Tag: Africa

UN, NGOs, warn of rising hunger deaths in Africa

Deaths from hunger are on the rise in Africa because of droughts worsened by climate change and conflict, UN officials and non-governmental organisations said Thursday. Their warning is the latest in a series of statements from campaigners and experts warning that Africa is facing an unprecedented food crisis. There is a death by starvation every 36 seconds on average in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, the UN’s children’s organisation UNICEF and NGOs Care and Oxfam told […]

Global warming made Horn of Africa drought possible: report

by Delphine PAYSANT / Benjamin LEGENDRE Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — A devastating drought that has struck the Horn of Africa could not have occurred without global warming, according to a new report released Thursday from an international team of climate scientists. “Human-caused climate change has made agricultural drought in the Horn of Africa about 100 times more likely,” said a summary of the report by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group. “The ongoing […]

Nearly a million Sahel children face ‘severe wasting’, UN says

DAKAR, Senegal (AFP) — Nearly a million young children in Africa’s Sahel region will face severe acute malnutrition this year amid high food prices, conflict and climate change, UNICEF warned Friday. “An estimated 970,000 children under 5 from West Africa’s three central Sahel countries (Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger) will face severe wasting this year”, the UN children’s agency said in a statement. The three countries are poor, landlocked and fighting jihadist insurgencies. Niger is […]

Nearly 130,000 facing starvation in Horn of Africa: WHO

Nearly 130,000 people in the Greater Horn of Africa are “staring death in the eyes” from catastrophic hunger, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned Friday. Some 48 million people in the Greater Horn — Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda — are facing crisis levels of food insecurity, the WHO said. That means households skipping meals and depleting savings and assets in order to eat. Of those, six million are facing emergency […]

Macron says era of French interference in Africa is ‘over’

by Valerie LEROUX and Thomas GROPALLO Agence France-Presse LIBREVILLE, Gabon (AFP) — President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said the era of French interference in Africa was “well over” as he began a four-nation tour of the continent to renew frayed ties. Anti-French sentiment runs high in some former African colonies as the continent becomes a renewed diplomatic battleground, with Russian and Chinese influence growing in the region. Macron said France harbored no desire to return […]

Macron plans ‘noticeable reduction’ of French troops in Africa

by Valerie LEROUX Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — President Emmanuel Macron on Monday announced a “noticeable reduction” of French troop presence in Africa, where anti-French sentiment is running high in some former colonies. He was speaking in Paris ahead of a four-nation tour of central African countries from Wednesday, as France seeks to counter growing Chinese and Russian influence in the region. Macron is to visit Gabon for an environmental summit, followed by Angola, […]

Jobs, not doctrine, the lure for Africa’s jihadists: UN

by Nina LARSON  Agence France-Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Poverty and the prospect of better-paid work, rather than ideology, are what fuel recruitment to jihadist and other violent groups in Africa, the United Nations said Tuesday. The conclusion casts doubt on conventional wisdom that religious doctrine is the main lure for joining groups like Boko Haram, al-Shabaab and the Al-Qaeda-linked Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM). The UN Development Programme (UNDP) in 2021 interviewed […]

US announces $2.5 billion in food assistance to Africa

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) –The United States on Thursday committed another $2.5 billion in food assistance to Africa, pledging to help the continent cope with rising prices blamed in part on Russia’s invasion of breadbasket Ukraine. President Joe Biden laid out the new commitment at the close of a three-day summit that brought nearly 50 African leaders to Washington. Biden told leaders that the United States was concerned about rising hunger triggered “in part due […]

Biden seeks principled Africa partnership as US businesses pour in

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – President Joe Biden called Wednesday for a long-term partnership with Africa rooted in good governance as US businesses unveiled billions of dollars led by tech investment for a continent where China has become a top player. Addressing a summit that brought 49 African leaders to the Washington cold, Biden avoided uttering China’s name but made clear the United States would take a different approach. At the first such gathering since Barack […]

Rolling red carpet to Africans, US warns of ‘destabilizing’ China, Russia

by Shaun Tandon Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States warned Tuesday that China and Russia were destabilizing Africa with their growing inroads as it rolled out the red carpet to the continent’s leaders and pledged billions of dollars in support. Forty-nine African leaders flew into the Washington cold for the first continent-wide summit with the United States in eight years as President Joe Biden seeks to use personal diplomacy to win […]

African leaders demand funds to adapt to climate change

  CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) — The leaders of two dozen African countries Friday urged wealthier nations to uphold their aid pledges so the continent can tackle climate change impacts for which it shares little blame. They made the call after African leaders on Monday lashed out at industrialised nations for failing to show up to a summit in the Netherlands on helping African nations adapt to these changes. We urge “developed countries to fulfil their […]

Fighting spreads in Ethiopia as Tigray hit by air strike

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AFP) – Fighting in northern Ethiopia between government forces and Tigrayan rebels erupted along a new front on Wednesday, the warring sides said, as the Tigray region was hit by another air strike. The conflict resumed last week after a five-month lull, with clashes on the ground and air raids over Tigray dashing hopes of peacefully resolving the nearly two-year war. Fighting had been concentrated around the southeastern border of Tigray, with […]