Category Archives: Africa

War, grief and hope: the stories behind the World Press Photo award-winners

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Images from Gaza, Ukraine, Madagascar and the US border chosen by global jury from more than 60,000 entries

• World Press Photo winners 2024 – in pictures

Photographs documenting the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, migration, family and dementia have topped this year’s World Press Photo awards – one of the world’s most prestigious photography competitions.

Mohammed Salem, Lee-Ann Olwage, Alejandro Cegarra, and Julia Kochetova have been announced as the winners of this year’s competition, which is run by the World Press Photo Foundation – an independent, not-for-profit organisation that celebrates the importance of press and documentary photography.

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New types of mosquito bed nets could cut malaria risk by up to half, trial finds

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Adding another insecticide to the protective netting has proved effective in fight against the disease that killed 600,000 in 2022

Two new types of mosquito bed nets have been found to reduce cases of malaria by up to a half, raising hopes of combating the disease, which is becoming increasingly resistant to treatments and prevention efforts.

Nets treated with two types of insecticide rather than one were trialled in 17 African countries where malaria is endemic between 2019 and 2022.

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Lethal heatwave in Sahel worsened by fossil fuel burning, study finds

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Deaths from record temperatures in Mali reportedly led to full morgues turning away bodies this month


The deadly protracted heatwave that filled hospitals and mortuaries in the Sahel region of Africa earlier this month would have been impossible without human-caused climate disruption, a new analysis has revealed.

Mali registered the hottest day in its history on 3 April as temperatures hit 48.5C in the south-western city of Kayes. Intense heat continued across a wide area of the country for more than five days and nights, giving vulnerable people no time for recovery.

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Europeans care more about elephants than people, says Botswana president

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Westerners see elephants as pets, said Mokgweetsi Masisi, whose government threatened to send 30,000 elephants to Germany and the UK to demonstrate their dangers

Many Europeans value the lives of elephants more than those of the people who live around them, the president of Botswana has said, amid tensions over potential trophy hunting import bans.

Botswana recently threatened to send 30,000 elephants to the UK and Germany after both countries proposed stricter controls on hunting trophies. The country’s president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, said it would help people to understand human-wildlife conflict – which is among the primary threats to the species – including the experiences of subsistence farmers affected by crop-raiding by the animals.

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Rwandan leader went to Arsenal game as country marked 30 years since genocide

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Paul Kagame flew to UK for Champions League match while national police told citizens to restrict activities including football

The president of Rwanda, whose police force has asked the country’s people to restrict football-related activities during the 30-year anniversary of the Rwanda massacre, is facing questions after flying to the UK and watching Arsenal play Bayern Munich.

Paul Kagame visited on Tuesday 9 April to watch the Champions League match in north London. Before the match, he visited Rishi Sunak at No 10 Downing Street, after giving civil servants just a few days’ notice of his visit. They discussed the UK’s deportation deal, which aims to send asylum seekers to Kigali to be processed there.

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Sunak considering exemptions to Rwanda bill for some Afghans

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Lords also press ministers to allow independent Rwanda monitoring as deportation bill returns to Commons

Rishi Sunak’s government is considering concessions on the Rwanda deportation bill to allow exemptions for Afghans who served alongside UK forces, parliamentary sources say.

Ministers are also being pressed to give ground to an amendment to the legislation so that the east African country could be ruled unsafe by a monitoring committee.

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Increasing number of villages torched across Sudan shows conflict is intensifying – report

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Satellite data indicates growing number of airstrikes on settlements, in a war that has already killed thousands

The number of villages in Sudan that have been destroyed or severely damaged by fire has risen sharply in recent weeks, suggesting the country’s conflict is intensifying as it enters its second year.

Satellite data revealed the number of Sudanese settlements set on fire in March increased to 30, the highest monthly total recorded since fighting broke out between the country’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) last April.

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Nestlé adds sugar to infant milk sold in poorer countries, report finds

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Swiss food firm’s infant formula and cereal sold in global south ignore WHO anti-obesity guidelines for Europe, says Public Eye

Nestlé, the world’s largest consumer goods company, adds sugar and honey to infant milk and cereal products sold in many poorer countries, contrary to international guidelines aimed at preventing obesity and chronic diseases, a report has found.

Campaigners from Public Eye, a Swiss investigative organisation, sent samples of the Swiss multinational’s baby-food products sold in Asia, Africa and Latin America to a Belgian laboratory for testing.

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Europe: Sudan war ‘world’s worst child displacement crisis,’ Paris conference told – as it happened

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Annalena Baerbock, the German foreign minister, says ‘every life counts equally, whether in Ukraine, in Gaza, or in Sudan’

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, has warned of a further escalation in violence in Sudan.

“The Sudanese people have been subjected to untold suffering during the conflict which has been marked by indiscriminate attacks in densely populated areas, ethnically-motivated attacks, and a high incidence of conflict-related sexual violence. The recruitment and use of children by parties to the conflict are also deeply concerning,” Türk said in a statement today.

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Liberia senate votes to establish war crimes court

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The court will investigate crimes against humanity committed during the African country’s two civil wars between 1989 and 2003

Senators in Liberia have voted overwhelmingly to establish a war crimes court, two decades after civil conflict ended in the west African country.

The new court will investigate and try crimes against humanity and corruption committed during Liberia’s two civil wars between 1989 and 2003, which killed up to 250,000 people.

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Covid pandemic made poorest countries even worse off, World Bank warns

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Poverty reduction drive all but halted across many nations as Bank calls for more money to tackle a ‘great reversal’

The devastating impact of the pandemic on the world’s poorest countries has brought poverty reduction to a halt and led to a widening income gap with nations in the rich west, the World Bank has warned.

In a report released to coincide with its half-yearly meeting, the Washington-based organisation said half of the world’s 75 poorest nations had seen income per head rise more slowly than in developed countries over the past five years.

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UK Foreign Office holding secret talks with Sudan’s RSF paramilitary group

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Exclusive: Rights groups denounce negotiations with Rapid Support Forces, accused of ethnic cleansing and war crimes

Foreign Office officials are holding secret talks with the paramilitary group that has been waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Sudan for the past year.

News that the British government and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are engaged in clandestine negotiations has prompted warnings that such talks risk legitimising the notorious militia – which continues to commit multiple war crimes – while undermining Britain’s moral credibility in the region.

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Sudanese refugees in Chad unable to access medical care for war injuries

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Some people in Ambelia camp waiting for treatment to wounds resulting from ethnic violence last year

Hundreds of displaced Sudanese people living in a refugee camp across the border in Chad have been unable to access vital medical care for injuries sustained during fierce battles in the Sudanese city of Geneina in the past year.

Some of those in the vast Ambelia camp near the city of Adré have permanent disabilities that could have been avoided had they undergone surgery, according to the refugees themselves and activists who are trying to arrange travel to Port Sudan in eastern Sudan, where they say medical facilities are relatively better than in Chad.

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Russian military trainers arrive in Niger as African country pulls away from US

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West African state turned to Russia to help in fight against insurgents throwing into doubt future of operations with US

Russian military trainers have arrived to reinforce Niger’s air defenses as the west African country pulls away from close cooperation with the US in counterterrorism efforts, turning instead to Moscow for help as it fights Islamist insurgents.

State television in the country broadcast footage of Russian military trainers arriving in the country aboard a plane equipped with military supplies late on Thursday. Two Russian trainers were filmed in front of the plane wearing military uniforms, caps and face coverings.

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Malawian journalist arrested over article accusing businessman of corruption

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Rights groups condemn arrest of Macmillan Mhone, who was charged with ‘publication of news likely to cause fear and alarm’

Human rights watchdogs have condemned the arrest of a journalist in Malawi in connection with an article accusing a wealthy businessman of corruption.

Police in Blantyre detained Macmillan Mhone on Monday over a story that was published online last August on the Malawi 24 news site.

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‘Right to freedom from torture’: UN experts urge the Gambia not to decriminalise FGM

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Repealing ban would mean return of ‘one of the most pernicious forms of violence committed against women and children’

A team of UN experts has urged Gambian lawmakers not to repeal a ban on female genital mutilation, saying such a move would set a dangerous global precedent.

In a letter dated 8 April and made public on Thursday, the experts, led by Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, said allowing the unchecked return of “one of the most pernicious forms of violence committed against women and children” would violate their right to freedom from torture.

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Sunak welcomes Kagame to No 10 as Rwanda scheme hits fresh snags

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Meeting to discuss PM’s key policy overshadowed by reports of lack of housing for deportees or airline to remove them from UK

Rishi Sunak has welcomed the Rwandan president to Downing Street amid signs that ministers are struggling to find an airline or housing in Kigali to carry out their flagship deportation plan.

The meeting on Tuesday was overshadowed by the former home secretary Suella Braverman’s criticism of fallen expectations over the policy, which aims to forcibly send people seeking asylum 4,000 miles to central Africa.

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‘Hardest Geezer’ Russ Cook enjoys a day off running after epic Africa journey

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Endurance athlete from Worthing says he is ‘just trying to soak it all in’ after completing 352-day, 9,940-mile run

After sinking a strawberry daiquiri and a few beers and enjoying a reunion with his girlfriend after more than a year apart, Russ Cook, AKA the “Hardest Geezer”, who completed his 9,940-mile (16,000km) run along the entire length of Africa on Sunday, woke up feeling “a little bit frosty, a little bit tired”.

And for once, the 27-year-old endurance athlete from Worthing, West Sussex, who raised more than £700,000 for charity on his epic journey, was not pulling on his running shoes. It was all “quite, quite overwhelming”, he said.

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More than 90 dead in Mozambique ferry disaster as packed vessel sinks, say officials

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Most passengers heading for island off Nampula province were trying to escape mainland due to panic over cholera outbreak, official says

More than 90 people including many children died when an overcrowded makeshift ferry sank off the north coast of Mozambique, local authorities have said.

The converted fishing boat, carrying about 130 people, ran into trouble as it tried to reach an island off Nampula province, officials said on Sunday.

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Two charged in Nigeria over alleged sextortion that led to Australian teenager’s death

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Boy who took his own life allegedly told to pay $500 to stop personal photos being shared with family and friends

Two men in Nigeria have been charged over an alleged sextortion case that led to a teenage Australian boy taking his own life.

The boy had been engaging online with an unknown person who threatened to share personal photos of him with his family and friends if he did not pay $500, NSW police said in a statement on Monday.

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