By Rédaction Africanews with AFP The West African country is home to thousands of smallholder cocoa farmers, who are the backbone of the world’s largest producer of the fruit. But the country currently faces major difficulties in selling its cocoa, hit by a slowdown in exports and a drop in global prices. Laurent Kone’s wattle-and-daub house, with its tarpaulin roof and no electricity, lies down a bumpy red-earth track in western Ivory Coast. For 30 years, he has been growing cocoa and is typical of the smallholders who have been the backbone in making the west African country the world’s…
Author: Montage Africa
By Rédaction Africanews and CCTV Sudan’s gold industry, a key source of foreign currency, is reeling under ongoing conflict, infrastructure damage, and collapsing trade ties. The price of gold is hitting record highs but gold traders in Sudan are missing out. The country is one of Africa’s leading gold producers and exporters but conflict, infrastructure damage, and collapsing trade ties mean have seen its vital gold industry suffering severe setbacks. “The current market is incredibly difficult. It’s a heavy blow to the gold sector,” says Mohammed Al-Sawakni, head of the Gold Industry Association in Sudan’s Red Sea State. Gold mining…
By Rédaction Africanews with AFP Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko on Monday dismissed post-Africa Cup of Nations tensions between his country and Morocco as “excesses” only caused by “sporting emotions.” Sonko spoke alongisde his Moroccan counterpart Aziz Akhannouch during the 15th Morocco–Senegal Joint Commission for Cooperation held from January 26 to 28 in Rabat. “This visit therefore comes at a time charged with sporting emotions, regrettable excesses, and images that are sometimes painful for two peoples deeply connected,” said Sonko “The missteps seen here and there should neither be denied nor dramatised. They should be reframed as emotional excesses born…
By Rédaction Africanews and Agencies Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has again rejected Israeli efforts to transfer Palestinians out of their territories in the Gaza Strip. Speaking at Police Day in Cairo on Saturday, Sissi warned that any such attempt would trigger a wave of refugees across the globe: “I emphasise the necessity of halting the systematic practices against the Palestinian people in their occupied land and rejecting any attempts or efforts to displace them from their homeland,” he said. “I warn that the exodus of approximately two and a half million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, and what this implies…
The leader of a Kenyan cult accused of encouraging his followers to starve themselves to death will be charged over a further 52 deaths at another village, prosecutors say. Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie was arrested in 2023 after 429 bodies, including children, were dug up from mass graves in the remote Shakahola forest. He has been in custody since his arrest and has been accused of luring the latest victims to their deaths by writing notes from his prison cell. Mackenzie has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of manslaughter. The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said in…
By Rédaction Africanews Nigeria’s military will try several officers over an alleged plan to oust President Bola Tinubu last year, it said Monday, acknowledging a plot the government had initially denied. In October, the military said 16 officers had been arrested over “issues of indiscipline”. Despite official denials, sources across the Nigerian government and military had told AFP they were arrested over a coup plot. If successful, this would have brought an end to a quarter-century of democracy in Africa’s most populous country. “The Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) wishes to inform the general public that investigations into the matter…
By Rédaction Africanews At Monday’s briefing, United Nations Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric announced the launch of a $852 million Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for Somalia, which he said, “is 40 percent less than last year” and “aims to support 2.4 million people.” Dujarric stressed that the reduction in funding “is due to constrained resources, not reduced humanitarian needs.” He said there will be, “significant gaps in essential services,” as less than half of those in need of humanitarian aid will be able to receive help under the 2026 plan. Dujarric said, “without urgent and scaled-up assistance, the combined prolonged drought,…
By Rédaction Africanews and Agencies Iranian authorities unveiled a new mural in central Tehran on Sunday containing a clear warning to the United States: do not to attempt to strike our country. The painting shows damaged planes on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier against the background of an American flag. It bears the slogan: “If you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind,” in Farsi and English. The move comes as the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says it has confirmed that 5,848 people had been killed during the recent wave of protests in Iran. That…
The office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) has formally taken over prosecution of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Mike Ozekhome after the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) filed criminal charges relating to a disputed London property. The transfer was announced in Federal Capital Territory court when Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, told the bench the AGF would assume the case. Court papers state that Ozekhome will answer to a three-count charge that accuses him of receiving the London house at 79 Randall Avenue by corrupt means and of making and using a false Nigerian passport…
The United Nations says it is gravely concerned after a senior military leader in South Sudan urged his troops to “spare no-one” including “children, the elderly, and civilians” when they are deployed to opposition-held areas of the country. “Inflammatory rhetoric calling for violence against civilians, including the most vulnerable, is utterly abhorrent and must stop now,” said the head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (Unmiss). South Sudan’s deputy army chief Gen Johnson Oluny made the call as he addressed his Agwelek militia as they prepared to be sent to parts of Jonglei state. Forces aligned to South Sudan’s…