Navy ship runs aground after leaving West African port; no injuries reported

The expeditionary sea base USS Hershel “Woody” Williams ran aground this week after leaving Libreville, Gabon, where it was participating in a military exercise in the Gulf of Guinea.

Navy tests surface drone that can dive for days at West African exercise

The U.S. Navy is testing an autonomous drone that can operate above and below the surface in a bid to help African countries battling piracy, the illicit drug trade and other illegal activities in the Gulf of Guinea.

Report spotlights Sudan slaughter, with new city in Darfur under siege

Gunmen spraying bullets at fleeing children; a mother with a child on her back shot dead; terrified teenage girls summarily executed as they fled a massacre in the Darfur city of El Geneina — all deaths meticulously documented in a devastating Human Rights Watch report released Thursday.

In the village, it’s too dangerous to dance. But a bigger stage awaited.

In Burkina Faso, a West African nation facing Islamist extremism, a national arts festival attracted troupes from even the hardest-hit areas.

Oil-rich Chad’s junta leader set to win vote as US ties fray

Chad’s military ruler Mahamat Deby is almost certain to win the country’s May 6 presidential election, cementing the ruling junta’s power in a move that could jeopardize the future of U.S. military engagement in the region.

Drought to deluge: East Africa bears brunt of climate change

East Africa is bracing for more floods, as torrential rain after years of drought deliver a reminder of the threat created by climate change.

Russian troops at same air base as departing American forces in Niger

Russian forces are now operating inside an air base in Niger where U.S. troops also are positioned, but they pose little risk to American personnel there, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said this week.

‘A setback’: Pentagon searches for new African operations turf after coups

U.S. Africa Command has been left scrambling for alternatives to carry out surveillance operations across an expanse of territory where terrorist attacks have been on the rise.

Chad asks US to cease operations at strategic Army base

Chad called on the U.S. to withdraw its troops from an army base in the central African country that’s one of the West’s few remaining outposts to fight a roiling jihadist insurgency in the region.

US agrees to withdraw American troops from Niger

The United States informed the government of Niger on Friday that it agreed to its request to withdraw U.S. troops from the West African country, said three U.S. officials, a move the Biden administration had long resisted and one that will transform Washington’s counterterrorism posture in the region.

Defying Niger exit order leaves US troops vulnerable, whistleblower says

A senior U.S. Air Force leader deployed in Niger is raising an alarm over the Biden administration’s reluctance to heed an eviction notice from the military junta that last year overthrew the West African nation’s democratically elected government.

With French under fire, Mali uses AI to bring local language to students

As the popularity of French wanes, RobotsMali is using AI to create books in Bambara.

Zimbabwe replaces battered dollar with new gold-backed currency called ZiG

Zimbabwe, in its latest bid to end the serial collapse of the local dollar, has replaced it with a new unit called ZiG, which will be backed by a basket of foreign currencies, gold and other precious metals.

Hunger stalks war-ravaged Sudan as aid is blocked and looted

It has been nearly a year since fighting broke out between the military, headed by Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), headed by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

As drones change warfare in Africa, civilians pay the price

Civilian deaths from drone and air strikes soared in Africa to 1,418 in 2023 from 149 in 2020. “We’re seeing a pattern of them being used in ways they are causing an awful lot of harm to civilians,” said Nathan Allen, associate professor at the US defense department’s Africa Center for Strategic Studies.

Elon Musk’s Starlink terminals are falling into the wrong hands

The sheer availability of Starlink on the black market suggests that its misuse is a systemic global problem, raising questions about the company’s control of a system with clear national security dimensions.

US forces not yet being kicked out of Niger, top defense official tells Congress

American forces are not yet being kicked out of Niger, a top Pentagon policymaker told House lawmakers Thursday just days after the country’s military junta announced it was severing ties with the U.S. military.

More than 20 killed in Somalia in alleged Turkish drone strike

The strike just outside the Somali capital killed at least 22 people and wounded 21, including many children, a witness and a relative of the victims said.

Climate change speeds up as major indicators blow off the charts, UN meteorological organization warns

The lives of millions of people were upended by natural disasters made worse by climate change, with countries everywhere struggling to cope with billions of dollars in economic losses, according to the WMO’s annual State of the Global Climate report for 2023.