Africa

World News

Longtime Gambian Leader Says He'll Step Down After Disputing Election Results

8:43am January 21, 2017

The president of Gambia has agreed to step down after months of denying election results. The Guardian's Ruth Maclean tells Scott Simon what might be next for the small West African country.

The aftermath of a bombing by the Nigerian military at an internally displaced person camps in Rann, Nigeria.

World News

Death Toll From Nigerian Strike On Displaced Persons Camp Rises To 90: Aid Group

3:44pm January 20, 2017

by Merrit Kennedy

Doctors Without Borders says the death toll may be significantly higher, with the majority of the victims women and children. The government has said the strike in restive Borno state was an accident.

Children watch Senegalese soldiers on Friday in the town of Karang, Senegal, near the border with Gambia.

World News

Troops Poised To Remove Gambia's Leader Amid Last-Ditch Negotiations

10:53am January 20, 2017

by Merrit Kennedy

West African troops have already crossed the border into Gambia and say they are prepared to remove Yahya Jammeh, who has refused to step down, by force to make way for the new leader.

American Airstrikes Destroy Group Of ISIS Military Camps In Libya

6:25pm January 19, 2017

by David Welna

American B-2 stealth bombers destroyed a nest of ISIS military camps in Libya late Wednesday, the Pentagon said. It's the latest in a long series of American airstrikes designed to set back the progress of the terror group's efforts to spread from its home base in Iraq and Syria. Libya has been in chaos since U.S. and European militaries helped depose its onetime ruler without replacing him with a viable new government.

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A convoy of Senegalese soldiers en route toward the Gambia border with Senegal on Thursday near Karang, Senegal.

World News

West African Troops Enter Gambia As Election Loser Clings To Power

5:13pm January 19, 2017

by Merrit Kennedy

Two men now claim to be president of Gambia — the winner of last month's election, and the longtime leader. The newly minted president, Adama Barrow, took the oath of office in neighboring Senegal.

The Pentagon says many of the ISIS fighters targeted in Wednesday's strike escaped from the former ISIS stronghold of Sirte, shown here during fighting in September.

U.S. Stealth Bombers Strike ISIS Training Camps In Libya

12:14pm January 19, 2017

by Merrit Kennedy

The Pentagon said the two ISIS training camps housed fighters who had escaped their former stronghold in Sirte, on Libya's central coast. It added that militants there were planning attacks in Europe.

Patients in a tuberculosis center in South Africa.

Health & Safety

Why Is Extensively Drug-Resistant TB On The Rise?

5:07pm January 18, 2017

by Jason Beaubien

There are two main theories. A new study of South African patients points to the scarier of the two.

Nigerian Funk Musician William Onyeabor Dies At 70

4:32pm January 18, 2017

NPR's Kelly McEvers talks to Uchenna Ikonne, a Nigerian music scholar, about Onyeabor's career and how he turned his back on music to become a born-again Christian in the 1980s.

A woman looks down an empty street Wednesday in Banjul, Gambia, hours before the end of longtime leader Yahya Jammeh's mandate.

World News

Gambia Prepares For Showdown As Foreign Troops Threaten Intervention

3:49pm January 18, 2017

by Merrit Kennedy

In a few hours, longtime Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh's presidential term will expire. But he is clinging to power as troops from regional powers reportedly amass at the border.

Kenyan parliamentarian Mishi Mboko, shown here on Jan. 11, is asking female voters to withhold sex with their partners until they register to vote.

Kenyan Politician Proposes Women Withhold Sex Until Men Register To Vote

7:56pm January 17, 2017

by Eyder Peralta

"Deny them sex until they show you their voter's card," Mishi Mboko urges. The tactic is not new. Women have gone on sex strikes in the past to try to end wars and curb violence. But is it effective?