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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Photo by REUTERS The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has picked its first African host of any Olympic competition, formally awarding the 2022 Youth Games to Senegal. Senegal will host the youth games for ages 14 to 18 in three places: Dakar; a new city of Diamniadio, close to the capital; and the coastal resort of Saly. Senegalese President Macky Sall said a 50,000-seat Olympic Stadium will be built for the government-backed project. The budget for the games is estimated at $150 million. Senegal’s games are likely to be held in late May 2022. This would be at the…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Photo by AFP/GETTY IMAGES In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, they call him “Doctor Miracle” for his surgical skill and dedication to helping women overcome the injuries and trauma of sexual abuse and rape. In October 2018, Dr. Denis Mukwege was recognized globally with the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with victims from the conflicts that have ravaged his homeland. He shared the award with Nadia Murad, an Iraqi human rights activist and member of the Yazidi minority who has challenged ISIS.  “Denis Mukwege is the foremost, most unifying symbol, both nationally and internationally, of the struggle…

Photo by AFP/GETTY IMAGES Côte d’Ivoire authorities have seized nearly 400 metric tons of fake medicine over two years. The country is battling the scourge of counterfeit drugs, particularly in Abidjan, which has become a West African haven for the crime. Counterfeit medicine results in 100,000 deaths annually in Africa, according to the World Health Organization. “In the course of the last two years, 385 [metric] tons of fake medicines — representing a financial loss of 152 million euros [$173 million] for the pharmaceutical industry — were seized,” said Able Ekissi, a Health Ministry inspector. “In Ivory Coast, 30 to 40…

ADF STAFF Photo by AFP/GETTY IMAGES The U.S. has pledged $111 million to the G5 Sahel Force to bolster the fight against extremism in the Sahel region. The 5,000-person regional force includes troops from member nations Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. Extremist violence in the region has tripled over the past year and resulted in 895 deaths, according to an October 2018 report by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. “Since our initial pledge of $60 million in October 2017, U.S. assistance has nearly doubled to approximately $111 million to meet the needs and strengthen the capabilities of the…

ADF STAFF Photo by AFP/GETTY IMAGES Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta announced sweeping reforms to the nation’s police force that change command structure, uniforms, housing and training. The new structure will merge the Administration Police, a paramilitary security force, with the Kenya Police to form a General Duty Police force, the newspaper The Standard reported. The deputy inspector general of police will command the force of 64,252 officers. There will be a new ceremonial uniform, renamed training institutions and new rules on housing allowances. In a September 2018 announcement, Kenyatta said the reforms began immediately and would continue for three years. The…

ADF STAFF Photo by AFP/GETTY IMAGES The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has acquired 30 aircraft and activated 13 grounded ones in the past three years in an effort to expand and modernize its air fleet. Chief of Air Staff Air Marshall Sadiq Abubakar discussed the acquisitions at the inauguration of the new Headquarters of Air Training Command at the Air Force Comprehensive School in Kaduna. “I am very happy,” Abubakar said in the speech as reported by the newspaper New Day. “In the last three years, we were able to acquire 18 aircraft; similarly the federal government has paid for [an]…

VOICE OF AMERICA Photo by AFP/GETTY IMAGES Throughout nearly six years of civil war, the military of the Central African Republic (CAR) has struggled to restore peace. Fighting with rebels and militias has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, and accusations of human rights abuses and ethnic bias have left some civilians in fear of their protectors. The CAR minister of defense, Marie-Noëlle Koyara, hopes to change course. She’s leading efforts to rebuild the military’s reputation and restore the country’s security. “We want a professional army that will truly be of service to the people,” Koyara told VOA’s French to Africa…

REUTERS A radio campaign in Burkina Faso led to a significant rise in sick children getting medical attention and could prove to be one of the most cost-effective ways to save young lives in poor countries. Scientists say that a radio campaign in rural areas that promoted seeking treatment for three of the biggest killers of children under 5 — malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea — saved about 3,000 lives. The campaign, which the researchers said used a “saturation” method of intensive radio transmissions over an extended period to promote behavior change in a population, ran in Burkina Faso between 2012 and…

VOICE OF AMERICA Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS An entire generation has been born since Nelson Mandela’s 1990 release from a South African prison, where he spent almost three decades for his anti-apartheid activism. Ndaba Mandela wants to make sure those young people understand his grandfather’s role — and his values — in fighting for racial equality and trying to heal divisions in post-apartheid South Africa.  “That is the very reason why I wrote this book,” Ndaba Mandela says of Going to the Mountain. His goal with the memoir is to show the elder Mandela “not as this huge, great icon”…

REUTERS Photo by AFP/GETTY IMAGES Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s top cocoa producer, plans to build a 60- to 70-megawatt biomass power generation plant running on waste from cocoa pods, part of its aim of developing 424 megawatts of biomass power generation capacity by 2030. The plant, which will enable Côte d’Ivoire to diversify its electricity generation sources, was among five projects to receive grants from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. Others included a hydropower project in Kokumbo, in the central part of the country. The biomass power station, the first in Côte d’Ivoire, would be based in the southern cocoa…