamey on January 28, 2024.

Hama Boureima/AFP via Getty Images

LAGOS, Nigeria – Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, three countries ruled by military juntas, overwhelmed by jihadist insurgencies and a series of coups in recent years, have severed ties with regional West African countries this week, and quit the regional bloc called ECOWAS.
It was announced on Sunday before it was communicated through official diplomatic channels, catching neighbouring leade..

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Why diphtheria is making a comeback

January 23, 20247:30 AM ET
Enlarge this imageThe potentially fatal disease diphtheria is caused by bacteria — the club-shaped, Gram-positive, Corynebacterium diphtheriae bacilli shown in this microscope photo.

CDC via AP

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CDC via AP

The potentially fatal disease diphtheria is caused by bacteria — the club-shaped, Gram-positive, Corynebacterium diphtheriae bacilli shown in this microscope photo.

CDC via AP

It had been over 30 years since the last case of diphtheria was seen in Guinea. So when patients began showing up six months ago with what looked like flu symptoms — fever, cough and sore throat – doctors weren’t alarmed. Until the children started dying.
That’s when they realized that this longtime scourge, long quashed by vaccination, was back.
As of December 2023, there have been around 25,000 cases of diphtheria in West Africa and 800 deaths. In Guinea, the cases were clustered in Siguiri, a rural prefecture in the ..

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