Niamey - On a dusty patch of land on the outskirts of the capital Niamey, Niger's most famous comedian Mamane shows off a site he says will host a drama school to promote African artists and freedom on a continent rife with corruption and strife.

Niamey - The four countries bordering Lake Chad on Friday launched a fund aimed at collecting $100 million to help counter climate change and a devastating jihadist insurgency.

Niamey - First ladies attending the African Union summit in Niger on Saturday called for a rise in taxes for cancer-causing products such as tobacco and alcohol.

Niamey - Heads of state will meet for an African Union (AU) summit in Niger Sunday to usher in a landmark free trade agreement and consider looming security and migration crises.

Niamey - The bodies of 11 missing Niger soldiers have been discovered after an ambush by armed men killed 17 of their colleagues on patrol near the Mali border, security sources said.

Niamey - The death toll from a May 6 tanker truck explosion near the international airport in Niger's capital has risen to 76, state television reported late Sunday.

Niamey - Heads of state of 17 countries in the Sahel region of Africa will hold a summit on Monday in Niamey to approve a climate investment plan worth $400 billion over 12 years, the Niger government said Wednesday.

Niamey - Niger's army killed more than 280 Boko Haram militants near the southeast border with Nigeria in days of land and air raids, the defence ministry said Wednesday.

Niamey - Seven local employees of a French drilling firm and a government official were killed Thursday when suspected Boko Haram gunmen stormed the compound where they were sleeping in southeastern Niger.

Niamey - Germany and the Netherlands have pledged to fund special forces in Niger to control its border and prevent illegal migration, the EU's security mission in the country said Thursday.

Niamey - Niger has launched a mass polio vaccination campaign targeting more than three million children under five after new cases were detected, an official said Friday.

Niamey - Health officials have detected three cases of polio in southern Niger, near the border with Nigeria, the health ministry said Friday, just months after a major UN vaccination operation.

Niamey - More than 400 people from across West Africa have been rescued from the desert in northern Niger in two days, the International Organization for Migration said, in the latest recovery of migrants from the frontier region near Algeria.

Niamey - More than 17,000 people have been displaced by violence in western Niger's Tillaberi region, which has been hit by jihadist incursions from neighbouring Mali, the United Nations said Thursday.

Niamey - Nearly 600 African migrants in Algeria were abandoned in the desert with hardly any food and water before being rescued, an official in neighbouring Niger said on Sunday.

Agadez - "We are traumatised, exhausted, and we still have no glimmer of hope," says Mohamed, a Sudanese refugee slumped on a mat at a UN transit centre in Agadez, Niger's renowned "gateway to the Sahara".

Niamey - Nine people were killed in three suicide bombings in southeastern Niger near the border with Nigeria, a local official said Tuesday.

Niamey - Niger opposition leader and former premier Hama Amadou on Wednesday lost an appeal against a one-year jail term for baby smuggling, legal sources said.

Niamey - Thirteen African and European countries and the EU agreed Friday that efforts to crack down on migrant trafficking to Europe should also focus on economic woes that prompt poor Africans to seek a better life in Europe.

Niamey - The UN refugee agency appealed on Wednesday for $157 million (126 million euros) to help over a quarter of a million people affected by the insurgency led by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram.