Africa

FILE - A mural is seen in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Wednesday March 1, 2023. Three survivors of an attack in Zaongo, central Burkina Faso, told AP that dozens of people were killed in their village on Nov. 5 when security forces attacked. One of the survivors, a 32-year-old farmer, said he photographed the horrific scenes of bodies as proof of the carnage before fleeing. (AP Photo, File)

Burkina Faso’s security forces are killing more civilians. Survivors detailed 1 village’s massacre

Women slain with babies wrapped against their bodies. Lifeless children intertwined together. A 2-month-old face-up on the ground.

FILE - Algeria's President Abdelmajid Tebboune gives a press conference, in Algiers, Algeria, Sunday, 24, 2019. Algeria's presidential campaign is officially starting a week ago with five candidates vying to replace the longtime leader pushed out in April in an ongoing protest movement. Algeria has scheduled this year’s presidential elections for September 7, providing more than five months for first-term President Abdelmajid Tebboune to campaign for a second term to lead the oil-rich north African nation, his office said in a statement on Thursday, March 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Fateh Guidoum, File)

Algeria sets election for September. The military-backed president is expected to seek a 2nd term

FILE - Kenyans line up to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, Tuesday, April 6, 2021. Thousands of doctors have stayed away from hospitals since last Thursday, March 12, 2024 over poor pay and working conditions, despite a court order calling for talks between the doctors and the Health Ministry. Health Minister Susan Nakhumicha told local television station KTN that she had instructed two top referral hospitals to recruit doctors to replace those taking part in the national strike. An Associated Press journalist confirmed on Thursday morning that emergency services at the Kenyatta national referral hospital in the capital, Nairobi, had resumed. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga, File)

Kenyan doctors stop providing emergency services at public hospitals as strike enters second week

A water truck worker fills a container outside the homes of residents who use it for drinking, cooking and cleaning, in the Pamplona Alta area in Lima, Peru, Friday, March 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Drought, heat and mismanagement make getting fresh water an increasingly tough task

Sudanese refugees displaced by the conflict in Sudan gather to receive food staples from aid agencies at the Metche Camp in eastern Chad Tuesday, March 5, 2024. Overcrowded refugee camps in eastern Chad are set to run out of money soon, exacerbating a dire humanitarian crisis caused by the spillover from the war in Sudan, the United Nations said. (AP Photo/Jsarh Ngarndey Ulrish)

Refugee camps in Chad are overcrowded and running out of aid, and Sudanese refugees keep coming

Children wearing traditional outfits wait before performing songs during a show of traditions for Masnytsia, a holiday that originates in pagan times, celebrating the end of winter, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, March 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

AP Week in Pictures: Europe and Africa

March 15–21, 2024

Children in traditional outfits wait before performing songs in Bucharest, Romania.

FILE - Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, son of Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, attends a "thanksgiving" ceremony in Entebbe, Uganda late Saturday, May 7, 2022. President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda on Thursday, March 21, 2024, named his son the top commander of the military, a controversial decision in a country where many have long believed Museveni is grooming his eldest child for the presidency. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda, File)

Uganda’s president appoints son as top commander of the army, raising succession concerns

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni on Thursday appointed his son as top commander of the military, a controversial move in a country where many have long believed Museveni is grooming his eldest child for the presidency.

FILE - Supporters of Niger's ruling junta, gather for a protest called to fight for the country's freedom and push back against foreign interference, in Niamey, Niger, Aug. 3, 2023. A top Pentagon official says that the U.S. has not received a formal request from Niger's junta to depart the country, saying instead it has received mixed signals on whether the hundreds of U.S. troops based there are no longer welcome. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)

US says it has not received a formal request by Niger junta to leave military bases

A top Pentagon official says that the U.S. has not received a formal request from Niger’s junta to depart the country, saying instead it has received mixed signals on whether the hundreds of U.S. troops based there are no longer welcome.

Rwandan man in US charged with lying about his role during the 1994 genocide

Federal authorities have charged a Rwandan man they accused of repeatedly lying about his involvement in murders and rapes amid the country’s 1994 genocide to win asylum and citizenship in the U.S.

Residents of the township of Soweto, South Africa, queue for water Saturday, March 16, 2024. Thousands of South Africans are lining up for water as the country's largest city, Johannesburg, confronts an unprecedented collapse of its water system affecting millions of people. Residents rich and poor have never seen a shortage of this severity. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Taps have run dry across South Africa’s largest city in an unprecedented water crisis

Thousands of South Africans are lining up for water as the country’s largest city, Johannesburg, confronts an unprecedented collapse of its water system affecting millions of people.

FILE - Fish is displayed for merchants inside the main port in Dakhla city, Western Sahara, Monday, Dec. 21, 2020. A legal adviser to the European Union’s top court has recommended that it annul Europe's fishing agreement with Morocco, which would have allowed European boats to fish for valuable catch off the coast of the disputed Western Sahara. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy, File)

EU legal adviser backs cancellation of EU-Morocco fishing agreement over disputed Western Sahara

A legal adviser to the European Union’s top court has recommended that it annul Europe’s fishing agreement with Morocco, which would have allowed European boats to fish for valuable catch off the coast of the disputed Western Sahara.

Spectators watch plumes of smoke from volcanic activity between Hagafell and Stóri-Skógfell, Iceland, Saturday, March 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Marco di Marco)

AP-Week-in-Pictures: Global

March 15-21, 2024

A volcano erupts again in Iceland. A boat carrying dozens of Rohingya Muslim refugees who survived a night at sea after their boat capsized were being rescued off Indonesia’s northernmost coast.

Presidential candidate Anta Babacar Ngom greets supporters during her electoral campaign caravan in Dakar, Senegal, Monday, March 11, 2024. Senegal’s only female presidential candidate may stand no chance of winning but activists say her presence alone is helping to advance a decades long campaign to achieve equality in the West African nation. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

Senegal votes Sunday in a presidential election that has fired up political tensions

Senegal votes Sunday in a tightly contested presidential election that has fired up political tensions and tested one of West Africa’s most stable democracies.

FILE - Residents displaced from a surge of violent attacks squat on blankets and in hastily made tents in the village of Masteri in west Darfur, Sudan, on July 30, 2020. Paramilitary forces and their allied militias fighting to take power in Sudan carried out widespread ethnic killings and rapes while taking control of much of western Darfur that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to a new report to the U.N. Security Council, obtained Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, by The Associated Press. (Mustafa Younes via AP, File)

Sudan is on course to become the world’s worst hunger crisis, with children already dying, UN says

The nearly year-long conflict between Sudan’s military and paramilitary forces has put the African nation on course to become the world’s worst hunger crisis with malnutrition soaring and already claiming children’s lives, the U.N. humanitarian office is warning.

A woman who scavenges recyclable materials for a living, center, walks past Marabou storks feeding on a mountain of garage amidst smoke from burning trash at Dandora, the largest garbage dump in the capital Nairobi, Kenya Wednesday, March 20, 2024. U.N. agencies have warned that electrical and electronic waste is piling up worldwide while recycling rates continue to remain low and are likely to fall even further. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

E-waste from trashed electric devices is piling up and recycling isn’t keeping pace, UN says

U.N. agencies have warned that waste from electronics is piling up worldwide while recycling rates remain low and are likely to fall even further.

Presidential candidate Anta Babacar Ngom greets supporters during her electoral campaign caravan in Dakar, Senegal, Monday, March 11, 2024. Senegal’s only female presidential candidate may stand no chance of winning but activists say her presence alone is helping to advance a decades long campaign to achieve equality in the West African nation. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

The first woman to run for president in years in Senegal is inspiring hope

Senegal’s only female presidential candidate may have little chance of winning in Sunday’s election, but activists say her presence is helping to advance a decadeslong campaign to achieve equality in the West African nation.

Journalists work at a private television broadcaster in Algiers, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. Algerian officials are chiding television stations over the content choices they've made during Ramadan. Their criticisms come amid broader struggles facing journalists and broadcasters, which have historically relied heavily on advertising from the state and Sonatrach, its largest oil and gas company. (AP Photo/Anis Belghoul)

Algeria scolds television stations for Ramadan advertising blitz and immoral programming

Algerian officials are chiding television stations over the content choices they’ve made since the start of Ramadan.

FILE - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa gestures while standing next to Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, left, ahead of his state of the nation address at the City Hall in Cape Town on Feb. 8, 2024. A special investigations unit searched the home of South Africa's Speaker of Parliament on Tuesday March 19, 2024 and seized evidence as part of a probe into accusations that she accepted bribes in her previous role as defense minister. (Rodger Bosch/pool photo via AP, File)

Investigators search the home of South Africa’s Parliament Speaker over bribery allegations

A special investigations unit in South Africa has searched the home of the Speaker of Parliament and seized evidence as part of a probe into accusations that she accepted bribes of at least $120,000 in her previous role as defense minister.

Ethiopian bank seeks to recover millions after a technical glitch triggered massive withdrawals

Ethiopia’s biggest bank is reportedly attempting to recover more than $40 million after a technical glitch allowed customers to withdraw more than they had in their accounts.

African National Congress supporters carry a mock coffin of former President Jacob Zuma as they gather at the Mose Mabhida stadium in Durban, South Africa, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, for their national manifesto launch in anticipation of the 2024 general elections. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

South Africa’s ruling ANC takes rival party to court in fractious buildup to election

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress is taking the independent electoral body and a rival political party fronted by the country’s former leader to court.

UN reports a 35% increase in people affected by violence in South Sudan

The United Nations says the number of people affected by violence in South Sudan surged by 35% in the last three months of 2023. The U.N.

Congolese journalist convicted of spreading false information expected to be freed soon

Reporters Without Borders says Congolese journalist Stanis Bujakera was set to be freed soon after being sentenced to six months in prison for spreading false information among other charges.

At least 100 villagers are kidnapped in the latest mass abduction in northern Nigeria

Armed gangs attacked two villages in Nigeria’s northwest over the weekend and seized at least 100 people from their homes.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, right, speaks during a meeting with Latvian Defense Minister Andris Spruds, not pictured, at the Pentagon on Thursday, March 14, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

US weighing options in Africa after Niger junta orders departure from key counterterrorism base

The Pentagon is working through all channels with Niger officials on whether there is a viable way for U.S. troops to stay in the country following a March 16 directive that they leave.

An abandoned, burned boat and 2 missing men: South African authorities investigate maritime mystery

South African rescue services searching for a missing charter boat captain are concerned about possible foul play after they discovered his boat burned and abandoned on a beach in neighboring Mozambique.

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak looks on as he visits an apprentice training centre at the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), in Coventry, England, Monday March 18, 2024. (Carl Recine/Pool via AP)

The UK’s contentious plan to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda is close to clearing Parliament

The British government hopes one last push can revive its stalled plan to send some asylum-seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda. A bill aimed at overcoming a U.K.

Jaha Dukureh, the founder of Safe Hands for Girls, pickets outside parliament in Serrekunda, Gambia, Monday, March 18, 2024. The West African nation of Gambia could become the first country in the world to reverse a ban on female genital cutting, a practice that experts say is dangerous and has no benefits. Lawmakers are voting Monday on legislation that seeks to repeal the 2015 ban. (Hadim Thomas-Safe Hands for Girls via AP)

Gambia lawmakers refer a repeal of the ban on female genital cutting to more committee discussions

Lawmakers in Gambia have referred a repeal of the 2015 ban on female genital cutting for further committee discussions.

In this photo provided by Egypt's presidency media office, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, right, meets European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen, at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, March 17, 2024. (Egyptian Presidency Media Office via AP)

The European Union announces an $8 billion aid package for Egypt as concerns mount over migration

The European Union has announced a 7.4 billion-euro or $8 billion aid package for cash-strapped Egypt as concerns mount that economic pressure and conflicts in neighboring countries could drive more migrants to European shores.

FILE - People stand by their houses in Juba, South Sudan, on Feb. 5, 2023. South Sudan’s government is closing down all schools starting Monday as the country prepares for a wave of extreme heat expected to last two weeks. The health and education ministries advised parents to keep all children indoors as temperatures are expected to soar to 113 Fahrenheit, in a statement late Saturday. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)

South Sudan shutters all schools as it prepares for an extreme heat wave

South Sudan is shutting all its schools and warning of an extreme heat wave that’s expected to last two weeks.

FILE - In this image taken from video provided by ORTN, Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane, front center, makes a statement late Wednesday, July 26, 2023, in Niamey, Niger, as a delegation of military officers appeared on Niger State TV to read out a series of communiques announcing their coup d'etat. Niger's junta said Saturday, March 16, 2024, the U.S. military presence in the country is no longer justified, making the announcement on state television after holding high-level talks with U.S. diplomatic and military officials during the week. (ORTN via AP, File)

Niger’s junta says US military presence is no longer justified

Niger’s junta says the U.S. military presence in the country is no longer justified after holding high-level talks with U.S. diplomatic and military officials this week, Niger plays a central role in the U.S. military’s operations in the Sahel, and is home to a major airbase.

4 officers were among 16 soldiers killed in southern Nigeria during fighting between communities

Defense officials say at least 16 soldiers, including four officers, have been killed in southern Nigeria while responding to a distress call during fighting between two communities.

The rescue personnel of the SOS Mediteranee's humanitarian ship Ocean Viking attend migrants rescued from a deflating rubber dinghy in the Central Mediterranean Sea, Wednesday, March 13, 2024. Survivors reported that some 50 people who departed Libya with them a week ago had perished during the journey. (Johanna de Tessieres/ SOS Mediteranee via AP, HO)

European charity ship rescues 135 migrants but is assigned to distant port in Italy with 359 aboard

The European charity ship Ocean Viking says it has rescued another 135 migrants, including a pregnant woman and eight children, from a double-decker boat in Maltese search-and-rescue waters.

FILE - Soldiers accused of rape and crimes against humanity slouch in their chairs during a military tribunal in the town of Baraka, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Feb. 16, 2011. Congo has lifted a more than two-decade old moratorium on the death penalty to try and rid the country of traitors and acts of "terrorism", said the government. The moratorium, established in 2003, has allowed offenders accused of treachery and espionage, guaranteed impunity, said the justice ministry in a statement that emerged Friday, March 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Pete Muller, File)

Congo reinstates the death penalty after more than 20 years as it struggles to deal with militants

Congo has lifted a more than two-decade-old moratorium on the death penalty as authorities struggle to curb violence in the country.

Senegal's opposition leader Ousmane Sonko adresses supporters in Dakar, Senegal, Thursday, March 14, 2024. Sonko was released from prison earlier in the day. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

Top Senegal opposition leader vows to help win March 24 election, speaking out after prison release

Senegal’s top opposition leader is vowing to help his team win thes March 24 presidential election even though he is barred from the ballot.

Somalia security officers patrol near the SYL hotel building which was attacked on Thursday by al-Shabab Islamic extremist rebels in Mogadishu, Somalia, Friday March 15, 2024. The Somali extremist group al-Shabab said its fighters have attacked a hotel in the capital Mogadishu, where a loud explosion and gunfire were heard Thursday night. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

All 5 attackers killed, ending Somalia hotel siege in which 3 soldiers died

Security forces in Somalia say they have killed all five attackers who laid siege to a hotel in a normally secure area of the capital.

Supporters celebrate the release of Senegal's top opposition leader Ousmane Sonko and his key ally Bassirou Diomaye Faye outside Sonko's home in Dakar, Senegal, Thursday, March 14, 2024. Sonko had been in prison since July 2023 and has fought a prolonged legal battle to run for president in the March 24 election.(AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

Senegal’s top opposition leader freed from prison ahead of presidential election this month

Senegal’s top opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko, has been released from prison ahead of the country’s presidential election later this month.

Kenyan doctors strike nationwide. Patients left unattended or turned away at public hospitals

Doctors at Kenya’s public hospitals began a nationwide strike, accusing the government of failing to implement a raft of promises from a collective bargaining agreement signed in 2017 after a 100-day strike that saw people dying from lack of care.

Ishmael Chokurongerwa, 56, a "self styled" prophet is seen at his shrine on a farm about 34 kilometers (21 miles) north of the capital, Harare, Wednesday, March, 13, 2024. Chokurongerwa led a sect with more than 100 members. Zimbabwean police on Wednesday said they arrested the man claiming to be a prophet of an apostolic sect at a shrine where believers stay in a compound and authorities found 16 unregistered graves, including those of infants, and more than 250 children used as cheap labor. (AP Photo)

‘Prophet’ charged in Zimbabwe court after police say his reclusive sect used 251 children as workers

A man claiming to be a prophet has been charged in a Zimbabwean court after police raided the compound where he led a religious sect and found more than 250 children being kept away from school and used as workers.

FILE - Somali security forces guard the entrance to the SYL hotel which was attacked by al-Shabab Islamic extremist rebels on Tuesday night, in Mogadishu, Somalia Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019. The Somali extremist group al-Shabab says on Thursday, March 14, 2024, its fighters have attacked a hotel in the capital Mogadishu, where a loud explosion and gunfire have been heard. Al-Shabab said on its Telegram channel that its fighters managed to penetrate the SYL hotel, which is located not far from the presidential palace in a normally secure part of Mogadishu. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh, File)

Loud explosion is heard as Somali militant group says its fighters have attacked a hotel in capital

The Somali extremist group al-Shabab says its fighters have attacked a hotel in the capital Mogadishu, where a loud explosion and gunfire have been heard.

Internet outage hits several African countries as undersea cables fail

A dozen countries across Africa have suffered a major internet outage as multiple undersea telecommunication cables reported failures.