The pact allows Mali and Burkina Faso to provide military assistance to Niger in the event of military intervention against the putschists there.

France says it will not budge in its refusal to engage with Niger's coup leaders. A month after their takeover, they issued a Monday deadline to the French ambassador to leave their country, but Paris has insisted its envoy will stay put. Also, Africa sets its own stage in Kenya for conversations about its experience of the ravages of climate change. With the first ever Africa climate summit now a week away, we speak to its CEO about the existential stakes faced by the continent.

A group of senior Gabonese military officers appeared on national television in the early hours of Wednesday and said they had taken power, minutes after the state election body announced President Ali Bongo had won a third term.

Military officers in oil-producing Gabon said they had seized power on Wednesday, placing President Ali Bongo under house arrest and naming a new leader after the Central African state's election body announced Bongo had won a third term.

The EU foreign ministers met to discuss ways to help West Africa's ECOWAS regional group handle the military takeover in Niger. The meeting came the junta stripped the French ambassador of diplomatic immunity.

Gabonese hope for jobs, eventual civilian rule following military coup

It has been a month since the military seized power in Niger. The ECOWAS bloc of African states has imposed sanctions, and access to food is getting scarce in the landlocked country. In the city of Tillaberi, people are feeling the effects.

The regional bloc CCAS, and the country's opposition coalition, have urged international partners to push for a rapid return to civilian rule. Also in this edition: In Democratic Republic of Congo, at least 48 protesters are reported to have been killed in the eastern city of Goma. And finally: In South Africa, the death toll rises to 76 after the devastating Johannesburg fire at an abandoned apartment block that housed dozens of homeless people and squatters.

Niger's military rulers are reopening the country's airspace after seizing power on July 26. The junta previously cited the threat of military intervention from the West African bloc ECOWAS as the reason for the closure.

Exactly six weeks after the coup in Niger, FRANCE 24 interviewed Abdel-Fatau Musah, the West African bloc ECOWAS's Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security. He insisted that ECOWAS was not discussing any kind of transition with the junta in Niamey and that instead the bloc continued to demand the release of President Mohamed Bazoum and the immediate restoration of constitutional order.

Military coups are resurging in Africa. A phenomenon that once plagued the continent. There have been over 70 coups in Africa since countries on the continent gained independence from colonial rule. Here are the African countries currently being led by military juntas.

No details have yet been given by Malian authorities on any casualties from the attack. It's the latest violence in the West African country after two assaults by suspected jihadis killed dozens a day prior.