Former Defense Minister Rose Christiane Ossouka Raponda has been promoted to prime minister, making her the first woman to hold the role in Gabon's history.

Lebanon could "disappear" without swifter action from its political elite, France's top diplomat has said. The European power hopes the need for recovery aid following the Beirut port blast will speed up reforms.

Since April, Gabon has been under a health state of emergency. The Central African country is facing a major economic hit as a result of Covid-19 lockdown measures and the fall in oil prices. The scars from this unprecedented crisis could remain on Port-Gentil, its oil capital, for a while. Businesses, shops, transport, tourism and other sectors in the country's economic hub are all struggling. Port Gentil has lost millions of euros over the last six months and is relying on public investment to survive. Our team reports.

The mats are falling apart, the safety ropes have snapped and the acrobatic nets are long gone. Gabon's only circus troupe -- and its only circus school -- is facing ruin. Demand for circus shows was dwindling even before the pandemic hit, a disaster that has cemented the troupe's problems.

Dozens of children live and work in sweltering heat in the Mindoube landfill in the Gabonese capital Libreville, searching for copper or aluminium items they can then resell. In Gabon, one of Africa's largest oil producers and one of the richest per capita in the region, one-third of the population lived below the poverty line in 2017, says the World Bank. "There are a lot of children here who...spend all their time in the landfill," says an activist.

The Hlanzoun riparian swamp forest in southern Benin, one of the last of its kind in the country, is home to unparallelled flora and fauna. Yet according to ecologists its unique biodiversity is under threat from poaching, agriculture and ever-increasing human exploitation.

In this edition, hundreds of Gabonese peacekeepers are being withdrawn from CAR following the latest sex abuse allegations. Gabon says that the most recent accusation is exceptionally serious. Also, dozens of civic groups in Uganda have been suspended. Many human rights workers say it is part of a pattern of repression. And, South Africa’s largest rhino breeder is pushing to sell horns he trims legally off his animals to keep poachers at bay.

Leading Gabon football coach accused of raping young players, president demands probe. A former coach for Gabon's under-17 football team, Patrick Assoumou Eyi, sexually abused young players in his care, according to a report on Thursday in British daily The Guardian.

More than a hundred jihadists surrender to the Nigerian army. Also, as the excitement of the Africa Cup of Nations winds down in Cameroon, Gabon is left with abandoned stadiums from its own tournament in 2017. And a 92-year-old Malawian singer becomes a TikTok sensation, which leads him to celebrating his birthday with the president.

When a large lagoon in central Chile dried up, climate change seemed the likeliest culprit. But researchers found a more insidious threat: systematic privatization of water. Could a new constitution change all that?

Africa’s most populous nation has quietly lost almost 10% of its tree cover over the past two decades - leaving those who depend on it for their livelihoods, like logger Egbontoluwa Marigi, fearing for the future. Nyancho Nwanri reports.

The Commonwealth has admitted Gabon and Togo as its 55th and 56th members respectively. Both countries are former French colonies.