Billionaire businessman and Agriculture Minister Aziz Akhannouch is set to lead a new Moroccan government after his liberal party soared to victory in parliamentary elections.

This week in Africa, elite soldiers over throw the government of Guinea's President Alpha Conde. The Islamist party which ruled Morocco for ten years suffers a crushing defeat in elections. South Africa's ex-president wins an early release from prison on health grounds, and farmers in central Nigeria flee conflict, with disastrous consequences for crops and food prices.

Algeria said this was a "civilized way" of handling the Moroccan tensions that reignited last year. Morocco did not give an immediate response to flying ban.

Archaeologists in Morocco indentify clothesmaking tools fashioned from bone dating back 120,000 years, the oldest ever found, according to one of the researchers. The international team discovered more than 60 tools in Contrebandiers (Smugglers') Cave near Rabat.

The 35th edition of the "Marathon des Sables" ("Marathon of the Sands"), a six-day 251 km (156 mi) ultramarathon across the Sahara Desert, sets off in southern Morocco, with hundreds of participants ready to take on one of the toughest races on Earth. of the first stage

In the northern Senegalese city of Saint-Louis, excavators are ripping up the beach to lay giant blocks of basalt, to keep the sea at bay. Dire warnings about the risk of rising sea levels due to climate change are already a grim reality in Saint-Louis, where seafront residents in the historic fishing quarter are abandoning their homes to the encroaching Atlantic Ocean.

France's oldest and most prestigious literary prize is won by a Sub-Saharan African writer for the first time. Senegal's Mohamed Mbougar Sarr impressed the judges with his novel "The Most Secret Memory of Men". But first, world leaders pledge more support for Africa, a continent which has contributed the least to climate change but which bears the brunt of rising temperatures and environmental disasters.

Senegal's book industry has been riding high on the wave of Mohamed Mbougar Sarr's Goncourt prize. The 31 year-old sensation is reviving interest in Senegalese writers after he won France's top literary award earlier this month.

The president of Guinea-Bissau has negotiated an oil deal with his counterpart from Senegal, without parliamentary approval. Umaro Sissoco Embalo is now facing a ministerial uprising supported by civil society.

Low COVID-19 vaccination rates in Africa Cup of Nations host Cameroon and a fourth wave of the coronavirus across much of the continent could make for sparsely-attended matches when the soccer finals kick off on Sunday. Cameroon announced last month that it would require spectators at Africa's premiere soccer competition to be fully vaccinated and show a negative test result before entering stadiums.

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The 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations kicks off on Sunday and will be featuring 24 teams for the first time in the tournament’s history. The matches will also be played at six stadiums across five Cameroonian cities. Here’s a look at the AFCON 2021 match venues.