A new wave of laws and regulations takes effect in Germany this month, affecting everyday life — from fuel costs and wages to housing, travel, electric vehicles, short-term rentals and healthcare. Many of these measures are a direct response to the energy price shock triggered by the conflict in the Middle East. Here’s what you need to know. Newborn Screening …
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Ghana Seeks Investors for New National Airline
Ghana’s Ministry of Transport issued a formal press statement on 28 April 2026, signed by Transport Minister Joseph Bukari Nikpe, inviting “potential strategic partners” to participate in building a new national airline. The government has established a dedicated task force to oversee a structured, three-round selection process, at the end of which a single qualified partner will be chosen. Interested …
Read More »China Opens Its Market to Africa — But Will the Continent Truly Benefit?
Beijing has scrapped import tariffs on goods from 53 African countries, in what it calls an unprecedented act of economic solidarity. The figures are striking. But an analysis of who exports what — and at what rates — reveals a more complicated picture. For Africa to convert market access into economic transformation, far more than a tariff change will be …
Read More »EU Asylum Numbers Drop Sharply in 2025 as Venezuela emerges as leading country of origin
New figures from Europe’s statistical agency show that first-time asylum applications in the EU fell by more than a quarter last year. The headline numbers conceal a more complex picture — one in which Africans fleeing conflict, persecution and poverty remain significantly represented, particularly among the unaccompanied children making dangerous journeys to Europe. The number of people seeking asylum in …
Read More »Preventable Maternal Deaths: A Crisis of Care and Accountability in Ghana
By Isaac Arko Inkum* I write to express my thoughts on the tragic story of a young pregnant woman who died in a hospital in Ghana recently because nurses on duty failed to attend to her promptly. Sadly, both the young woman and the baby she carried lost their lives. This incident, along with many others, has raised serious concerns …
Read More »Opinion: Confronting Xenophobia and The Humiliation of Africans in South Africa
I write as a Ghanaian lawyer to express my concerns about recent developments in South Africa. Mainstream and social media have been inundated with videos of some South Africans verbally confronting citizens of other African countries living in South Africa. These actions demonstrate an unwelcoming and troubling attitude towards fellow Africans who live and work in the country. In one …
Read More »Top African Festivals in Germany 2026
The annual parade of African music and culture – a vibrant celebration showcasing the continent’s finest artists and talents from the Diaspora – unfolds in May, heralding a season of cultural exchange and shared festivity. Here are the top African festivals in Germany in May, June and July. African Food Festival Berlin 8-10 May/Berlin, Gleisdreieck-Park Great food and good vibes! …
Read More »Switzerland to Vote on Controversial Proposal to Cap Population
Swiss voters will head to the polls on 14 June to decide on Europe’s most controversial immigration referendum this year: a constitutional initiative that would place a hard ceiling on the country’s population. The proposal, titled “No to Ten Million Switzerland,” was launched by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), Switzerland’s largest political force. It seeks to ensure that the …
Read More »German Catholics Bring Aid to Cyclone-Hit Madagascar
A delegation from Germany has travelled to Madagascar to assess the destruction caused by Tropical Cyclone Gezani and to support ongoing humanitarian relief efforts in the African country. The visit, led by Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg and Monsignor Wolfgang Huber, president of the Catholic mission agency Missio Munich, comes two months after the powerful storm struck Madagascar’s east coast …
Read More »Germany: Court Rules on Deporting Recognised Refugees
Germany’s courts and authorities are sending a clear message: foreign nationals who commit serious crimes can lose their right to stay in the country and face deportation. A recent court ruling in Karlsruhe has renewed debate over how far Germany may go in removing foreigners — especially Syrians — from the country. Germany’s Administrative Court in Karlsruhe has issued a …
Read More »Berlin International Nursing School Celebrates 2026 Graduation Ceremony
The International School of Nursing Berlin has marked its 4th graduation, cementing its reputation as a pioneering institution that is helping to close Germany’s healthcare staffing gap while opening doors for students from Africa, Asia and the Middle East. By Femi Awoniyi | Berlin The International School of Nursing Berlin (ISNB) held its fourth graduation ceremony on Friday, 17 April, …
Read More »Sudan: Berlin Confab Delivers €1.5bn in Aid But Ceasefire Remains Elusive
The Third International Sudan Conference in Berlin, co-hosted by Germany and the African Union, together with the European Union, France, the United Kingdom and the United States, mobilised historic levels of humanitarian funding and gave Sudanese civilian voices their biggest international platform yet. But with neither warring party present, a durable end to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis remains as …
Read More »Spain: Amnesty Programme Offers Legal Status to 500,000 Migrants
By Felix Dappah, The African Courier In a move that has set Spain apart from virtually every other government in Europe, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s administration has formally launched a mass regularisation programme for undocumented migrants, opening application windows on 16 April 2026 for online submissions and 20 April for in-person filings. The application period runs until 30 June 2026. …
Read More »Nollywood Goes Francophone as Canal+ distributes Nigerian film in 60 countries
Following its HBO Max debut in Europe, a Nigerian psychological thriller continues its international march — now heading to French-speaking audiences across Africa and beyond Just weeks after The Weekend made history as the first independently produced Nigerian thriller to stream on HBO Max in Central and Eastern Europe, the film has secured another landmark deal. Trino Motion Pictures has …
Read More »New data shows how people with immigrant roots are reshaping Germany
Germany has long wrestled with its identity as a nation shaped by migration. Now, new data from the Federal Statistical Office — known by its German acronym Destatis — has put a sharper number on just how profoundly that transformation has taken hold: more than one in four people living in the country has an immigration history. According to the …
Read More »Return With Dignity: Nigerian Delegation in Germany to Reshape Voluntary Repatriation of Citizens
A high-level Nigerian government team visited Berlin and Munich in March to strengthen a pioneering EU-funded programme that offers rejected asylum seekers and undocumented Nigerians in Germany a structured, supported path home rather than the sudden trauma of forced deportation. For Nigerians living in Germany without secure residency — including those whose asylum applications have been refused — the threat …
Read More »Iran War Sends Shockwaves Through African Economies
A war thousands of kilometres from Africa is threatening to push millions of the continent’s people deeper into poverty. Four leading multilateral institutions have issued a joint warning that the ongoing conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran poses a serious economic threat to African countries — and that the damage could worsen significantly the longer the fighting continues. …
Read More »Germany Records Sharp Drop in New Asylum Claims
Germany saw a steep fall in first-time asylum applications in the opening quarter of 2026, even as a separate category of claims — follow-up applications from Afghan nationals — jumped to extraordinary levels, according to new data from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). Between January and March, a total of 21,617 refugees submitted an initial asylum application …
Read More »Editorial: What the Berlin Conference Must Deliver for Sudan
On the third anniversary of the outbreak of the Sudanese civil war on 15 April, the German government will host an international conference on Sudan in collaboration with France, the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union (EU), and the African Union (AU). Representatives of the United Nations, humanitarian organisations and Sudanese civil society are expected to attend the …
Read More »Berlin Hosts International Conference on Sudan War
– SPECIAL REPORT – Three years after the guns first sounded in Khartoum on the morning of 15 April 2023, the Sudanese people remain trapped in what the United Nations has declared the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. On its anniversary on 15 April 2026, the German capital is playing host to the third International Ministerial Conference on Sudan — an …
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THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.