News stories by Issa Sikiti da Silva

COTONOU/BENIN, Apr 26 (IPS) - A group of young girls aged between 15 and 17 sit tight, following attentively a lesson being taught by a Mualim (Islamic teacher) in a makeshift madrassah (Qur’anic school) located in one of the impoverished townships of Benin’s economic capital, Cotonou. They arrived in Benin recently, fleeing poverty, hunger, climate change, and rising insecurity in their home country, Niger, in the aftermath of the military coup that toppled democratically-elected president Mohamed Bazoum.

Kampala, Jul 18 (IPS) - Nearly a year after the Ugandan government suspended 54 NGOs for allegedly operating illegally and failing to file accounts, most civil society organisations (CSOs) remain shut.

COTONOU, Benin, Nov 08 (IPS) - Buses carrying cross-border traders and goods from Cotonou in Benin to the Malian capital of Bamako in Mali have recently been using the Lomé route — traveling through the capital of Togo and then getting onto the Ouagadougou corridor on their way to the Malian capital.

OUAGADOUGOU, Nov 06 (IPS) - Ibrahim Harouna and his neighbours sit under a tree at his uncle's house, playing chess and chatting amid the simmering heat of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.

BAMAKO, Mali/COTONOU, Benin, Oct 18 (IPS) - Abdoulaye proudly displays an album showing photos of him and his family during happier times when they all lived together in their home in northern Mali. Today, these memories seem distant and painful.

COTONOU, Benin, Aug 20 (IPS) - While people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are slowly being made aware that scientists have discovered two drugs that are effective in treating Ebola, letting go of the fear and anxiety that has prevailed this year will require more work.

COTONOU, Benin, Jul 08 (IPS) - Richard Dossevi parks his motorcycle taxi on one of the busiest street corners in Cotonou, Benin's commercial capital, to wait for commuters amid the summer heat.

COTONOU, Benin, May 03 (IPS) - This is part of a series of features from across the globe on human trafficking. IPS coverage is supported by the Riana Group.

On a bus in Cotonou, Benin's commercial capital, four Nigerian girls aged between 15 and 16 sit closely together as they are about to embark on the last part of their journey to Mali, where they are told that their new husbands, whom they never have met, await them.

COTONOU, Benin, Apr 30 (IPS) - Théophile Houssou, a maize farmer from Cotonou, has spent sleepless nights lying awake worrying about the various disasters that could befall any farmer, often wondering, "What if it rains heavily and all my crops are washed away?" or "What if the armyworms invade my farm and eat up all the crops and I'm left with nothing?"

COTONOU, Benin, Mar 21 (IPS) - Elhadj Mohamed Diallo wants to make sure that others won't experience what he has lived through. The former irregular migrant who has returned home to Guinea from a jail in North Africa is calling on his fellow returnee migrants to establish associations in their respective countries, which will serve as powerful platforms to combat irregular migration across the continent.