NPR News -Africa

December 17, 202312:44 PM ET
Enlarge this imageImages from some of our most popular global stories of 2023 (left to right): A woman from Brazil’s Awa people holds her bow and arrow after a hunt; an artificial intelligence program made this fake photo to fulfill a request for “doctors help children in Africa” — AI added the giraffe; researchers are learning that a stranger’s hello can do more than just brighten your day.

Scott Wallace/Getty Images, Midjourney Bot Version 5.1. Annotation by NPR, David Rowland/AP

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Scott Wallace/Getty Images, Midjourney Bot Version 5.1. Annotation by NPR, David Rowland/AP

Images from some of our most popular global stories of 2023 (left to right): A woman from Brazil’s Awa people holds her bow and arrow after a hunt; an artificial intelligence program made this fake photo to fulfill a request for “doctors help children in Africa” — AI added the giraffe; researchers are learning that a stranger’s hello c..

Enlarge this imageThis is a locator map for Libya with its capital, Tripoli.

AP

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This is a locator map for Libya with its capital, Tripoli.

AP

CAIRO — A boat carrying dozens of migrants trying to reach Europe capsized off the coast of Libya, leaving more than 60 people dead, including women and children, the U.N. migration agency said.
The shipwreck, which took place overnight between Thursday and Friday, was the latest tragedy in this part of the Mediterranean Sea, a key but dangerous route for migrants seeking a better life in Europe. Thousands have died, according to officials.
The U.N.’s International Organization for Migration said in a statement late Saturday that the boat was carrying 86 migrants when strong waves swamped it off the town of Zuwara on Libya’s western coast and that 61 migrants drowned, according to survivors.
World Nearly 2,000 migrants have died crossing the Mediterranean this year. Here’s why”The central Mediter..

December 14, 202312:47 PM ET
Enlarge this imagePeople wade through a section of a road destroyed by floods in Mandera County, Kenya, Wednesday.

Brian Inganga/AP

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People wade through a section of a road destroyed by floods in Mandera County, Kenya, Wednesday.

Brian Inganga/AP

MANDERA, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s military hastened efforts Thursday to evacuate hundreds of people trapped by raging floods that have hit many parts of the East African country.
Floods have killed at least 170 and displaced more than 600,000 since the onset of heavy rains in November, according to the Red Cross, which is helping to coordinate the rescue efforts.
Tens of thousands of people in Northern Kenya have lost livestock, farmland and homes due to the floods described by aid groups as the worst in 100 years. An international team of scientists reported last week that human-caused climate change has made the ongoing rains in Eastern Africa up to two..

December 13, 20235:11 AM ET
Enlarge this imageAn Israeli air strike damaged this ambulance in front of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on November 3. Israel said the vehicle was “identified … as being used by a Hamas terrorist cell” and that a “number of Hamas terrorist operatives were killed.” Hamas denied the presence of fighters in the ambulance convoy, calling the claims “baseless.”

Momen Al-Halabi AFP via Getty Images

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Momen Al-Halabi AFP via Getty Images

An Israeli air strike damaged this ambulance in front of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on November 3. Israel said the vehicle was “identified … as being used by a Hamas terrorist cell” and that a “number of Hamas terrorist operatives were killed.” Hamas denied the presence of fighters in the ambulance convoy, calling the claims “baseless.”

Momen Al-Halabi AFP via Getty Images

The year 2022 set a grim record — 1,989 attacks on health-care facilities and their personnel, the worst..

December 5, 20235:03 AM ET

Ten years after the death of Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first democratically elected president, many young people there have become disillusioned with his legacy and his party.

December 5, 20235:03 AM ET

A ex-U.S. ambassador is accused of working as a secret agent for Cuba. After Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, fears of a wider Middle East conflict grow. It’s been 10 years since Nelson Mandela died.

December 5, 20235:03 AM ET
Enlarge this imageAnti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela delivers a policy statement in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Jan. 8, 1994. Mandela called on all South Africans to pledge themselves to peace. Later that year, Mandela became South Africa’s first Black president.

Walter Dhladhla/AFP/Getty Images

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Walter Dhladhla/AFP/Getty Images

Anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela delivers a policy statement in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Jan. 8, 1994. Mandela called on all South Africans to pledge themselves to peace. Later that year, Mandela became South Africa’s first Black president.

Walter Dhladhla/AFP/Getty Images

Former South African President Nelson Mandela actively protested apartheid for most of his life, and he is known for being one of the world’s most famous political prisoners.
His anti-apartheid activism never faltered: He delivered speeches, wrote letters while imprisoned and, after his release, negotiated..

December 4, 20237:04 PM ET
Enlarge this imageManmade pits at construction sites are providing nurseries for malaria-carrying mosquitoes, new research finds.

Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec

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Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec

Manmade pits at construction sites are providing nurseries for malaria-carrying mosquitoes, new research finds.

Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec

About a decade ago, a new kind of mosquito began showing up in African cities. Native to Asia, Anopheles stephensi prefers crowded urban environments over rural ones. That spelled trouble: These mosquitoes transmit malaria.
It’s especially bad news for Africa where more than 93% of the world’s quarter-billion malaria cases were identified last year.
“The challenge relates to a new species invading an area in which most people have never been exposed to malaria,” says Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec, an environmental scientist at Emory University. “And that could lead to severe outbreaks and transmission — you kno..

December 8, 20234:55 PM ET

Despite legal challenges, the U.K. is pushing ahead with a plan to deport undocumented migrants to Rwanda. But it’s already cost taxpayers twice what was planned, and no one has been deported yet.

December 8, 202311:44 AM ET
Enlarge this imageNdileka Mandela, the eldest of Nelson Mandela’s grandchildren, during her Zoom interview with NPR. A climate activist, she had spoken at COP28 earlier in the week, the climate summit, and returned home to Johannesburg to mark the 10th anniversary of her grandfather’s passing.

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Ndileka Mandela, the eldest of Nelson Mandela’s grandchildren, during her Zoom interview with NPR. A climate activist, she had spoken at COP28 earlier in the week, the climate summit, and returned home to Johannesburg to mark the 10th anniversary of her grandfather’s passing.

Screenshot by NPR

This week marks the tenth anniversary of the passing of Nelson Mandela. His activism against apartheid sent him to prison for 27 years. After that system of racial segregation came to an end and Mandela was released, he went on to become president of South Africa.
Today, he is survived by 17 grandchild..