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 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 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 Andrew Green*

During the Lord's Resistance Army's insurgency in northern Uganda, John Lacambel hosted a programme on Mega FM encouraging soldiers to return home. / Will Boase/IPS

GULU, Uganda, Feb 1 (IPS) – Radio Mega FM’s transmission tower rises from the centre of Gulu town, transmitting talk shows and the latest Ugandan radio hits to listeners [...]

By Jared Ferrie

Members of the Murle ethnic group wait to receive food aid after attacks from a rival tribe that the U.N. says affected at least 120,000 people. / Jared Ferrie/IPS

PIBOR, South Sudan, Jan 24 (IPS) – In the ward of a partially destroyed clinic, Mangiro (who did not give his last name) [...]

By Stanley Kwenda

Francis Tachirev, a fruit seller in Zimbabwe lives in fear of the local police confiscating his goods. / Stanley Kwenda/IPS

HARARE, Jan 19 (IPS) – There are some unlikely comparisons between the work lives of Mohammed Bouazizi, the Tunisian fruit seller who sparked the Arab revolution, and Francis Tachirev, a fruit seller in [...]

By Jared Ferrie

The refugee camp of Yida in South Sudan is home to over 20,000 people who have fled the violence in Sudan’s South Kordofan state. / Jared Ferrie/IPS

YIDA, South Sudan, Dec 13 (IPS) – In the sprawling settlement of Yida, just south of the Sudan border, more than 20,000 people have gathered [...]

By Emmanuel Chaco
KINSHASA, Dec 10 (IPS) – Fears of violent demonstrations against the provisional results of the presidential elections – released on Dec. 9 by the electoral commission – have given way to terror in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has crackled with the sound of gunshots and the firing [...]

By Louise Redvers

Several dozen protestors square off with police in a demonstration in the capital Luanda. / Louise Redvers/IPS

LUANDA, Nov 15 (IPS) – Adolfo Andre knows what he wants for his country and says he will fight on until he gets it.

"What we need is the president to leave power, he’s been there [...]

By Emmanuel Chaco
KINSHASA, Nov 10 (IPS) – "In truth, none of the candidates and none of the parties have a programme for society," asserts Mastaki Mushosi, one of the leaders of the National Union of Catholic School Teachers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Campaigning in DRC began at the end of October for the Nov. [...]

By Robyn Leslie

Refugees say Rwanda’s problems do not stem from economics, access to land – but rather a lack of peace. / Wendy Stone/IRIN

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 9 (IPS) – They should be wary of each other. The historical conflict between their ethnicities has resulted in Africa’s largest genocide.

But Claude Kayitare sits on the [...]

By Robbie Corey-Boulet

U.N. armored vehicles enter the compound of the Congress for Democratic Change after the first round of shooting. At least two demonstrators died. / Robbie Corey-Boulet/IPS

MONROVIA, Nov 8 (IPS) – Liberians headed to the polls in what appeared to be modest numbers Tuesday morning for a presidential runoff that has been [...]

By Kristin Palitza

Former child solider Mulume* (front left) feels hopeless about his future. / Credit: Einberger/argum/EED/IPS

BUKAVU, DR Congo, Nov 2 (IPS) – Murhula’s* life changed forever when he was nine years old. It was the year that he learned to kill, torture and rape.

It was the year militia entered his school in a [...]