Tag - africa

 
 

AFRICA

Fatimata Madou shows a photo of Mohamat, her 9-month-old child who died of malaria.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 3, 2025
Babies’ deaths in Cameroon show how U.S. aid cuts curtail malaria fight
Upon taking office in January, U.S. President Donald Trump paused all foreign aid, including the President’s Malaria Initiative, launched in 2005 by George W. Bush.
Bangladeshis celebrate in Dhaka on Aug. 5, the first anniversary of student-led protests that ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2025
What Western media call insurrection at home, they call revolution abroad
Western media have perfected a seductive but dangerous narrative: the romanticized tale of youth-led “revolutions” toppling supposedly repressive, graft-ridden governments abroad.
The “Africa Hometown Initiative,” announced by the Japan International Cooperation Agency at an African development conference in Yokohama in August, sought to foster exchanges that would help bridge four municipalities in Japan with four countries in Africa.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 25, 2025
JICA scraps Africa ‘hometown’ agreement after migration mixup
Persistent online misinformation about the plan being a ploy to ease immigration from Africa led to the initiative being canceled.
A family of displaced Sudanese at a displacement camp in Al Dabba, Sudan, on Sept. 6
WORLD / Politics
Sep 22, 2025
In Sudan, ‘never again’ has proved untrue, UNHCR chief says
After the bloody civil war in Sudan’s Darfur region 20 years ago, the world said “never again.” And yet it is happening again, U.N. refugees chief Filippo Grandi says.
A resident navigates a flooded road in Masiphumelele, Cape Town, South Africa, on May 20. Climate change impacts Africa the most of any continent despite it contributing less than 10% to global carbon emissions, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
WORLD
Sep 18, 2025
Military spending eats into Africa’s climate finance
Climate change impacts Africa the most of any continent despite it contributing less than 10% to global carbon emissions, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba meets with Mozambique President Daniel Chapo during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) in Yokohama on Aug. 22.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 14, 2025
JICA’s Africa ‘hometown’ project may be renamed
The renaming is being considered after false information about the project spread on social media, claiming it would lead to an increase in the number of immigrants.
A nation made wealthy by the discovery of diamonds in 1967, Botswana is now facing an economic crisis.
BUSINESS
Sep 4, 2025
Lab-grown gems are robbing Botswana of its diamond riches
A diamond-market crisis has turned the finding of the gems into an affliction and a cautionary tale of what can happen to an economy that becomes overly reliant on one commodity.
A massive landslide in Sudan's western Darfur region has flattened an entire mountain village and killed more than 1,000 people, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army group said, leaving only one survivor.
WORLD
Sep 3, 2025
Landslide wipes out Sudan village, killing hundreds
Heavy rain triggered the disaster, flattening the village of Tarasin in the remote Jebel Marra range, with the death toll estimated at anywhere from 300 to over 1,000.
Reni Folawiyo, founder of the Alara concept store, inside Alara in Lagos on Aug. 20
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 2, 2025
Nigerian designer pushes ‘Afro-lux’ onto the global fashion scene
West African design is having a moment, the founder of a fashion and design concept store in Lagos said, but it’s not enough.
First Lady Yoshiko Ishiba (center, in white and blue dress) hosts an event on Japanese culture with the first ladies of African leaders on the sidelines of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Aug 27, 2025
Confusion over Japan’s ‘hometown’ plan overshadows African development event
Social media and news have focused more on the misinformation that Japan is accepting a large number of immigrants from Africa.
Containers at a dock at the Port of Cape Town in Cape Town in 2024. China’s exports to Africa so far in 2025 are more than in the whole of 2020 and on track to exceed $200 billion for the first time.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 27, 2025
China is pouring exports into Africa faster than anywhere else
China’s exports to Africa so far in 2025 are more than in the whole of 2020 and on track to exceed $200 billion for the first time.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba arrives at a photo session for the Tokyo International Conference on African Development as South African President Cyril Ramaphosa reacts, in Yokohama, last week.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 26, 2025
Misinformation over JICA’s Africa ‘hometown’ initiative sparks controversy
Media reports claiming the initiative would include a special visa category for skilled Africans who want to come to Japan exacerbated the confusion.
Japanese companies showcase products and services at a business event held on the sidelines of the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Aug 25, 2025
Risk reduction key to boosting Japanese investment in Africa
At TICAD 9, Japan promised to help African states develop 300,000 workers in cooperation with Japanese firms.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers a speech at the closing ceremony of the Japan-led Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, or TICAD 9, on Friday in Yokohama.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2025
TICAD adopts Yokohama Declaration to strengthen multilateral trade
The communique emphasized proposals to solve problems facing African states, apparently reflecting Japan’s wish to highlight a different approach to that of China.
Cindy McCain, the executive director of the U.N. World Food Programme, speaks during an interview in Yokohama on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2025
WFP chief wants world to pay attention to Africa
The continent, whose countries suffer from famine, refugee and other humanitarian crises, is sometimes forgotten, Cindy McCain, the executive director of the U.N. body, says.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba meets with Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera on the sidelines of the TICAD meeting in Yokohama on Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2025
Japan calls for private investments in Africa at TICAD
Tokyo is offering itself as an alternative to China as African nations reel from a debt crisis made worse by Western aid cuts, conflict and climate change.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (center) and African leaders prior to the opening of the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Wednesday
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 20, 2025
Ishiba unveils new regional economic initiative as TICAD 9 conference begins
The initiative is designed to enhance economic ties between the African continent and regions linking it with India.
Muddied prospectors pan for gold in Manica province, Mozambique, near the Zimbabwe border, in 2010.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Aug 20, 2025
Mozambique’s illegal miners reap risky rewards but land suffers
Rivers around mining sites are polluted, and mercury has seeped into the soil, creating a nightmare for farmers.
The Japanese flag (left) with the flag of the African Union
JAPAN / Society
Aug 18, 2025
JICA to designate four Japanese cities as ‘hometowns’ for African nations
Officially connecting municipalities that already have existing ties with African countries will allow Japan to strengthen exchanges.
South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana (right) and the country’s reserve bank governor, Lesetja Kganyago, attend the Group of 20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in Cape Town on Feb. 27. 
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2025
A new trade agenda for climate-resilient development
Policymakers must be prepared to introduce new trade rules that support low-carbon transitions in Africa and across the Global South.

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival