Morocco quake death toll soars past 2,000

Morocco quake death toll soars past 2,000

Authorities in Morocco say the death toll has now passed 2,000 following the catastrophic earthquake that struck the Atlas Mountain region late Friday night. The number of injured also has soared to 2,059 people, more than half of them in critical condition, according to an update from the interior ministry….

Laureen Fagan

Laureen is the editor of Africa Times

Africa vows support, solidarity as Turkey quake toll soars

Africa vows support, solidarity as Turkey quake toll soars

African leaders offered condolences and pledged their assistance, as rescuers in Turkey and Syria continued to search through the rubble for survivors following the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that leveled wide swaths of the region. The initial quake, with an epicenter near Nurdaği, was followed by dozens of aftershocks that leveled buildings…

Laureen is the editor of Africa Times

Algeria mourns dozens lost to fast-moving wildfires

Algeria mourns dozens lost to fast-moving wildfires

Algerian authorities say they’ve mobilized all resources to combat wildfires that have claimed at least 38 lives in the El Tarf and Setif districts of the country’s northeast. The month of August has seen at least 106 different fires reported through Wednesday, with hundreds more people injured and homes and…

Turkey-Africa Summit takes leaders to Istanbul

African leaders are in Turkey this weekend, as they take part in the third Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The summit is meant to promote and deepen ties between Istanbul and African nations, with some 40 countries participating in the talks. They’re meant to lead to…

Greece confirms migrant rescue on stormy Mediterranean Sea

Officials in Greece have confirmed an ongoing search and rescue operation in the Mediterranean Sea east of Crete, following reports of a migrant ship in distress. Yet the situation remains a bit confusing, according to one NGO monitoring the ship’s fate. On Friday, the Hellenic Coast Guard said they were…

Libya’s path to peace derailed by familiar roadblocks

On May 18th, US diplomat Joey Hood became the highest-ranking American official to visit Libya since 2014, the year that Washington closed its embassy in Tripoli amid surging violence. Hood’s visit tempered optimism—the US dangled the possibility of eventually reopening its Libyan embassy—with clear concern over the likelihood of achieving…

Honeymoon could soon be over for Erdogan’s Turkey in Africa

In the nearly ten years since Recep Tayyip Erdogan made his famous visit to Mogadishu in August 2011, Turkey has rapidly become one of Somalia’s most important (and generous) international benefactors. After Erdogan became the first head of state from outside of Africa to visit Somalia since the country’s disastrous…

Erdogan arrives for visit in troubled The Gambia

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey arrived in Banjul on Monday, as part of a three-nation tour that follows a stop in Algeria and will continue in Senegal. This is Erdoğan’s first official visit to the West African nation, which comes amid The Gambia’s recent struggle over President Adama Barrow’s…

Reports: Libya fighting renews after Moscow talks fail

Libyan National Army (LNA) leader Khalifa Haftar returned to Benghazi late Monday, after eight hours of negotiations with Government of National Accord (GNA) head Fayez Al-Sarraj in Moscow that failed to deliver on a ceasefire agreement. The Al-Arabiya news outlet reports that “clashes renewed in Salah al-Din, south of the…

Somalia responds to Mogadishu terror attack

The death toll in Mogadishu stands at 90 following a truck bomb attack in Mogadishu, likely the work of al Shabaab extremists in what is the latest in a string of terror attacks that have rocked Somalia’s capital for years. The explosion happened Saturday morning on a busy street crowded…

Libya’s Sarraj meets with Erdogan in Istanbul

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted talks with Fayez Al-Sarraj of Libya on Sunday in Istanbul, as the two strengthened their security commitments in the face of both a renewed offensive on Tripoli at home and heightened tensions over the Eastern Mediterranean within the international community. Sarraj, the head of the…

U.S. imposes sanctions on Turkey

The United States government has put its previously threatened economic sanctions on Turkey into force, targeting top Turkish government agencies and officials as tensions between the two nations in the Middle East continued to escalate. “The Turkish government’s actions are endangering innocent civilians and destabilizing the region, including undermining the…