65 h. ago At least 70 killed after Canary Island migrant boat capsizes off West Africa

The incident is one of the deadliest in recent years

Events

5 d. ago Tems is uplifting women to smash sexism in music. Can the industry change its tune?

The Grammy-winning singer has launched a pioneering platform to empower the next generation of African talentDon’t get The Long Wave delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereHello and welcome to The Long Wave. I’m Eromo Egbejule, the Guardian’s west Africa correspondent. This week, I spoke to Tems about her latest project: the Nigerian singer-songwriter and producer has been helping African women overcome many hurdles in the music industry. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago Amanyanabo: The Eagle King review – a lavish Nollywood epic of crowns, gods and colonial tension

This visually stunning historical drama follows the rise of warrior-king Ibanichuka and combines dazzling pageantry with themes of power, faith and empireSet in the 19th-century kingdom of Okrika in the Niger delta, this Nollywood epic has a satisfying core of realpolitik and Kulturkampf that wouldn’t shame the likes of old-school classical-era equivalents such as Ben-Hur. Revolving around the accession to the throne of elite warrior Ibanichuka (Patrick Diabuah), it touches on questions of political legitimacy, politics as the art of the possible, the proselytisation of west Africa by Christians and – that still-simmering hot potato – white colonialism.One minute Ibanichuka is on leave for overzealously butchering enslaved people, the next the goddess Tamunoba anoints him in a lake as Okrika’s saviour. Though ratified by the elders, he is still under general suspicion for his devotion to his wife, Mboro, (Monalisa Chinda Coker), who is unable to bear children, and for generally bein...

Events

1 week ago ISIS making resurgence in Africa is 'real and present danger' to West, experts warn

A security expert told the Mirror the extremist group’s resurgence in the Sahel - spanning Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger - and its spread into West Africa poses a growing threat to the UK

Events

1 week ago Niger army says it killed a senior Boko Haram leader in a targeted airstrike

The army in Niger says it has killed a senior leader of Boko Haram in a targeted airstrike

Events

1 week ago A landslide buries homes outside Guinea's capital, killing 11 and injuring 10

Authorities said heavy rains caused a landslide that struck homes in a rural community in Guinea and at least 11 people were dead

Events

1 week ago Major new assessment recognises four separate giraffe species for the first time

Historically, experts classified giraffes as a single species with nine subspecies, but that has been overturned by the new classification.

Politics

2 w. ago Newborn baby is among 27 dead after migrant boat capsizes off the coast of Italy

The tragedy occurred 14 miles south of the island of Lampedusa on Wednesday - with a search continuing into the night for people still missing.

Events

2 w. ago Archaeologists perplexed to find West African ancestry in early medieval England

Findings show clear signs of non-European ancestry of buried individuals with affinity to present-day groups living in sub-Saharan West Africa

Events

3 w. ago Lauren Bell says India contests stand England in good stead for World Cup

The bowler insists there is plenty to learn from this summer’s contests.

Politics

4 w. ago Life expectancy of women in west Africa is 59. Those over 60 were asked

Women across west Africa have a life expectancy of 59. In a rare project, Sylvia Arthur set out to give voice to those who have lived beyond expectation, whose experiences have been largely overlookedAddra* insists that his aunt, Anyessi Dossou, does not have a story to tell. “She’s just an old woman who’s never left the village,” he says, as he guides us along dirt tracks in fading light to her home in Avlo, Benin.When Dossou, in her early 80s, emerges from her room in the compound house she shares with generations of her extended family, the conversation begins hesitantly. “I told you,” Addra says. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago ‘Well, no, you don’t have to have children’: what African women over the age of 60 have learned about life

Women across west Africa have a life expectancy of 59. In a rare project, Sylvia Arthur set out to give voice to those who have lived beyond expectation, whose experiences have been largely overlookedAddra* insists that his aunt, Anyessi Dossou, does not have a story to tell. “She’s just an old woman who’s never left the village,” he says, as he guides us along dirt tracks in fading light to her home in Avlo, Benin.When Dossou, in her early 80s, emerges from her room in the compound house she shares with generations of her extended family, the conversation begins hesitantly. “I told you,” Addra says. Continue reading...

Politics