Africa

Image copyright Jose Cendon One woman isn’t letting drought, mass emigration and political upheaval stand in the way of her dreams of building a fashion empire, says Colin Freeman. If all it took were motivation, Tida Jallow’s name might be up there with Mary Quant’s or Coco Chanel’s. Her fashion …

Image copyright Reuters In our series of letters from African journalists, novelist and writer Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani looks at what lies ahead for some of the girls who have been released by Boko Haram militants in Nigeria. To enable the 21 recently freed Chibok girls to avoid the stigma usually …

Image copyright AFP In our series of letters from African journalists, Sola Odunfa looks at why it is a good idea for Nigeria to reintroduce history as a school subject – a move recently backed by the country’s senate. When I was growing up, one of the subjects I learnt …

Image copyright AFP Image caption Supporters for both Ghana’s main parties love dressing up for rallies In our series of letters from African journalists, Ghanaian writer Elizabeth Ohene, a member of the main opposition NPP, explains the hidden meanings of election parables. We are in the midst of an election …

Image copyright Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani Image caption Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani’s father wanted his children to master English In our series of letters from African journalists, Nigerian novelist and writer Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani recalls how she was banned from speaking her mother tongue. My parents forbade my local language, Igbo, from …

Image copyright (c) Mahesh Shantaram Image caption Hamza and Shukura from Nigeria, living in Jaipur, India In January, a Tanzanian student was assaulted and partially stripped by a mob in the southern Indian city of Bangalore after a Sudanese student’s car ran over and killed a local woman. Shocked by …

How do you protect millions of people from a deadly disease in the space of a few weeks? That has been the challenge after a yellow fever outbreak has killed more than 400 people in Angola and neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. Photographer Tommy Trenchard has been following the 10-day …

First time visitor to Africa, Anna Sobotka, writes: “I wasn’t prepared for this country’s natural beauty and dignity.” This is her shot taken in the Chobe National Park of bathing elephants.

It’s thought that more than half of Africa’s GDP comes from the informal sector which accounts for around 80% of the labour force, many of them small traders. So should governments regulate traders? These vendors tell the BBC about their lives: Image copyright Boldwill Hungwe/BBC Image caption Twenty-six-year-old Beauty Nyandoro …

Image copyright Tommy Trenchard The powdery white beaches of Zanzibar’s east coast are best known as a holiday destination. But each day, as the tide begins to ebb and the beachgoers return to their hotels, a small army of men and women armed with sticks and spears wade out across …