SAM MEDNICK

West and Central Africa reporter

Voters look for their names outside a polling station in Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. Congo headed to the polls Wednesday to vote for president as authorities scrambled to finalise preparations in an election facing steep logistical and security challenges. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Congo’s presidential vote is extended as delays and smudged ballots lead to fears about credibility

Lengthy delays at the polls have forced officials to extend voting in Congo’s presidential election to Thursday.

FILE - Democratic Republic of the Congo President Felix Tshisekedi, center, flanked by his wife Denise Nyakeru, greets supporters at a rally in Goma, Eastern Congo, on Dec. 10, 2023. Tshisekedi is seeking reelection in Dec. 20 elections. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa, File)

Congo’s elections face enormous logistical problems sparking concerns about the vote’s credibility

Congo’s president says he has confidence an upcoming vote will be rolled out credibly, as tensions mount that a severe lack of electoral preparation could throw the conflict-riddled nation into disarray.

FILE - Niger's President Mohamed Bazoum smiles before a working lunch with French President Emmanuel Macron, Feb. 16, 2023 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. A court of the West African regional bloc ordered the release and reinstatement of Niger's democratically elected president Friday Dec. 15, 2023 nearly five months after he was overthrown by mutinous soldiers. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)

West African court orders Niger’s president to be released and reinstated nearly 5 months after coup

A court of the West African regional bloc has ordered the release and reinstatement of Niger’s democratically elected president.

UN warns nearly 50 million people could face hunger next year in West and Central Africa

The United Nations is warning that hunger could surge across West and Central Africa next year, primarily driven by violence in the conflict-riddled region.

FILE - The site of a music festival near the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel, on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023. Israeli officials say victim testimony and evidence gathered by rights groups indicate that Hamas militants carried out widespread sexual and gender-based crimes during their Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)

New signs emerge of ‘widespread’ sexual crimes by Hamas, as Netanyahu alleges global indifference

New testimony and evidence gathered by a rights groups indicate that Hamas militants carried out widespread sexual and gender-based crimes during their Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel.

Israelis embrace next to photos of people killed and taken captive by Hamas militants during their violent rampage through the Nova music festival in southern Israel, which are displayed at the site of the event, as Israeli DJs spun music, to commemorate the October 7, massacre, near kibbutz Re'im, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. Nearly two months after Hamas infiltrated Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostage, dozens are still unaccounted for, their families left living in limbo. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Nearly 2 months into the war, many Israelis have no idea if their relatives are dead or alive

Nearly two months after Hamas infiltrated Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages, dozens of people are still unaccounted for.

Tatyana Prima, who fled Mariupol, Ukraine, poses for a portrait with her national flag and the Israeli flag she displays outside of her apartment window in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023. She thought she'd left the bombs behind when she fled after Russian troops decimated her city. Risking her life, the 38-year-old escaped with her injured husband and young daughter, bringing the family to safety in southern Israel. Yet the calm she was slowly regaining shattered on Oct. 7, when Hamas militants invaded, thrusting her onto the frontlines once again. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Ukrainians who fled their country for Israel find themselves yet again living with war

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, more than 45,000 Ukrainians have sought refuge in Israel. Families were slowly picking up the pieces and finding ways to cope.

Community members sit in Materi town, Benin, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023, waiting for a distribution of small portable stoves. Groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have been spreading for years from the vast arid expanse south of the Sahara Desert — the Sahel — into wealthier West African coastal states like Benin. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)

Groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State take root on the coast of West Africa

Groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State have been spreading from the vast, arid expanse south of the Sahara Desert into wealthier nations on the coast of West Africa.

FILE - Staff work at the Magen David Adom's (MDA) Marcus National Blood Services Center, in Ramla, Israel, Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023. The blood bank and processing center is a subterranean and shielded facility that became operational a few days before Oct. 7, when Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israeli areas near the border with the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

Israel’s fortified underground blood bank processes unprecedented amounts as troops move into Gaza

Hours after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, the country’s new fortified, subterranean blood bank kicked into action.

A man paddles a canoe near a Voodoo sacred forest in Adjarra, Benin, on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023. As the government grapples with preserving the forests while developing the country, Voodoo worshippers worry the loss of its spaces could have far reaching effects. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

In Benin, Voodoo’s birthplace, believers bemoan steady shrinkage of forests they revere as sacred

In Benin, the birthplace of Voodoo, practitioners of the faith believe the country’s forests are home to the spirits they seek guidance from and pray to.

France completes withdrawal of troops from northern base in Niger as part of planned departure

Niger’s military leaders say France has completed its withdrawal of troops from a northern base in the West African nation as part of its planned departure from the country in the wake of July’s military coup.

FILE - Niger's President Mohamed Bazoum smiles before a working lunch with French President Emmanuel Macron, Feb. 16, 2023 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. The Nigerien president detained since July by the soldiers who deposed him has petitioned a regional court demanding his release and reinstatement, according to court documents seen by The Associated Press on Wednesday Sept. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)

Lawyers call for ousted Niger president’s release after the junta says it foiled an escape attempt

Lawyers for Niger’s ousted president have called for his immediate release. The demand on Friday came a day after the ruling military junta said it had thwarted an overnight attempt by Mohamed Bazoum to escape house arrest with his family nearly three months after he was detained in the wake of a mi

FILE - With the headquarters of the ruling party burning in the back, supporters of Niger's ruling junta demonstrate in Niamey, Niger, on July 27, 2023. The French troops being forced out of Niger were seen as a key line of decadelong defense amid efforts led by the West, particularly U.S. and France, to fight against jihadi violence in Africa’s hard-hit Sahel region.. (AP Photo/Fatahoulaye Hassane Midou, File)

French troops are starting to withdraw from Niger and junta leaders give UN head 72 hours to leave

The French military says it’s begun withdrawing from Niger following the July coup when mutinous soldiers toppled the country’s democratically elected president.

FILE - Niger's President Mohamed Bazoum smiles before a working lunch with French President Emmanuel Macron, Feb. 16, 2023 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. The Nigerien president detained since July by the soldiers who deposed him has petitioned a regional court demanding his release and reinstatement, according to court documents seen by The Associated Press on Wednesday Sept. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)

The US declares the ousting of Niger’s president a coup and suspends military aid and training

The U.S. has officially declared the ouster of Niger’s democratically-elected president a coup d’etat.

Extremist attack kills at least 12 soldiers in Niger as jihadi violence increases post-coup

Niger’s military junta says an attack by Islamic extremists in western Niger killed at least a dozen soldiers and wounded seven others.

Mouhamadou Ibrahim, a former jihadi commander who decided to defect, poses for a photograph in Niamey, Niger, Friday, Aug. 18, 2023. The future of a program in Niger that encourages jihadi fighters to defect and reintegrate into society is unclear after mutinous soldiers toppled the government that launched it. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)

A national program in Niger encouraged jihadis to defect. The coup put its future in jeopardy

The future of a program in Niger that encourages jihadi fighters to defect and reintegrate into society is unclear after mutinous soldiers toppled the government that launched it.

More than 50 security forces killed by jihadis in Burkina Faso, as violence inches closer to capital

Burkina Faso’s military says that more than 50 security forces were killed during intense fighting with jihadis in the north of the country.

This video grab shows soldiers holding General Brice Clothaire Oligui Nguema aloft in Libreville, Gabon, Wednesday Aug. 30, 2023. Mutinous soldiers speaking on state television announced that they had seized power in and were overturning the results of a presidential election that was to extend the Bongo family's 55-year hold on power. (Gabon24 via AP)

Gabon’s military leader is sworn in as head of state after ousting the president last week

Gabon’s new military leader has been sworn in as the head of state less than a week after ousting the president whose family had ruled the Central African nation for more than five decades.

FILE - Supporters of Capt. Ibrahim Traore protest against France and the West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS in the streets of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Oct. 4, 2022. In Sept. 2023, The era of France's arm-twisting interventionism in Africa may finally be over. France has sat by militarily despite moves by putschists to seize control of former French colonies in recent years. (AP Photo/Kilaye Bationo, File)

France’s waning influence in coup-hit Africa appears clear while few remember their former colonizer

The era of France’s arm-twisting interventionism in Africa may finally be over. France has sat by militarily despite moves by putschists to seize control of former French colonies in recent years.

FILE - This video grab shows coup supporters cheering police officers in Libreville, Gabon, on Aug. 30, 2023. Gabon’s opposition leader accused the family of the recently ousted president of engineering his removal from power in order to retain their control in the oil-rich Central African nation. (AP Photo/Betiness Mackosso, File)

Gabon opposition leader alleges the ousted president’s family arranged the coup to retain power

Gabon’s opposition leader is accusing the family of the recently ousted president of engineering his removal from power as a way of retaining their control in the oil-rich Central African nation.

FILE - Supporters of Niger's ruling junta hold a Russian flag at the start of a protest called to fight for the country's freedom and push back against foreign interference in Niamey, Niger, on Aug. 3, 2023. The mutinous soldiers who overthrew democratically elected Niger President Mohamed Bazoum have announced a raft of measures that analysts say are aimed at strengthening their grip on power while preparing to defend against any military attempt by regional leaders to reinstate Bazoum, it was reported on Monday, Aug. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)

Niger’s military regime orders police to expel French ambassador and revokes his diplomatic immunity

A statement from Niger’s military regime says the junta has revoked the diplomatic immunity of France’s ambassador and ordered police to expel him from the African country.

This video grab shows coup supporters cheering police officers in Libreville, Gabon, Wednesday Aug. 30, 2023. Mutinous soldiers speaking on state television announced that they had seized power in and were overturning the results of a presidential election that had seen Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba extend his family's 55-year hold on power. ( AP Photo/Betiness Mackosso)

Gabon election results were a ‘smokescreen’ for soldiers to oust unpopular president, analysts say

Analysts say the ouster of Gabon’s president by mutinous soldiers appears to have been well organized and capitalized on the population’s grievances against the government as an excuse to seize power.

This video grab shows coup supporters cheering police officers in Libreville, Gabon, Wednesday Aug. 30, 2023. Mutinous soldiers speaking on state television announced that they had seized power in and were overturning the results of a presidential election that had seen Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba extend his family's 55-year hold on power. ( AP Photo/Betiness Mackosso)

Mutineers in Gabon appoint a military leader after detaining the president, alleging corruption

Mutinous soldiers in Gabon have proclaimed their republican guard chief as the country’s leader after placing the newly re-elected president under house arrest and alleging massive embezzlement under his long-time rule over the oil-rich nation.

ECOWAS commissioner Abdel-Fatau Musah, centre, speaks during a press briefing following the Extraordinary Meeting of the ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of the Defence Staff, in Accra, Ghana, Friday, Aug. 18, 2023. Musah announced the ECOWAS forces are ready to act and intervene in Niger should all options fail At left is Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff General Christopher Gwabin Musa, and right is Senegal's General Mbaye Cisse. (AP Photo/Richard Eshun Nanaresh)

Niger junta’s 3-year transition plan is a ‘provocation,’ says West African regional bloc

The West African bloc ECOWAS has rejected the proposal by Niger’s mutinous soldiers for a three-year transition to democratic rule, with a commissioner describing the slow timeline as a provocation.

Sahr John Yambasu, 29, from Sierra Leone, poses for a photograph in Niamey, Niger, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023. After three months of traipsing through the desert and watching people die at sea trying to reach Europe, Yambasu decided to return home. But when he reached Niger in June on his journey back, United Nations officials told him to wait until the packed migrant centers emptied before he could be repatriated. Then weeks later mutinous soldiers toppled Niger's president shuttering the borders and trapping him inside. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)

Thousands of discouraged migrants are stranded in Niger because of border closures following coup

Some 7,000 Africans who gave up on migrating to Europe have been stranded in Niger since the coup last month in which members of the presidential guard overthrew the West African nation’s democratically elected president.

Nigerien police officers sit outside the customs offices in Niamey, Niger, Monday, Aug. 21, 2023. Around 300 trucks of food and other materials crossed into Niger from Burkina Faso with many arriving in the capital, Niamey Sunday, according to a regional custom's official. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)

The African Union suspends Niger until ‘the effective restoration of constitutional order’

The African Union has suspended Niger from all of its institutions and activities “until the effective restoration of constitutional order” following last month’s coup.

Women gather at a clinic to have their children vaccinated in Niamey, Niger, Monday, Aug. 21, 2023. Severe economic and travel sanctions imposed by the West African regional bloc ECOWAS after mutinous soldiers ousted the country's democratically elected president in July, are taking a toll on Nigeriens and causing concern for health workers. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)

Power cuts in Niger threaten to spoil millions of vaccines as sanctions take their toll, UN says

The U.N. is spending over 20 times more money than usual on fuel for generators to keep millions of vaccines in Niger from spoiling due to incessant power cuts.

From left; President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mousa Tourey, ECOWAS Special Envoy to Republic of Niger, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Niger ousted President Mohamed Bazoum and Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Muhammad Saad Abubakar III, pose in Niamey, Niger, Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023. An official present at talks between Niger's mutinous soldiers and a delegation from West Africa's regional bloc tells The Associated Press that talks Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023, yielded little and that the soldiers are under pressure from regional sanctions as they refuse to reinstate the country’s president whom they toppled nearly a month ago while being fearful of attacks from France.. (AP Photo, File)

Talks between regional bloc and Niger’s junta yield little, an official tells The Associated Press

An official present at talks between Niger’s mutinous soldiers and a delegation from West Africa’s regional bloc tells The Associated Press that talks Saturday yielded little and that the soldiers are under pressure from regional sanctions as they refuse to reinstate the country’s president whom the

Young people gather to register to volunteer to fight for the country as part of a volunteer initiative, in Niamey, Niger, Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023. Thousands turned up as a delegation from regional nations were expected to arrive in Niger in a last-ditch diplomacy effort to reach a peaceful solution with mutinous soldiers who ousted the country's president last month. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)

Leader of Niger’s junta says it will restore civilian rule within 3 years, but gives no details

The leader of Niger’s junta says it will restore civilian rule in the West African country within three years. Gen.

Mechanics work on a car in Niamey, Niger, Friday, Aug. 18, 2023. Niger, an impoverished country of some 25 million people, was seen as one of the last countries that Western nations could partner with in Africa's Sahel region to beat back a jihadi insurgency linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Before last month's coup, Europe and the United States had poured hundreds of millions of dollars into propping up its military. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)

11 nations of West Africa commit to a military deployment to restore the ousted president of Niger

An official of the West African bloc of nations says 11 countries in the region have agreed to commit troops to a military deployment aimed at restoring Niger’s democratically elected president following last month’s coup.