CAIRO, May 29, 2013 (AFP) Egypt and Sudan were holding talks on Wednesday following a decision by Ethiopia to divert the Blue Nile as part of a giant dam project which risks affecting the two downstream Arab states. Sudan's minister of irrigation, Osama Abdallah al-Hassan, arrived in Cairo for a one-day visit to the discuss the issue with authorities, Egypt's official MENA news agency said. And Ethiopia's a ...

ADDIS ABABA, May 29, 2013 (AFP) Ethiopia has begun diverting the Blue Nile as part of a giant dam project, officials said Wednesday, risking potential unease from downstream nations Sudan and Egypt. The $4.2 billion (3.2 billion euro) Grand Renaissance Dam hydroelectric project had to divert a short section of the river -- one of two major tributaries to the main Nile -- to allow the main dam wall to be bui ...

MARRAKESH, Morocco, May 28, 2013 (AFP) Africa has witnessed remarkable growth over the past decade but must invest heavily in infrastructure to continue on this path, leaders from the continent said on Tuesday. The economies of countries in sub-Saharan Africa grew annually by nearly 5.0 percent in the previous 10 years, the African Development Bank said at the five-day meeting being held in the Moroccan cit ...

AGADEZ, Niger, May 27, 2013 (AFP) Niger's president said Monday that attackers who bombed an army base and French-run uranium mine, leaving 38 people dead, entered his country from southern Libya, where he warned further attacks were being planned on Chad. "For Niger in particular, the main threat has moved from the Malian border to the Libyan border. I confirm in effect that the enemy who attacked us... co ...

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA , May 25, 2013(AFP) African leaders on Saturday opened celebrations for the 50th jubilee of the continental bloc, with Africa's myriad problems set aside for a day to mark the progress that has been made. African Union Chairman and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, in a speech to open the ceremony, said the celebrations would look forward to "create a continent free from p ...

NIAMEY, May 23, 2013 (AFP) Islamist militants staged twin suicide car bombings on an army base and a French-run uranium mine in Niger on Thursday, killing at least 20 people and taking several trainee officers hostage in the impoverished west African state. An Islamist group claimed the attacks as revenge against the country's involvement in France's offensive against militants in neighbouring Mali. They co ...

WASHINGTON, May 20, 2013 (AFP) US President Barack Obama will head out on his first major African tour since taking office, traveling to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania from June 26 to July 3, the White House said Monday. The National Security Council announced the trip on its Twitter account, without immediately offering further details. Obama, born in the United States to an American mother and a Kenya ...

By Pavithra Rao May 17, 2013 In an era of lightning speed, ever-present wireless connectivity, high tech is now also being used to benefit livestock farmers in rural areas of Africa. Widely known for being used to track wild animals, GPS, or “Global Positioning System” tracking devices are being adapted by some small- and large-scale farmers to manage their livestock, notably in Kenya, Botswana, and South A ...

Lagos, May 10, 2013 (AFP) Nigerian police have found 17 pregnant teenage girls in a raid on a house, and were searching Friday for a woman suspected of planning to sell their babies, a spokeswoman said. Joy Elomoko of the southeastern Imo state police said all the girls were between 14 and 17 years old and that 11 small children were also found in the house. Some locals believed the building called the Aham ...

  PARIS, April 29, 2013 (AFP) France is "playing with fire" in Mali, the brother of Al-Qaeda's chief said in an interview published Monday, warning that Islamic fighters would retaliate in the African nation and "on French territory". France launched a military offensive in Mali in January to help the army push back Islamic extremists who had taken hold of the north, and has now begun a phased withdraw ...

United Nations -April 25, 2013 (AFP) The U.N. Security Council is set to adopt a resolution Thursday creating a peacekeeping mission in Mali, to take over from French and African forces in the conflict-torn north. The force would be deployed July 1, for an initial period of 12 months, pending a Security Council ruling that the conflict has eased enough to allow the deployment. Over the next 60 days, the cou ...

By Omar Bihmidine Morocco World News Sidi Ifni, April 16, 2013 Discovered nearly 20 years ago, AIDS has claimed many lives all over the world and has made others live with this tragic disease, either fighting to live or suffering terribly. Whereas some scientists anticipate that there will sooner or later be a cure for the lethal disease, religious organizations believe that having faith is the sole solutio ...