Africa

The elections are the second since the ouster of longtime autocratic ruler Robert Mugabe in a 2017 coup

General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema took the oath in the presidential palace in front of a packed, boisterous room of government officials, military and local leaders in Libreville

Hassoumi Massoudou, acting head of state of the overthrown government, says West African countries have experienced four coup d’états in two years. ‘They have said enough is enough’

An emergency services spokesperson said more than 50 others were injured in the blaze that broke out at about 1 a.m. on Thursday. Witnesses say as many as 200 people or more may have been living in the building

In a video apparently from detention in his residence, President Ali Bongo Ondimba called on people to ’make noise’ to support him. But crowds instead took to the streets of the capital and sang the national anthem to celebrate the coup

They caught Hollywood’s attention with their futuristic short films before evolving towards a more social cinema where they show the drama of displaced populations and denounce the colonial plunder of African art

Conservative Alexander Schallenberg defends his country’s military neutrality in the Ukrainian war and expresses concern about the possibility of Moscow taking advantage of the loopholes left by the EU

The Blue Nile meets the White Nile in Sudan’s capital of Khartoum, before winding northward through Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea

An opposition party spokesperson said within minutes of the results being announced that they would reject them as “hastily assembled without proper verification”

Conservationists are disputing the government’s lifting of the logging ban in effect for the past six years

This was the council’s first public communication since it met earlier this month to discuss Niger’s crisis

‘We will work together to find a way out of the crisis, in the interests of all,’ Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani said, commenting after his first meeting with a regional delegation seeking to resolve the nation’s crisis

In a region rife with coups, Niger was seen as one of the last democratic countries that Western nations could partner with to beat back a growing jihadi insurgency linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group

This is the first meeting since the defense chiefs of the Western African regional bloc ordered the deployment of a ‘standby force’ last week to restore constitutional rule in the country

A military detachment was attacked Tuesday afternoon as it moved between the villages of Boni and Torodi in the Tillaberi region

The fighting appears to be the most intense to shake Tripoli this year

If convicted, President Bazoum could face the death penalty, according to the country’s penal code

Niger was the last Western-allied democracy in this part of Africa. But now, with the recent coup, Russia has gained influence

The head of the Russian paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been meeting with representatives from Mali, the Central African Republic and Niger. The United States, meanwhile, is attempting to block the Wagner Group from profiting from African mines

The West African bloc ECOWAS had given the soldiers that overthrew Niger’s democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum until last Sunday to release and reinstate him or they threatened military action

It’s unclear when or where the ECOWAS regional bloc will deploy its ‘standby force’ and which countries would contribute to it

A record 20,000 people departed from the North African country in July alone

Meanwhile, the regional ECOWAS bloc says it has directed the deployment of a ‘standby force’ to restore democracy in Niger

The United States and the European Union have suspended funding programs in the African country after the military uprising and borders have been closed

A presidential adviser says the family is living without electricity and only has rice and canned goods left to eat, but that Bazoum will never resign. The military junta is making efforts to entrench itself in power and is rejecting international mediation efforts.

The regional bloc known as ECOWAS had threatened to use military force if the junta didn’t reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum by Sunday, a deadline that was ignored

In Niger’s capital, thousands of people at a stadium rally have cheered the coup leaders and a chicken decorated in the colors of former colonizer France was publicly beheaded