AFRICA

Lagos, Nigeria | AFP |  As coronavirus closed businesses around the world and forced billions to stay home, Nigerian director Obi Emelonye came up with an innovative way to keep filming. Inspired by his wife’s teleconferencing calls from their isolation in Britain, he wrote and put together a short feature about …

Nouakchott, Mauritania | AFP |  The Sahara: boundless dunes shimmering in the relentless heat, nomadic tribes following paths as old and inscrutable as time itself, fierce-eyed warriors on camel-back, clad in indigo… These images of the great desert are familiar around the world, but in France they have a special allure. …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP |  In El-Arish, the provincial capital of Egypt’s North Sinai, a group of women sew colourful Bedouin designs on masks to combat coronavirus, as an insurgency simmers in their restive region. Egypt’s toll from the COVID-19 pandemic has reached over 28,600 cases, including more than 1,000 deaths, …

TICHITT, Mauritania | AFP |  A few centuries ago, Tichitt was a citadel of trade where Saharan merchants bearing gold, salt and cloth would stop to water their camels and haggle. Today, red-and-white signs in the sand dunes point to where this once great hub of commerce and centre of Islamic …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudanese protesters took to the streets of Khartoum Wednesday, angrily demanding justice for scores of pro-democracy demonstrators killed a year ago in a bloody crackdown. The popular mass movement had already brought down long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir but was still on the streets demanding further reforms …

Paris, France | AFP | When Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga was arrested at his home on the outskirts of Paris in mid-May, it marked an abrupt end to a quarter of a century on the run. Without the coronavirus pandemic, which forced his children out of the shadows to help …

Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP |  “Corona is a reality. Protect yourself and protect others,” Mamie Batata, a worker with the Catholic charity Caritas, warns through a megaphone as she proceeds through Kimbanseke, a rundown part of Kinshasa. The reactions are blunt. “Get out of here.” “Leave us in peace.” “The …

Algiers, Algeria | AFP |  Two main figures of Algeria’s “Hirak” protest movement will soon be freed at the president’s initiative, the leader of an opposition party said Tuesday. “President Abdelmadjid Tebboune assured me that he would use his constitutional prerogative to ensure that Karim Tabbou and Samir Benlarbi regain their …

Paris, France | AFP | Lawyers for Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga have called on UN prosecutors to end their international case and allow him to be tried in France where he was arrested. Described as Africa’s most wanted man, Kabuga is accused of financing the 1994 Rwanda genocide and was arrested at his home …

Soweto, South Africa | AFP | Scores of people lined up outside liquor stores in South Africa’s township of Soweto on Monday, waiting to stock up on drinks after a nine-week ban on alcohol sales as part of a strict coronavirus lockdown. Buying booze was prohibited when Africa’s most industrialised economy …