The Latest Breaking News from RFI

Zimbabweans head to the polls Wednesday for presidential and general elections that come amid a worsening economic crisis. It's tipped to be a tight race. While the opposition appears to have seduced the youth vote, the ruling party ZANU-PF still leads the polls.

Ecuadorans have voted to stop an oil drilling project in an Amazon reserve, according to the results of a referendum hailed as an historic example of climate democracy.

Trade between Niger and its neighbours in West Africa has been frozen since regional bloc Ecowas imposed sanctions on the landlocked country when military officers overthrew the elected president in late July. RFI reports from the border between Niger and Nigeria, where the closure has cut off crucial exchanges.

Publishers of English-language newspapers in Cameroon are calling on President Paul Biya to establish a special fund to help them recover from the devastating effects of the Anglophone crisis, which has been felt in the country’s North West and South West regions since 2016.

On the back of Glastonbury, a team of young performers from northern Benin, in West Africa, took their message of female empowerment to another prestigious festival in England – the Womad World of Music, Arts and Dance.

This week on The Sound Kitchen you’ll hear the answer to the question about the Southern African Economic Partnership Agreement. There’s a California travelogue, the “Listeners Corner”, and “Music from Erwan”. All that, and the new quiz question, too, so click on the “Play” button above and enjoy!

Detained Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko has been removed from the country's electoral roll in a move denounced by his political party as "inhumane persecution". Sonko, who is in hospital on hunger strike, was transferred to intensive care after his condition weakened overnight, the party added.

A day ahead of a meeting of West African military chiefs to hammer out what a military intervention in Niger might look like, the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) appeared at odds over whether military action should be on the table. Follow our live…

Niger's junta has no legitimacy to try President Mohamed Bazoum, exiled foreign minister Hassoumi Massoudou told RFI and France 24 in an interview.

Niger's exiled Foreign Minister Hassoumi Massoudou said the military junta has no right to prosecute the country's deposed president, Mohamed Bazoum, and called for constitutional order to be restored through negotiations in an exclusive interview with FRANCE 24 and sister radio station RFI.

Locals in Grande Comore island mobilised to rescue a 10-ton baby humpback whale stranded near the port of Moroni. With rudimentary means but much effort, they managed to keep the baby whale alive until it could move back into the Indian Ocean.