Almost 220 victims of human trafficking trapped in Benin and Nigeria have been rescued in a law enforcement operation coordinated by INTERPOL, the France-based agency said. INTERPOL said Operation Epervier II led to the arrest of 47 people, along with cash, vehicles, phones and computers that were seized. Of the…
African nations facing critical challenges rarely rank well in the annual World Happiness Report, but there are variations – including a drop in happiness measures across the Middle East and North Africa, and West Africa as home to the most-improved country. The annual report released Wednesday evaluates happiness on the…
The Russian government says there’s still no word on six sailors who were taken hostage when pirates boarded their ship in the Gulf of Guinea last week. The MSC Mandy, a Panamanian-flagged vessel, was attacked in the territorial waters of Benin on January 2 with two dozen people on board,…
French President Emmanual Macron is immediately returning 26 pieces of art and artifacts to the West African nation of Benin, the first objects in a five-year plan to restore art held in French museums to their nations of origin. The 26 items identified by Beninese authorities were taken from the…
Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji of Nigeria has been named the new president of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, for a three-year term that begins immediately. Eboe-Osuji, who said he was deeply honored by his election, has served at the ICC since March 2012 and continues his term through…
As Nigeria works to get a handle on its own Lassa fever outbreak, the World Health Organization has announced a new case affecting Guinea and the Liberian communities where the deceased patient traveled. The patient from Guinea died in January, leaving public health investigators to follow up on more than…
Indian authorities say they’re working closely with their West African counterparts to find 22 of their mariners aboard an oil tanker that went missing off the coast of Benin late last week. “We are making all out efforts in coordination with Nigerian and Benin naval authorities to trace the missing…
A newspaper reporter in the United States says he may have found the wreckage of the last known slave ship to travel to the U.S, from what is now Benin in West Africa to the ports of Mobile, Alabama. Ben Raines, a journalist covering environment, used a time window of…
Two months ago, officials in Ghana noticed refugees from Togo showing up at border crossings, fleeing from the escalating political tensions and the first reports of fatal violence next door. Now there are more than 500 Togolese who have been registered by Ghanaian authorities, and Benin and Burkina Faso are…
President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria is headed for Niger to discuss progress on a long-awaited common currency for the region’s West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ). Buhari, along with Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun and Nigerian Central Bank head Godwin Emefiele, leave Tuesday for Niamey along with other common currency task…
The International Monetary Fund wrapped up a visit to Benin this week, with a generally favorable assessment of the country’s economic progress despite the need for improvement on reducing poverty. Norbert Toé, the IMF Mission Chief for Benin, led the team in Cotonou to conduct the first review of Benin’s…
For many people, the news that student teams from The Gambia and Afghanistan were denied visas to attend a robotics competition in the United States was the first they’d heard about it. But the story didn’t end there, and there were plenty of inaugural FIRST Global Challenge winners celebrating as…
Officials in Benin said Monday that President Patrice Talon did in fact undergo two separate surgeries during a recent visit to Paris that sparked much speculation about the state of his health. On May 26, Talon received treatment for a prostate lesion, the statement released to media said. The minor…
The European Commission has updated its EU Air Safety List, which now includes 181 airlines in countries outside the EU that are either banned or restricted from flying to member nations because of safety or regulation issues. All air carriers certified in Benin and Mozambique were removed from the EU Air…
Authorities in Sao Tome and Principe have tentatively identified a disease outbreak on the islands as a “necrotizing cellulite,” but they aren’t yet sure how to treat it. “It involves the infection of the skin that then rapidly develops for necrosis, with the death of the tissue,” explained Maria Tomé…