Africa

For years, villagers who lived near the Alau dam in northeastern Nigeria had told government officials that the structure was broken and the reservoir behind it too full. But in early September, after heavy rains, a half-dozen officials stood overlooking the brimming reservoir, their feet squelching in the mud as …

A major surge in fighting in Sudan has taken a searing toll on civilians, killing hundreds of people in aerial bombings and revenge attacks in the past week, as Africa’s largest war shifts into a higher gear after the end of seasonal rains. Territory has changed hands, a prominent commander …

Ivory Coast had long been a haven for L.G.B.T.Q. people, even as they faced discrimination or persecution elsewhere in West Africa. But over the past two months, dozens of assaults, beatings and intimidation online and in the streets have shaken that sense of safety. Dozens of gay men and transgender …

Daniel Chapo was declared the winner of Mozambique’s presidential election on Thursday after a process marred by violence and widespread accusations that his party, Frelimo, which has run the country for nearly five decades, committed fraud. The country’s electoral commission announced that Mr. Chapo won with nearly 71 percent of …

Old World Young Africa How a TV Hit Sparked Debate About Having Too Many Babies Many African women have far more children than women on other continents do: Women in Nigeria have an average of over five children, while American and European women have about 1.5, and Chinese women even …

A lawyer and a party official for the leading opposition candidate in Mozambique’s recent presidential election were fatally shot in their car late Friday night, inflaming tensions in a southern African nation that was already on edge after the highly disputed vote this month. The lawyer, Elvino Dias, had been …

Kenya’s Senate has voted to impeach the country’s deputy president, an unprecedented move that risks stirring a major political crisis and potential unrest in an East African nation widely viewed as a stable democracy in an increasingly volatile region. The deputy president, Rigathi Gachagua, was impeached only months after widespread …

The driver of a fuel tanker was transporting 45,000 liters of gasoline on an unlit road in northern Nigeria on Tuesday night when a van carrying tomatoes veered into his lane. The driver lost control of his vehicle as he tried to avoid the van. The tanker capsized. The driver, …

More than 150 people were killed in northern Nigeria on Tuesday after an overturned fuel tanker exploded, according to a police spokesman, in one of the deadliest road disasters ever recorded in Africa’s most populous country. While the death toll was exceptionally high, the episode followed an all-too-common pattern on …

The scientists sifting through thousands of genetically modified mosquito larvae in a laboratory in Burkina Faso were trying to stop the spread of malaria, one of the biggest killers on the African continent. But in the pro-Russian propaganda telling of their work, the scientists, helped by funding from the Bill …