News stories by Marc-Andre Boisvert, page 2

BAMAKO, Feb 06 (IPS) - Under the harsh Sunday afternoon sun, Daouda Dicko washes his client's clothes on the shore of the Niger River, which runs through Mali's capital, Bamako. "I started doing this to survive two years ago. Now, I am used to it and I don't mind the extra money it brings," Dicko, who also works as a gardener, tells IPS.

BAMAKO, Jan 31 (IPS) - In her traditional orange headdress, Agaichetou Toure sits quietly in a waiting room in Kalaban-Koura, a popular neighbourhood on the outskirts of Mali's capital Bamako. 

DUÉKOUÉ, Dic 22 (IPS) - In Cote d'Ivoire, traditional hunters known as dozos are accused of human rights abuses and extortion. But in several areas, they also remain the sole guarantor of local safety.

ABIDJAN, Côte d’Ivoire, Nov 18 (IPS) - All over the Ivorian economic capital, Abidjan, large cranes, involved in the construction of new buildings and highways, are dotted across the city skyline.

ABIDJAN, Côte d’Ivoire, Oct 31 (IPS) - "We are sad. We want our president back," Yao Amandine told IPS from a street corner in the Ivorian economic metropolis, Abidjan, after the International Criminal Court ruled against granting former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo a conditional release on Tuesday. 

DIX-HUIT MONTAGNES REGION, Côte d’Ivoire, Jul 09 (IPS) - As the Côte d'Ivoire government clears its protected forests of illegal occupiers, particularly in the Dix-Huit Montagnes region, environmentalists say that this crucial move might lead to conflict in an already tense region.

DAKAR/BISSAU, Jun 11 (IPS) - In Dakar, urban commuters are familiar with kids as young as five years old begging on street corners at all hours of the day or the night, with torn, dirty clothes, collecting donations in an empty tin can.

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso, Mar 13 (IPS) - As the Malian army and its foreign partners are slowly securing northern cities in the West African nation, it is still unclear how the country will turn its back on the political crisis that led to the March 2012 military coup.

GOUDEBO, Burkina Faso, Feb 22 (IPS) - Fatimata Wallet Haibala sits among a group of women and teenage girls under a tent, her handicapped boy on her lap. The scene could be a rural picture of a Tuareg gathering in the desert. But the mother mother of five resides in a refugee camp in Goudebo, Burkina Faso, almost 100 kilometres from their home in Mali.

MOPTI, Mali, Feb 11 (IPS) - At the entrance to the Evangelical church in Mopti, central Mali, military soldiers stood on either side of the door as Pastor Luc Sagara greeted his parishioners for Sunday mass.