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COTONOU, Sept 23, 2023 (AFP) – At least 34 people died in Benin near Nigeria’s border on Saturday when a contraband fuel depot exploded into flames, sending up a black cloud of smoke into the sky and leaving dozens of charred bodies at the site, a government official and residents said. The blaze erupted at a warehouse for smuggled fuel in the southern Benin town of Seme Podji, where cars, motorbikes and tricycle taxis came […]
ACCRA, Ghana (AFP) — Pirates kidnapped four Koreans and one Filipino crew member from a tuna-fishing vessel close to Benin in the Gulf of Guinea earlier this week, Ghanaian police said. The Gulf of Guinea, a key shipping route extending from Senegal to Angola, accounted for the vast majority of maritime crew abductions last year, with pirates targeting commercial vessels. The Ghana-registered boat was attacked on Tuesday although the Ghana navy recovered the vessel and […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Pirates kidnapped five South Koreans and a Ghanaian after boarding their fishing vessel off Benin, Seoul’s foreign ministry and the International Maritime Bureau said Thursday. The Ghanaian-flagged Panofi Frontier with 30 crew onboard was attacked on Wednesday about 60 nautical miles south of the Beninese capital Cotonou, they both said. Seoul’s foreign ministry said five of its nationals were seized along with a Ghanaian, and that the vessel had 24 […]
by Fran BLANDY and AFP Africa bureaus PICTURES BY SIMON MAINA AND NIPAH DENNIS Agence France-Presse NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP)— Watching from afar as much of the world was brought to its knees by the coronavirus, African scientists, engineers and innovators have turned to homegrown solutions to prepare for the worst case scenario. By the time the virus hit Africa, where cases have risen relatively slowly, images of overwhelmed hospitals and stories of health workers strapped for […]
Cotonou, Benin (AFP) — Benin sentenced an investigative journalist to 18 months in prison on Tuesday for comments he posted on social media, his lawyer told AFP. Ignace Sossou quoted on his Facebook and Twitter pages comments made by Benin’s public prosecutor Mario Metonou at a media event to discuss fake news on December 17. The comments made by the official appeared to criticise the government’s attitude towards freedom of expression. “The internet outage on […]
by Sophie BOUILLON, Josue MEHOUENOU Agence France-Presse OUIDAH, Benin (AFP) — With its palm tree-lined beaches, unique heritage and wildlife parks, Benin can hold its own against the best African holiday destinations. But tourism revenue accounts for just 0.7 percent of gross domestic product and there were only 240,000 visitors in 2014, according to World Bank figures. That compares to an average of one million visitors a year in Senegal, which is one of the most […]
TORI, Benin (AFP) – At least two people were killed and scores more suffered severe burns after an explosion at a rubbish dump outside Cotonou in Benin, police told AFP on Friday. The blast happened on Thursday evening, with the fire erupting in Tori Avame, around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the country’s commercial hub. “We recorded a total of two dead and 61 injured as a result of this tragedy that occurred in this […]
