As you approach the Lake Chad basin from Maiduguri, in northeastern Nigeria, the evidence of despair is telling. The air is dusty, the wind is fierce and unrelenting, the plants are wilting and the earth is turning into sand dunes

Growing up in her native Kenya, Juliana Rotich was the lonely, young “geek” with oversized glasses at school. Today she is a highly successful tech entrepreneur who is a co-founder and executive director of Ushahidi, a homegrown non-profit tech company that has taken the world by storm

Malawi’s leading mobile phone company, Airtel says free media is catalyst for development in any country. This was said by the company’s Marketing Director Enwell Kadango at a gala dinner to commemorate the World Press Freedom Day activities

Throughout northern Nigeria, Christian churches are ramping up security as a militant Islamist sect, Boko Haram, targets places of worship. At a church in the northern city of Kaduna, Christians are refusing to let the near-constant threat of attack keep them away from Sunday services

An attack on a university campus has killed at least 15 people and injured many others in the northern Nigerian city of Kano. The attack appears to have targeted a morning Christian worship service

In the wake of Thursday’s bombings of newspaper offices in Nigeria that killed at least nine people and injured many others, President Goodluck Jonathan assured Nigerians on Saturday that the government is on high alert. The Boko Haram Islamist sect says it carried out the attack to retaliate against news media for reporting false statements about the group’s activities and goals

Hand-dyed polished cotton — called bazin — is the mainstay of Malian fashion. The blind singers Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia extolled the fabric in a song released in 2005, “Beaux dimanches” (“Beautiful Sundays”). The song’s scintillating lyrics include the lines: “Sunday in Bamako is the wedding day / Men and women put on their best boubous / The bazins are waiting for you / This is the wedding day.” It became the hit song on an album that won two prestigious British Broadcasting Corporation awards the following year, including one for best “world music” album

Sitting on an old mattress in front of a small house in Kimukunda village in the Rakai District of southern Uganda, Teddy Nakawoeisi, 60, is waiting for her grandchildren to bring home something for supper. Between the ages of 4 and 8 years, they are at a nearby farm — working as daily labourers

Nigeria’s House of Representatives says high-level officials should be prosecuted for alleged theft and mismanagement of the state fuel subsidy. The fuel subsidy remains a flashpoint issue in Nigeria after attempts to lift it in January sparked a strike and deadly protests that paralyzed the nation. Nigeria is already bracing for renewed unrest if the government does not act on the parliament’s findings

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki says he will ensure a peaceful handover of power when he steps down from office next year. During an address to parliament Tuesday, the president said Kenya must observe the rule of law before, during and after the planned elections