TAN TAN, Morocco — High-ranking military officials from the U.S. and its top African allies watched intently as dust and flames shot up from pieces of the Sahara Desert hit by tank and artillery fire. They looked up as pilots flew F‑16s into formation. And they listened intently as Moroccan and American personnel explained how they…
DAKAR, Senegal — Presidential candidates in Senegal kicked off their election campaigns Saturday, following weeks of violent protests across the African country after the vote was delayed. The 19 approved candidates vying for the top job now have a shorter period to rally supporters ahead of the March 24 election, expected to be the most tightly…
Abuja, Nigeria — Nigeria’s constitution is getting a revamp, and this time a committee tasked with the responsibility says women’s inclusion in political offices is a priority. Women hold a tiny fraction of the seats in Nigeria’s National Assembly. Three of the 109 senators and 15 of the 360 members in the House of Representatives are…
DAKAR, SENEGAL — Senegal’s Constitutional Council on Thursday ruled that parliament’s unprecedented postponement of the February 25 presidential vote was not in line with the constitution, pitching the country into a new phase of electoral uncertainty. Opposition presidential candidates and lawmakers last week filed several legal challenges to the bill that delayed the vote to December…
Yaounde, Cameroon — Leaders of Cameroon’s main opposition party say they are negotiating with more than 30 opposition leaders to present a single candidate in the next election, should 91-year-old President Paul Biya be incapacitated by ill health. The opposition reacted after Biya, who has ruled for more than four decades, made no mention of running…
PARIS — France closes 2023 with a diminished presence in Africa’s restive Sahel region, after withdrawing troops from three once-staunch allied countries collectively fighting an Islamist insurgency, and seeing its influence increasingly replaced by other powers, including Russia. The last French soldiers left Niger earlier this month, with Paris taking the unusual step of closing its…
The East African Community trade bloc admitted Somalia as its eighth member on Friday, a move Somali authorities and businesses hope will boost the country’s war-ravaged economy. The EAC common market — which consists of Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda — was set up in 2010 and currently…
Nigerians are praising the lifting of a visa ban by the United Arab Emirates following a meeting in Abu Dhabi this week between President Bola Tinubu and United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Nigerian authorities also secured an investment deal worth billions of dollars, according to the presidency. Nigerian presidential spokesperson Ajuri…