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FILE PHOTO: Somali supporters of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan hold Turkey's flag during celebrations after the second round of the presidential election, in Mogadishu, Somalia May 29, 2023.

REUTERS/Feisal Omar

Somalia signs defense pact with Turkey amid tensions with Ethiopia

Turkey confirmed Thursday that it has signed a defense agreement with Somalia. The deal commits Ankara to defending Somali waters and to helping Mogadishu build up its navy against “foreign interference” – a veiled reference to rising tensions with Ethiopia.

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Mohammed Kudus, Majeed Ashimeru, and Salis Abdul Samed of Ghana celebrate during the AFCON 2023 match between Egypt and Ghana at on January 18, 2024 in Abidjan, Cote d Ivoire.

Didier Lefa/REUTERS

9 fun facts about the Africa Cup of Nations

The Africa Cup of Nations is underway in Ivory Coast, with the gut-churning knockout stage set to begin on Saturday. The month-long continental soccer tournament happens every two years and recently expanded to accommodate 24 national teams – all of which began the competition hoping to prove they’re the best squad on a continent of 1.4 billion people. We have compiled a list of what you should know about this tournament, including the political backdrop of the event.

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A nurse administers a malaria vaccine to an infant at the health center in Datcheka, Cameroon January 22, 2024.

REUTERS/Desire Danga Essigue

Hard Numbers: Cameroon rolls out kids malaria vaccine, Gaza death toll hits grim milestone, Deadly winter weather grips US, Massive earthquake hits China, Benito the giraffe migrates south

250,000: Cameroon began rolling out the world’s first malaria vaccine program for children on Monday. The country aims to vaccinate roughly 250,000 kids throughout 2024 and 2025. The WHO-approved vaccine, Mosquirix, is 30% effective and requires four doses. But it’s being portrayed as an important new safeguard against the mosquito-borne illness, which infects roughly 250 million people in Africa each year.

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Ivorian farm workers slits cocoa pods to extract the beans in a cocoa plantation of the N'Doucy cooperative near the village of Sokorogbo.

Hans Lucas

Local farmers in Africa brace for new EU deforestation law

Coffee importers are starting to scale back purchases from Africa in response to the impending European Union Deforestation Regulation aims to combat climate change by banning the sale of goods linked to deforestation. But the law, set to hit in late 2024, is already having unintended impacts – particularly for small-scale farmers in Africa and other regions.
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A Congolese girl carries vegetables for sale on the last day of the electoral campaign in Goma, North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo December 18, 2023.

REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

The DRC wants stability. Will this week’s election deliver?

On Wednesday, voters in the vast heart of central Africa go to the polls in just the fourth election since the Democratic Republic of Congo began transitioning to democracy 20 years ago. Incumbent President Félix Tshisekedi looks likely to beat the crowded opposition, but he faces a severe crisis of insecurity in the mineral-rich northeast, while folks in the more secure west and south struggle to get ahead against ubiquitous corruption and lack of resources.

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A general view of the UN Security Council.

Reuters

UN’s footprint in Africa shrinks again, courtesy of Sudan

With Russia abstaining, the UN Security Council voted unanimously on Friday to wind down its 245-person Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan, aka UNITAMS, starting Dec. 4. Over the next three months, tasks will transfer to other UN agencies “where feasible,” and financial arrangements will be made with the UN Country Team remaining on the ground.

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Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev speaks during a military parade of his armed forces in Nagorno-Karabakh region's capital city on November 8, 2023.

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan/Handout via REUTERS

Hard Numbers: Azerbaijan targets journalists, Brazil feels the heat, deadly stampede hits the Republic of Congo, flooding kills in Somalia

2: Two journalists investigating government corruption in Azerbaijan were arrested this week, the latest in a long trend of crackdowns on dissent under the rule of the Aliyev dynasty. Police arrested Abzas Media’s editor-in-chief, Sevinj Vagifgyzy, and director, Ulvi Hasanli. Abzas Media has been digging into how senior government officials and the family of President Ilham Aliyev have generated their wealth. Rights groups have condemned the arrests.
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Women from the city of Al-Junina (West Darfur) cry after receiving the news about the death of their relatives as they waited for them in Chad, Nov. 7, 2023.

REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig

Sudan genocide feared after massacre at refugee camp

Sudan’s ongoing civil war may once again be spiraling into genocide. Late last week, the UN Refugee Agency condemned the mass killing of at least 800 people within 72 hours by the Arab paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and its allies in the Ardamata refugee camp in West Darfur. This weekend, the EU's chief diplomat Josep Borrell cited witness reports that over 1,000 members of the Black African Masalit population had been killed, noting that the international community “cannot turn a blind eye on what is happening in Darfur and allow another genocide to happen in this region."

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