AFRICA

Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP |  The floor is dusty, the walls filthy and the furniture decrepit, but for two weeks last month a tiny flat in a Harare township was transformed into a maternity clinic where scores of babies were born. Its owner, 69-year-old Esther Gwena, says she helped to deliver …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP |  Early each morning, a crowd gathers outside Ahmad Isah’s radio studio in Nigeria’s capital Abuja hoping to share their problems over the airwaves. For those waiting — men and women, young and old — Isah’s Brekete (very big in Pidgin English) Family show offers a rare …

  Paris, France | AFP | Ethiopia’s construction of a massive power dam on the Blue Nile is raising tensions with Egypt, which depends on the river for 90 percent of its water supply. As the neighbours and Sudan met in Cairo for talks Monday and Tuesday on the potential …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP |  Talal Afifi has worked for years to revive Sudanese cinema which has languished through decades of authoritarian rule. With the fall of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir, he sees new hope. Bashir’s Islamist-backed rule of 30 years had seen cinemas shuttered and US sanctions prevent imports of …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP |  Under the shade of a tree, Mohamed Omar joined other farmers bickering over who would water their crops first as supply from the Nile to a nearby canal dwindled. “My plot has been thirsty for days. I need the water to nourish the soil before it …

Libreville, Gabon | AFP | The oil-rich central African state of Gabon has carried out a string of top-level arrests and reassignments as it ramps up a drive against corruption. Nearly two dozen people, some of them in the inner circle of power, have been ousted from office, arrested or …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  South Africa’s competition regulatory authority on Monday revealed that mobile operators have been overcharging for internet connectivity, ordering top operators to drop prices within two months or face prosecution. The high cost of data has in the past stirred public outrage prompting protests under …

  Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima has emphasized the need for communities to take part in the fight against HIV. This is carried in her press statement issued as the World today commemorates the World AIDs Day under the …

Kenyan Deputy President Ruto announces 2nd Nile Basin Heads of State Summit, launches Regional HydroMet Project Nairobi, Kenya | THE INDEPENDENT |  Kenyan Deputy President William Samoei Ruto recently launched a $5.5 million Nile Basin Regional HydroMet Project which will enable member states of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) to …

Kodo, Nigeria | AFP |  Surrounded by four children, Ladi Usman scoops shea nut paste from a plastic container into a metal pot on the stove in her cramped kitchen. Squinting to keep charcoal fumes out of her eyes, she stirs it with a bamboo stick, completing the final stages of eking …