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West Africa

A graphic with three photos. Left to right: Wheat harvest, Tibisay Zea and a man harvesting wheat in Senegal.

VIDEO EXPLAINER: How the war in Ukraine is affecting wheat exports and food culture in Senegal

Ukraine

In this video, The World’s Tibisay Zea explains how the war in Ukraine is shaking up a big part of Senegal’s food culture.

bread and flour

Is it time for Senegal to end its romance with the French baguette?

Food
Swedish musician José González is known for stretching musical boundaries over his 18-year career. 

José González’s ‘Local Valley’ mixes sounds from West Africa, from the Sahel to Ghanaian highlife

Music
Three large royal statues of the Kingdom of Dahomey

Benin negotiates with France to return precious objects taken during colonial war

Arts

Kehinde Wiley’s Gorgeous Portraits

Arts, Culture & Media
Nigerien soldiers patrol near the town of Diffa, Niger. US Special Forces are training Nigerian troops on Niger's border.

Three US Special Forces soldiers die in Niger, as diplomacy takes a backseat in Africa policy

Conflict

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb or a related extremist group is thought to have targeted the US troops, in an attack that highlights an incoherent US policy in West Africa.

Goban President

Riots, arrests in the wake of disputed presidential election in Gabon

Global Politics

Police arrested 1,000 people as security forces fanned out across Gabon’s capital Thursday, after riots and looting erupted when President Ali Bongo was declared winner of disputed polls.

Suspected pirates are paraded aboard a ship at a Lagos naval base after their arrest by Nigerian authorities.

West Africa pirates who once saw oil tankers as the top prize are having to rethink their business

Business

Energy prices have dropped dramatically. That’s cut deeply into the profits of pirates who used to make quick cash commandeering oil tankers.

The blood of a survivor of the Ebola virus is extracted as part of a study launched at Liberia's John F. Kennedy Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia, June 17, 2015.

West Africa is Ebola-free. Or is it?

Medicine

Liberia is Ebola-free, says the World Health Organization. But experts say that the problem of Ebola is far from over.

Student at Gibson High School in Monrovia, Deborah Natt,16, is smiling to be back at school. At every entrance there is a handwashing station.

As Ebola loosens grip, Liberia’s schools begin re-opening

Health

In Liberia, the first thing pupils do is have their temperatures taken. Schools had been shut for seven months after the Ebola outbreak.