West Africa

West Africa

• Activists call for release of imam in Gambia

  Activists in Gambia are calling on the government to release an imam who has been jailed for five months. Imam Baba Leigh has been missing since ... 

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  France: jihadist convert arrested in Mali

  French troops in Mali have arrested a French citizen who converted to Islam, took on the jihadist cause and threatened his native country in a video ... 

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  A terrorist sleeper cell dismantled in Mali

  Police in Mali's capital have dismantled a terrorist cell belonging to the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, or MUJAO, three officials ... 

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  Cameroon's ruling party wins Senate election

  The party of Cameroon's entrenched ruler Paul Biya won 56 of the 70 contested seats in the nation's first-ever senatorial election, the Supreme Court ... 

• German ship operator: Pirates kidnap 5 crew

  A German shipping company says pirates have kidnapped five crew members from one of its ships off the coast of West Africa. Sunship Schiffahrtskontor ... 

• Guinea-Bissau acting president says elections soon

  Guinea-Bissau's interim president pledged to hold elections before the end of the year. Interim President Manuel Serifo Mhamadjo spoke to the press ... 

• Official: 17 killed in northern Nigeria violence

  A military official says at least 17 people have been killed in fighting between Islamic extremists and security forces in northeastern Nigeria. 

• France to slash 24K military jobs, seeking savings

  France will cut a further 24,000 military jobs by 2019 as it faces up to its decades of deficit spending while still trying to maintain a force ready ... 

• Ivory Coast: We are "open" to investigating crimes

  Ivory Coast's justice minister says the government is open to investigating top security officials accused by United Nations experts of raking in ... 

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  French forces leaving Malian town of Timbuktu

  Dozens of French forces have left the northern Malian town of Timbuktu several months after their military operation largely ousted radical Islamic ... 

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  Lonely year for French president at time of crisis

  The sounds of raucous protest echo in the Presidential Palace, unemployment is rising to levels not seen in over a decade, and his country's economy ... 

• UN extends peacekeeping force in Western Sahara

  The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Thursday to keep a U.N. peacekeeping force in Western Sahara for another year, but without a mandate to ... 

• UN approves peacekeeping force for Mali

  The Security Council unanimously approved a new U.N. peacekeeping force for Mali on Thursday to help restore democracy and stabilize the northern half ... 

• Nigeria military: At least 11 killed in new attack

  Authorties in Nigeria say at least 11 people have been killed in violence blamed on Islamic insurgents in the country's northeast. One attack happened ... 

• Guinea-Bissau convicts soldier for coup attempt

  A military tribunal in Guinea-Bissau has convicted an army captain of leading a failed coup last year. Pansau Ntchama was sentenced on Thursday to ... 

• Liberia police: 3 dead, others missing in fire

  Liberian police say that at least three bodies have been retrieved and more than 10 people are feared trapped under the rubble of a building that was ... 

• French journalist expelled from north Mali

  The Malian military says it has expelled a French journalist from northern Mali who had documented civilian deaths blamed on Malian soldiers. Lt. Col. 

• US device will screen for fake medicines overseas

  U.S. health officials are making a high-tech screening device available in Africa to help spot counterfeit malaria pills in hopes that the technology ... 

• Italy's Eni 1Q earns down 57 percent

  Italy's largest energy company, Eni SpA, says that its first-quarter profits dropped 57 percent, partly because conflicts in Nigeria and Libya led to ... 

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  Nigeria attack recalls other killings by soldiers

  Residents in Nigeria's northeast accused the military of burning down civilian homes in a recent fight with Islamic extremists that left at least 187 ... 

• Diplomats: No rights monitoring in Western Sahara

  Opposition from France and Morocco forced the United States to abandon a proposal to monitor human rights in the disputed territory of Western Sahara, ...