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There is a place in Sudan where it is almost possible to forget that a devastating civil war is going on. Wrapped in bright colours and wearing plastic sandals, women in the country’s Jebel Marra mountains set off each morning on donkeys, children in tow, to tend the fields. In a Mediterranean-like climate and using […]

With no heavyweight opposition candidates cleared to compete in Wednesday’s election, many Tanzanians feel the vote is less like a contest and more like a coronation for President Samia Suluhu Hassan, as she faces her first presidential election. The 65-year-old became the East African nation’s first female head of state after the death in 2021 […]

Nigerian separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu has sacked the lawyers representing him at his trial and announced he will be representing himself from now on. The 58 year-old opened his defence on Thursday, where he argued that the court lacked the jurisdiction to try him – an argument rejected by the judge. Kanu, who heads the […]

Women’s marathon world record-holder Ruth Chepngetich has been banned for three years after the Kenyan admitted to anti-doping rule violations. Chepngetich was provisionally suspended in July following a positive test for Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) – a banned diuretic used commonly as a masking agent – on 14 March. Chepngetich’s achievements which pre-date that sample – including […]

Ghana’s former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings has died at the age of 76. She was the widow of Ghana’s longest-serving leader, Jerry John Rawlings, who died five years ago. He led two coups before twice being elected president in multiparty polls. Social media is awash with tributes to the former first lady, politician and […]

A selection of the week’s best photos from across the African continent and beyond:

For Rayno Nel there is something special about the ability to call yourself the strongest man in the world. The 30-year-old South African claimed the prestigious title on his debut in the competition in May – something that shocked many people, including him. “I didn’t go into this year really thinking that this year would […]

A former teacher accused of historical sex abuse charges in Scotland has been arrested in South Africa on a further 90 charges. Iain Wares, 86, has been accused of abuse by scores of former pupils of Edinburgh Academy and Fettes College, where he taught in the 1960s and 70s. They include BBC presenter Nicky Campbell. […]

Dancing dominates campaign rallies in Ivory Coast but the pulsing energy and fervour belies concerns about the political landscape in the world’s largest cocoa producer. Saturday’s presidential vote in the West African nation is as notable for the candidates who have been banned from running as for those who are vying for the top job. […]

Nicolas Sarkozy has become the first French ex-president to go to jail, as he starts a five-year sentence for conspiring to fund his election campaign with money from late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Not since World War Two Nazi collaborationist leader Philippe Pétain was jailed for treason in 1945 has any French ex-leader gone behind […]