By Kristin Palitza
 
NOUAKCHOTT, Feb 10 (IPS) – Mariem Mint Ahmedou sits cross-legged on a worn-out carpet in a basic tent built with mud bricks and layers of sewn-together fabric. Her eight-month-old twins, Hussein and Hassan, lie weakly against her body. Both of them have been malnourished since birth, because Beydar, undernourished herself, cannot produce enough [...]

By Soumaila T. Diarra

Across the country, MNLA rebels have circulated images like these via cellphone. / MNLA

BAMAKO, Feb 10 (IPS) – Mali's political parties have jointly called on the government to hold a forum for peace and reconciliation as a way to end a Tuareg rebellion launched several weeks ago. The uprising has forced [...]

By Tamba Tengbeh and Damon van der Linde

Participants at the Sierra Leone Conference on Development and Transformation outlining recommendations on how to develop of the country. / Damon van der Linde/IPS

FREETOWN, Feb 8 (IPS) – Fifty years ago when Sierra Leone gained independence after 150 years of colonial rule, with it came a feeling [...]

By Mustapha Muhammad

An injured man awaits treatment at the Murtala Muhammed General Hospital in Kano after the Jan. 20 bombings. / Mustapha Muhammad/IPS

KANO, Nigeria, Feb 8 (IPS) – "I can no longer stay here in Kano as it rains bombs. The gun battles rattle us… Kano is no longer safe," said pregnant Funke [...]

By Ngala Killian Chimtom

A farmer in Cameroon. The closure of Nigeria's border with northern Cameroon has had a negative economic impact on this region. / Fanny Pigeaud/IRIN

YAOUNDE, Feb 7 (IPS) – Ahmadou Lamine has been forced to close his business selling fuel imported from Nigeria, known locally as "zoa-zoa", because of the Islamic [...]

By Jedi Ramalapa

Since the start of the Jan. 27 demonstrations, protesting against President Abdoulaye Wade’s bid for a third term of office, four people were killed. / Jedi Ramalapa/IPS

DAKAR, Feb 6 (IPS) – The friends of slain Senegalese student protester, Mamadou Diop, say that the 32-year-old master’s student was against injustice and that is [...]

By Ousseini Issa

A young child suffering from malnutrition at a nutritional recovery center in Maradi region in central-east Niger. / UNICEF/Giacomo Pirozzi

BOBOYE, Niger, Feb 4 (IPS) – Women have been left in charge of many of the households in the village of Zamkoye-Koïra, in western Niger, as food shortages have driven male family members [...]

By Brahima Ouédraogo

Low rainfall is having disastrous effects on wildlife in W Regional Park, which stretches across Burkina Faso, Benin and Niger. / Nicolas Barbier/Wikicommons

OUAGADOUGOU, Feb 2 (IPS) – The story of a pair of buffalo aggressively prowling the edges of a village in eastern Burkina Faso is a warning sign of severe water [...]

By Koffigan E. Adigbli

Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade' has been validated by the country's Constitutional Court to run for a third term, sparking protests. / Paul Morse/Wikicommons

DAKAR, Feb 1 (IPS) – It was stones against tear gas in the Senegalese capital this morning as students protested the killing of one of their own on Tuesday [...]

By Sandra Ferrari*

Radio advocates believe there are barriers for community radio stations in Ghana, which are detrimental to press freedom. / Sandra Ferrari

ACCRA, Feb 1 (IPS) – There is a tension resonating through Ghana’s airwaves, an electric current fueled by rivaling interests between community radio advocates and Ghana’s National Communications Authority.

Recently, community radio [...]

By Mustapha Dumbuya and Damon Van der Linde
 

Sierra Leone’s mining industry has a long history of unregulated operations. / USAID

FREETOWN, Jan 31 (IPS) – The launch of Sierra Leone’s first online mining database in West Africa comes with a promise to increase transparency and accountability in the country’s rich natural resource sector.
 

“This system will stamp out [...]

By Ngala Killian Chimtom

The reunification monument in Yaounde. Anglophone Cameroonians say they do not feel like equal partners with their Francophone counterparts. / Ngala Killian Chimtom

YAOUNDE, Jan 26 (IPS) – When Cameroon’s President Paul Biya announced that the 50th anniversary of the reunification of French and British Cameroon will take place later this year, [...]

By Miriam Gathigah

A growing number of African countries are making significant progress towards eradicating extreme hunger and poverty. / Zahira Kharsany/IPS

NAIROBI, Jan 20 (IPS) – A growing number of African countries are making significant progress towards eradicating extreme hunger and poverty. Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and South Africa are some of [...]

By Mario Queiroz

Activists from Guinea-Bissau at an event in Lisbon to raise awareness about the situation in the country. / Mario Queiroz/IPS

LISBON, Jan 11 (IPS) – The death of the president of Guinea-Bissau, Malam Bacai Sanhá, could usher in a replay of the military uprisings that have set an unmistakable seal of instability [...]

By Mustapha Muhammad

Demonstrators flock to the streets of Kano to protest the fuel subsidy removal. / Mustapha Muhammad/IPS

KANO, Nigeria, Jan 11 (IPS) – As a nationwide strike and protests against the lifting of the fuel subsidy paralysed Nigeria for the third day in a row Wednesday, analysts say the billions of dollars a [...]