Africa

UN chief Antonio Guterres expressed concern over what he described as “renewed tensions” and urged both countries to step back from hostile actions.

Interpol’s Operation Thunder 2025 seized thousands of protected plants, animals and timber across 134 countries, exposing global wildlife crime networks and rising trafficking in bushmeat, marine species and exotic arthropods.

Ghana's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, welcomed the decision, thanking his ECOWAS counterparts for what he described as a strong vote of confidence in Ghana's leadership and pan-African credentials.

However, IGAD noted with concern that since rejoining in 2023, Eritrea has not participated in any IGAD meetings, programmes, or activities. The Secretariat said it had remained patient throughout this period while keeping communication channels open.

Eritrea recalled that it “played a pivotal role when IGAD was revitalised in 1993,” contributing alongside other member states to strengthen the body as “the primary vehicle for the enhancement of regional peace and stability” and as a foundation for economic integration.

Foreign direct investment to Africa fell 42 per cent to $28 billion in early 2025. Business leaders urge faster reforms on payments, integration and local capital to unlock the continent’s investment potential.

According to senior Beninese officials who spoke to Reuters, Tigri and four other soldiers are hiding in Lome's Lome 2 neighbourhood, which also houses the residence of Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe.

Accra said it had been "compelled to retaliate", framing the episode as a defence of the dignity of its nationals.

Unveiled on Tuesday, the 29-article charter lays out the rules for the one-year transition.

A new report warns biometric digital-ID systems across ten African countries are blocking millions from voting, healthcare and social protection, amid weak legal safeguards and rising fears over data misuse.

Ghana has protested to Israel after seven citizens, including MPs, were detained and some deported at Ben Gurion Airport, calling the treatment humiliating and warning of possible reciprocal action.

Soldiers tried to seize Benin’s state broadcaster in a failed coup, citing security and political grievances. The mutiny was crushed, but analysts warn it exposes rising tensions and regional democratic backsliding.

A new study of African coups from 2001–2022 finds the AU firmly sanctions most military takeovers but rarely confronts leaders who rig constitutions or refuse to concede defeat, raising stability concerns.

A CIVICUS report says at least 180 journalists were detained across sub-Saharan Africa in 2025, with Somalia and Kenya leading arrests and deadly crackdowns on protests shrinking civic and media space.

The Confederation of Sahel States (AES), comprising Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, confirmed the development in a statement, noting that the plane, which landed in Bobo-Dioulasso, did not have authorisation to enter the country.

The Benin incident is the latest in a series of attempted power grabs across West Africa, often triggered by contested elections, constitutional disputes and public frustration.

The children were among 315 pupils and staff who were kidnapped from a Catholic boarding school in late November.

Troops drawn from Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire and Sierra Leone will be deployed to assist Benin's authorities in safeguarding constitutional order and territorial integrity, ECOWAS said in a statement.

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu confirms troops were sent to Benin at the government’s request after a failed coup, as ECOWAS deploys a regional force to help preserve constitutional order.

A study finds more than 60,000 African penguins died in South Africa between 2004 and 2012 after sardines crashed, highlighting climate and overfishing threats to this now critically endangered species.

A Nigerian court’s terrorism conviction and life sentence for Biafra leader Nnamdi Kanu ends a decade-long case but leaves core Igbo grievances and rising south-east insecurity unresolved.

Benin’s government says it foiled an attempted coup in Cotonou after soldiers briefly claimed to oust President Patrice Talon, highlighting growing instability across Africa’s expanding ‘coup belt’.

The African Union has condemned a failed coup attempt in Benin, led by Lt-Col Pascal Tigri, backing President Patrice Talon and urging an immediate return to constitutional order and military barracks.

Authorities have urged citizens to remain calm as operations continue to stabilise the capital following the failed coup attempt.

His life in music represented a struggle against narrow, oppressive definitions of race, instrumental appropriateness and musical genre.

Africa is the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, despite its limited contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.

Opposition coalitions such as the Union for Democratic Change (UAD) and the Union for Democratic Movements (UMD) face significant constraints.

Identifying themselves as the Military Committee for Refoundation, the soldiers declared on Sunday that they had removed the president and disbanded all state institutions.

A new study finds more than 60,000 African penguins vanished as sardines declined off South Africa, driving a 95% collapse on two islands and leaving the species critically endangered.

Lamola issued an open letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken after the latter criticised South Africa's domestic policies and its G20 stewardship in a Substack post on Wednesday.

The impact has been devastating: premature births have risen sharply, along with miscarriages and stillbirths linked to severe malnutrition, exhaustion and constant fear.

A 2025 court ruling found South African liberation leader Albert Luthuli was murdered, overturning a 1967 inquest and reframing his legacy and his overlooked autobiography, Let My People Go.

Facing war, sanctions and drought at home, Iran is deepening ties with African states for security cooperation, uranium and markets, from Burkina Faso and Niger to South Africa and Uganda.

The core contestation is between commodifying land through individual rights and markets, versus protecting it as a social good through communal rights to prevent landlessness and inequality.

Drylands, covering 60 per cent of Africa, are hot, low-rainfall areas that sustain the livelihoods and food security of half a billion people through pastoralism and crop farming.

Zambia’s education ministry plans legal changes to guarantee free schooling from early childhood to secondary level, aiming to make the 2022 policy permanent while maintaining quality standards.

Minister of Education Douglas Syakalima said the ministry has proposed amendments to the existing education law to secure free education from early childhood to secondary level.

Nigeria has placed Guinea-Bissau opposition leader Fernando Dias da Costa under protection at its Bissau embassy after threats to his life, and asked ECOWAS troops to reinforce security amid the coup crisis.

African and Caribbean delegates in Algiers adopted the Algeria Declaration, defining colonialism as a multidimensional crime and tasking Algeria to lead a new diplomatic push for reparations and accountability.

Plant-based foods like beans, grains, nuts and seeds are examples of low-emission, nutritious foods that could be farmed. New lab-grown meat or fermented meat should also be supported to meet the growing demand for protein.

The conference brought together policymakers, agri-tech players, researchers and development partners to chart a policy path for digital agriculture, with discussions centred on creating an enabling environment for innovation.

The events in Guinea-Bissau reflect a so-called polycrisis for countries in and around the Sahel belt, sandwiched between North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. This region has, since 2020, become the global epicenter of both terrorism and coups.

The conflict in northern Mozambique began in October 2017, when armed groups launched attacks in parts of Cabo Delgado province.

At AERC’s 2025 Nairobi summit, African economists and Kenyan officials urged community-led, locally grounded research and data systems to better inform policies and measure real development impact.

Mohammed Badaru Abubakar's resignation comes as Nigeria scrambles to respond to a wave of mass kidnappings.

ECOWAS has suspended Guinea-Bissau after a military coup, demanding President Umaro Sissoco Embaló’s release and swift publication of election results, as regional leaders move to defend democratic order.

Cameroon opposition leader Anicet Ekane died in custody in Yaoundé after his October arrest. Government, his party and the EU differ on his treatment and demand investigations into his death.

Pressure on Tasila’s parliamentary seat first came from the ruling United Party for National Development, after Zambezi East MP Brian Kambita questioned in July whether she was still eligible to hold office given her prolonged absence.

The campaign will run for four weeks, beginning at 00:00 local time (0000 GMT) on Friday and ending at 23:59 on December 25, 2025.

AU Commission Chairperson, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, said the continental body had decided to "suspend with immediate effect" Guinea-Bissau until constitutional order is restored.

Agyeman-Rawlings was the wife of the late former President Jerry John Rawlings, and founder of the 31st December Women's Movement, a non-governmental organisation that advocates for women's empowerment, children's rights, and social inclusion for the marginalised.