NPR News -Africa

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..

January 25, 20247:20 AM ET

The Central African nation of Cameroon kicked off the world’s first routine childhood vaccine program for malaria this week.

January 24, 20245:36 PM ET

Cameroon has officially rolled out the first malaria vaccine approved for routine vaccination, targeting children 6 months and older. It reduces severe disease by 30% among young kids.

January 23, 20245:04 PM ET

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Africa on his fourth tour of the region. The Unites States is looking to emphasize the positive, not the elephant in the room — China.

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 ..

January 16, 20244:58 PM ET

The horrific murder of one of six kidnapped sisters close to Nigeria’s capital has gripped and shocked a nation that has become nearly immune to the kidnapping epidemic.

January 15, 20245:58 PM ET

British Libyan writer Hisham Matar returns with a story of friendship and revolution called My Friends, a meditation on how political upheaval shapes the most intimate and private relationships.

January 13, 20248:05 AM ET

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress faces its most competitive electoral challenge since the end of apartheid in 1994.

January 12, 20245:26 AM ET
Enlarge this imageBritish jurist Malcolm Shaw, right, legal adviser to Israel’s Foreign Ministry Tal Becker, left, look on during the opening of the hearings at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024.

Patrick Post/AP

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British jurist Malcolm Shaw, right, legal adviser to Israel’s Foreign Ministry Tal Becker, left, look on during the opening of the hearings at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024.

Patrick Post/AP

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Accused of committing genocide against Palestinians, Israel defended its war in Gaza at the United Nations’ highest court Friday, a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the allegations as hypocrisy that “screams to the heavens.”
Israel, which was founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust, has vehemently denied the accusations brought by South Africa in one..

January 11, 20245:39 PM ET

Palestinians and Israelis watch the genocide case at a United Nations court — as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.