West Africa

AP Interview: Al-Qaida, IS affiliates team up in West Africa

THIES, Senegal (AP) — The only place in the world where fighters linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group are coop...
9:32 27 February 2022

US leads training exercises in Africa amid focus on Sahel

THIES, Senegal (AP) — Crouching in the sparse brush, maneuvering into formations through a divide, and then shooting at ...
7:43 22 February 2022

Togo vote could see Gnassingbes extend decades-long rule

LOME, Togo (AP) — The West African nation of Togo is voting Saturday in a presidential election that is likely to see th...
7:34 22 February 2022

US secretary of state visits Senegal to start Africa tour

DAKAR, Senegal — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Trump administration is working to determine what level of American military forces is n...
20:09 16 February 2022

US military downgrades efforts against extremists in Sahel

JOHANNESBURG — The U.S. military has switched from trying to degrade Islamic extremist groups in West Africa’s sprawling Sahel region to merely trying...
9:34 12 February 2022

Nigeria to address issues that led to visa restrictions

LAGOS, Nigeria —
20:00 1 February 2022

UN court to rule next week in Rohingya genocide case

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The United Nations' top court announced Wednesday that it will issue a decision next week on a request to order Myanmar to ha...
15:16 15 January 2022

French summit aims to boost counterterror fight in W. Africa

PAU, France — France is preparing its military to better target Islamic extremists in a West African region that has seen a surge of deadly violence. ...
8:54 13 January 2022

Cardi B’s pledge to seek Nigerian citizenship sparks rivalry

LAGOS, Nigeria — Cardi B's announcement that she wants to seek Nigerian citizenship has set off a Twitter feud between her West African fans in friend...
16:47 8 January 2022

2 ex-prime ministers vie for Guinea-Bissau presidency

BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau — Two former prime ministers of Guinea-Bissau are vying for the presidency in a runoff election Sunday after the incumbent faile...
7:47 29 December 2022

In Gambia, heartache and few answers after migrant deaths

BARRA, Gambia — Tina Gomez told no one in her family when she boarded a boat with more than 200 people here in Gambia last month, setting off in hopes...
10:06 28 December 2022

Nigeria condemns executions of captives held by extremists

LAGOS, Nigeria — Nigeria's government on Friday condemned extremists linked to the Islamic State group after a video circulated of 11 hostages, most o...
20:47 27 December 2022

14 dead in Niger after Islamic extremists attack convoy

NIAMEY, Niger — Islamic extremists on motorcycles killed 14 security force members who were escorting election officials in the West African nation of...
20:54 26 December 2022

Macron vows to keep fighting extremism in West Africa

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — France's President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to boost the fight against Islamic extremism in West Africa as French troops kille...
20:38 21 December 2021

UN says 58 migrants dead as boat capsizes off Mauritania

DAKAR, Senegal — At least 58 people are dead after a boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized in the Atlantic Ocean off the West African nation of Ma...
0:00 5 December 2021

Correction: Burkina Faso-Church Attacked story

In a story Dec. 2 about an attack in Burkina Faso, The Associated Press reported erroneously that an attack on a convoy carrying employees of a mining...
12:17 2 December 2021

France: Military helicopters in Mali crash not under fire

PARIS — France’s army chief of staff is dismissing an Islamic State group affiliate’s claim that it caused a helicopter collision in Mali that killed ...
9:20 29 November 2021