Afua Hirsch

Niger wants to ban women and children from crossing the Sahara after 92 died in the desert.

The ongoing volatility in the region has left citizens terrified after a year under jihadist rule.

The interlinked fortunes of the countries in the sparely populated Sahara region have played a complex role in the causes of Mali’s conflict.

The terror attack at Westgate mall is the latest manifestation of the tangled ties between Kenya and its anarchic Horn of Africa neighbour Somalia.

Scores more bodies are believed to be buried under rubble in Kenya’s Westgate shopping mall.

Many say that the vast earnings of many African countries from oil, gas and mining show that the focus on aid to Africa is misguided.

Environmental destruction and social conflict are plaguing small-scale mining mining operations in Ghana, Afua Hirsch reports.

Peacekeepers in Côte d’Ivoire could be substituted by drones in a further step towards greater use of the military aircraft in sub-Saharan Africa.

Catholicism’s European power base is under threat and the election of a new pope could be a historic moment for the church.

With the front line rapidly shifting, refugees are finding it ever more difficult to escape the fighting.

Air raids continue "day and night" in the battle with insurgents in Mali, but France’s president has dismissed suggestions of colonialism.

An ample bosom and booty is still desirable in Africa, but it seems like Western ideals are encroaching, writes Afua Hirsch.

African hip-hop rappers seem to be the setting standard of how the music should be made internationally.

Rooti dolls claim to be the first fashion dolls to speak languages from countries ranging from Ghana to Zimbabwe.

In Ghana, the reaction I get when I tell other women about my job and baby is usually a knowing nod, writes the Guardian’s west Africa correspondent.