NPR News -Africa

March 21, 20257:38 AM ET
Sudanese army members film themselves inside the presidential palace, as the Sudanese army says they have taken control of the building, in Khartoum, Sudan, March 21, 2025, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video.

Social Media/Reuters

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Social Media/Reuters

Sudan’s army recaptured the presidential palace on Friday, marking a significant turning point in a brutal two-year civil war, which has killed as many as 150,000 people and displaced 12 million.
Footage released by the Sudanese army showed triumphant soldiers brandishing their rifles in the air and cheering in the battered grounds of the palace after days of intense fighting with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, who had occupied Sudan’s seat of power since the war erupted in April 2023.
Through a megaphone in the complex, soldiers announced “The republican palace has now returned to the arms of the homeland” in footage posted on local Sudanese media. ..

March 20, 20259:52 PM ET
Kirsty Coventry reacts after she was announced as the new IOC President at the International Olympic Committee 144th session in Costa Navarino, western Greece, Thursday, March 20, 2025.

Thanassis Stavrakis/AP

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Thanassis Stavrakis/AP

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—Zimbabwean Olympic swimmer Kirsty Coventry has had an eventful career, from the pool, to parliament.
The country’s former dictator, Robert Mugabe, called her “a golden girl,” while the man who deposed him in a coup — Emmerson “the Crocodile” Mnangagwa – appointed her his minister of sports.
Now the 41-year-old is taking on a whole new role, after beingvoted in on Thursday as the first female — and first African — president of the International Olympic Committee [IOC]. She’s also the youngest.
“The young girl who first started swimming in Zimbabwe all those years ago could never have dreamt of this moment,” she said after winning a majority 49 of 97 votes, and ..

March 18, 20255:30 PM ET

Rwanda is widely believed to be backing the rebel group that’s taken over much of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in the past two months. The DRC has asked groups to sever ties with Rwanda.

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March 18, 20254:38 AM ET

Rwanda is widely believed to be backing the rebel group that’s taken over much of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in the past two months. The DRC has asked groups to sever ties with Rwanda.

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March 17, 20256:32 PM ET

Thousands of USAID contracts have been cut. African health leaders say the cuts aren’t surprising. But the lack of advanced warning has turned the lives of the already vulnerable upside down.

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A refugee mother and child from the Tigray region of Ethiopia wait to receive basic medical attention from an understaffed clinic run by the Sudanese Ministry of Health with assistance from Doctors Without Borders located in the east Sudanese border village of Hamdayet on Dec. 6, 2020.

Byron Smith/Getty Images

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Byron Smith/Getty Images

The Trump administration has moved aggressively to cut U.S. foreign aid, canceling 83% of aid contracts on March 10, a decision that has already halted critical health programs in Africa and beyond.
On Feb. 3, President Trump said that USAID was run by ‘radical left lunatics’ and accused the agency of “tremendous fraud,” though he did not provide any details.” Trump also accused the aid agency of stealing “BILLIONS OF DOLLARS” in a post on Truth Social.
Now, the White House is pushing to rescind the$58.4 billion appropriated for the current fiscal year, with many of these cuts being fought in court. A federal judge ru..

March 15, 20252:11 PM ET
South Africa’s ambassador to the U.S. Ebrahim Rasool speaks at the South African Embassy in Washington, Dec. 6, 2013.

Cliff Owen/FR170079 AP

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Cliff Owen/FR170079 AP

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he’s kicking out the new Ambassador from South Africa — accusing him of hating America and hating Donald Trump.
It’s the latest salvo against South Africa, which has been in the administration’s crosshairs since Trump took office in January.
In afiery post on X on Friday, Secretary Rubio called Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool a “race baiting politician” and said he was considered “a persona non grata.”
Rubio’s ire came after Rasool said in an online seminar hosted by a South African think tank that the MAGA movement was partially in response to worries about demographic change and a future when white Americans would no longer be the majority.

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March 13, 20254:08 PM ET

President Trump has derided aid the U.S. provides overseas as rife with fraud. His administration has moved aggressively to eliminate such funding including cancelling contracts already in progress. This is all being challenged in court but the effects are being felt acutely by those providing the aid on the ground in foreign countries. We hear from three providers in Africa.

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March 13, 20254:12 AM ET

NPR’s Michel Martin talks about the consequences of deep cuts to foreign aid programs with three aid workers in Africa, where about a quarter of USAID funds were allocated.

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March 11, 20252:17 AM ET
Sheep are for sale in a northern district of Algiers on June 8, 2024, ahead of the Eid al-Adha, or “Feast of Sacrifice,” when Muslims around the world slaughter sheep and cattle in remembrance of Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his son.

Anis Belghoul/AP

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Anis Belghoul/AP

ALGIERS, Algeria — Algeria’s president has announced plans to import a staggering 1 million sheep ahead of this year’s Eid al-Adha, the holiday during which Muslims worldwide purchase livestock for sacrifice.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Sunday instructed his ministers to launch plans for the massive livestock import effort to stabilize costs and meet soaring demand.
The plan is the latest in a series of measures designed to ease public frustration over rising costs and the military-backed government’s uncompromising grip on power.
It builds on previous efforts to flood markets with food staples throughout Islam’s holy month of Ramadan. Yet its scale..