West Africa

Turn young Beninese out of school in rural areas into green entrepreneurs. This is the Women Agripreneures project, a project set up by the Les Jardins de l'Espoir association, which has been promoting agro-ecology in several places in southern Benin for four years. There are four phases, funded by the American organization IREX: fifteen days of introduction to agroecology, internship on a farm for three months, training in entrepreneurship and monitoring of each participant. The goal is for them to become financially…

The death toll from a jihadist attack on the convoy of the regional governor of northeastern Nigeria has risen to 30, security sources said on Saturday. Two sources told AFP deaths from Friday's attack in the returning Borno state had doubled as more bodies were found and now included 12 police officers, five soldiers, four members of a government-backed militia and nine civilians. "The number has risen to 30 as many corpses were picked in the surrounding areas after the attack," said one of the sources, adding that…

In Senegal, it is the 18th anniversary of Joola's sinking this Saturday, one of the deadliest in history. On September 26, 2002, the ferry connecting Casamance in the south of the country to Dakar sank off the coast of Gambia. Nearly 2,000 people died, only 64 survived. With our correspondent in Dakar, Charlotte idrac In the context of the pandemic, the memorial is marked with sobriety this Saturday: no large gatherings, the victims' associations call for a minute of silence at. 12 UT. But for the survivors and…

Ivory Coast should allow former President Laurent Gbagbo, who is barred from running in next month's main presidential election, to vote in the vote, the African Court of Human Rights and Peoples' Rights said on Friday. The court, set up by members of the African Union in 2004, asked Côte d'Ivoire to "take the necessary steps to immediately remove all obstacles" that prevented Gbagbo from being added to the electoral roll. Ivory Coast withdrew its recognition of the Court's jurisdiction back in April this year.…

36 days before the Côte d'Ivoire presidential election, the African Court of Human Rights re-enters the debate. Former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, whose candidacy was invalidated by the Constitutional Council on 14 September, scores one point. The court ordered the postponement of his conviction of Ivorian justice in the so-called "breach of the BCEAO" case and his re-registration on the electoral roll. With our correspondent in Abidjan, Pierre Pinto It is an ordinance, that is, a preliminary ruling of the…

Mali's interim president, Bah Ndaw, elected to lead a transitional government after last month's coup, was sworn in during ceremonies in the capital Bamako on Friday, AFP reporters witnessed. A committee appointed by the military junta that seized power on August 18 and overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita elected Ndaw, a 70-year-old retired colonel, as interim president. The Ndaw must lead a transitional government for a maximum of 18 months before organizing national elections. In a speech, Ndaw said he…

Ivory Coast Constitutional Court ruled last week that only four out of 44 presidential hopefuls would be allowed to run in the country's presidential election. Because they face criminal convictions, former President Laurent Gbagbo and former rebel leader Guillaume Soro, both giants of Ivorian politics, were among those prevented from running. Most of the others whose candidates were deemed invalid had failed to garner sufficient public support - a new electoral reform required candidates to request signatures from at…

Ivory Coast's head of state, Alassane Ouattara, has blown up two rivals' attempt to challenge next month's presidential election as "provocation", saying one of them is behind bars. In an interview published Thursday by the French magazine Paris Match, the 78-year-old sitting fired a verbal breadth against former President Laurent Gbagbo and former rebel leader Guillaume Soro. Both men live outside the country, but retain strong support at home, in a country still scarred by a post-election conflict that claimed more…

Bah Ndaw, a retired colonel who has been appointed Mali's interim president after last month's coup, made his first public appearance on Thursday and met with a regional mediator, AFP reporters said. Ndaw, 70, met former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan in Bamako on a mission for the 15-nation bloc ECOWAS on the eve of his inauguration. Ndaw's appointment was announced Monday by Colonel Assimi Goita, who is leading a junta of young military officers who seized power on August 18, removing President-elect Ibrahim…

Former Malidefence minister and retired Colonel Bah Ndaw was appointed interim president on Monday, while the leader of the junta who seized power last month was appointed vice president, state television announced. Mali's ruling junta has come under heavy pressure from leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to bring power back to civilians after the August 18 coup that toppled President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. It was unclear whether the arrangement would satisfy ECOWAS, which last week…