These prickly plants are the stars of the show at a new exhibition in Marrakech. 'CACTUS' at the Yves Saint Laurent Museum is a tribute to the spiny flora. With over 1,700 species of cacti known worldwide, the aim is to highlight their remarkable diversity through various artistic mediums. Some are old specimens, like these "Pachycereus Pecte...

 A UN Security Council meeting focused Thursday (Mar. 07) on the war in Sudan. The United Nations Secretary-General warned that the nearly year-long conflict risks escalating regional instability and further fracturing the country. The conflict pits the Sudanese army gainst the paramilitary RSF. "The conflict has taken a devastating toll on th...

In the arid depths of Ethiopia's Tigray region, where drought and conflict have become a cruel reality, Tigray is on the brink of famine, ravaged by two years of war and the unforgiving effects of climate change. Once-lush fields now lie barren, a stark testament to the harsh challenges faced by the inhabitants. At the Fenarwa health center, Ada Ar...

 Ministers of Health from the 12 African countries with the highest burden of malaria gathered in Yaoundé, Cameroon, on Wednesday (Mar. 06). Ending deaths from the disease remains a challenge despite a package of measures that have proven to be inefficient and not adapted to the continent. Mali's minister of health and social development, Dr. ...

 A rebel group with alleged links to neighbouring Rwanda seized a town in Congo's conflict-hit eastern region following attacks that killed at least 10 people and displaced thousands, reports said Wednesday. The seizure of Nyanzale by M23 rebels came after days of fighting with security forces, local civil society leader Jonas Pandasi said. He...

 Somalia has gained full membership of the East African Community (EAC). At a brief ceremony held Monday (Mar. 04) at the EAC headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, Somalia's Minister of Commerce and Industry,Jibril Abdirashid Haji, presented the instrument of ratification to the bloc's Secretary-General, completing the admission process. EAC Secre...

 The South African navy was brought in Monday to help with a search for a 6-year-old girl who has been missing for two weeks in a case that has captured national attention, forcing police to ask people to give them space to work and stop encroaching on the operation and recording it on their cell phones. Joslin Smith went missing on Feb. 19 in...

 At least 170 people were killed in northern Burkina Faso last week, a regional prosecutor said in a statement on Sunday. Aly Benjamin Coulibaly said attackers targeted four villages in Yatenga province before 'executing around 170 people' on February 25. The statement did not name the attackers. Burkina Faso is battling an Islamist militant i...

 A bomb scare shut down Zimbabwe's Victoria Falls Airport on Friday, forcing the country's president to cancel a planned address at a conference on renewable energy, an official said. Zimbabwean President Edson Mnangagwa was due to address the conference in the morning, but "had to suspend his trip to allow for investigations which are already...

 Paramilitary forces and their allied militias fighting for power in Sudan have carried out large-scale ethnic killings and rapes as they take control of much of West Darfur, which could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, UN experts said in a new report. The report to the United Nations Security Council, obtained Thursday by The...

 A meningitis outbreak has killed 20 students in northern Nigeria, local media reported Wednesday (Feb. 28). The death toll which remains provisional was announced by the Yobe state Education commissioner. The outbreak has been recorded in some secondary schools in the state. Over a hundred cases have allegedly been reported with three patient...

 Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday granted reparations of more than 52 million euros ($56 million) to thousands of victims of a convicted commander in the shadowy Ugandan rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army. Dominic Ongwen was found guilty of 61 war crimes and crimes against humanity by the ICC in February 2021. ...

 Nigeria's government and union workers took to the streets of Lagos Tuesday as part of a new nationwide protest that threatened to shut down key services, with people angry about soaring inflation and growing economic pain. Since assuming office last year, President Bola Tinubu has enacted a range of controversial policies including scrapping...

 Senegal's President Macky Sall announced plans for a general amnesty for political demonstrators from 2021 to 2024, seeking to ease tensions ahead of upcoming elections. Speaking at a national dialogue on Monday, Sall reiterated his commitment to holding elections before the rainy season begins in July and assured that he will honor his manda...

 A French journalist has been detained in Ethiopia while visiting the country for a recent African Union summit, his employer said Monday. Antoine Galindo, a Paris-based correspondent for the Africa Intelligence website, was detained in the capital Addis Ababa last Thursday by plainclothes security officers, the news outlet's publisher, Indigo...

 South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday highlighted the achievements of his African National Congress, which has ruled the country for all of its 30 years of democrac y, as it heads into a tight race in May's election. Ramaphosa delivered the party's manifesto to thousands of ANC supporters at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban ...

 Displaced people living in the Zamzam camp in North Darfur are suffering from high levels of malnutrition amid insufficient humanitarian aid almost one year since the violence began. Some 300,000 people displaced by the war in Sudan are living in difficult conditions in the camp, located 15 kilometres (nine miles) south of El Fasher, the capi...

 Kenya has waived entry fees for passport holders from South Africa and six other countries, following widespread criticism of the recently introduced $30 fee. The move aims to boost tourism and attract business travellers. Previously, all foreign passport holders were subject to visa requirements, but the government's decision sparked backlas...

 Authorities in Cape Town launched an investigation Monday after a foul stench swept over the South African city. City officials inspected sewage facilities for leaks and an environmental health team was activated before the source of the smell was discovered: a ship docked in the harbor carrying 19,000 live cattle from Brazil to Iraq.Zahid Ba...

 Zimbabwe began an emergency campaign to inoculate more than 4 million children against polio on Tuesday after health authorities detected three cases caused by the rare mutation of the weakened virus used in oral vaccines, including a 10-year-old girl who was paralyzed in January. The health ministry said laboratory tests from samples collect...