The Latest Breaking News from Radio France Internationale

As the country's new president took office last week, following a peaceful election in a region otherwise in turmoil, Somaliland hopes to see its independence recognised by the international community – having declared it in 1991.

French President Emmanuel Macron has extended his condolences and solidarity to the German nation, in the wake of Friday's devastating car-ramming attack at a Christmas market in the town of Magdeburg.

France's flagship Flamanville nuclear reactor in Normandy was to start supplying electricity to homes on Friday when it's reconnected to the power grid after a dozen costly years of technical setbacks.

A French court has halted plans to build four large water reservoirs in western France, ruling that they would threaten the survival of the little bustard, an endangered bird species.

French soldiers have been asked to leave Chad by 31 January, sources close to the government in Paris say – a deadline that RFI was able to confirm with Chadian authorities.

France’s new prime minister, François Bayrou, says he hopes to name a government to lead the country out of its political quagmire by Christmas at the latest. France urgently needs to approve a state budget as official data on Friday showed public debt has climbed to €3.3 trillion.

West African leaders are giving the three Sahel countries led by military governments six months to reconsider their decision to quit the regional bloc Ecowas, as security issues and movements of populations cause concern among its 12 remaining members.

Police in Nigeria have arrested eight people in connection with a stampede at a school funfair in the southwestern Nigerian city of Ibadan that killed 35 children and seriously injured six others.

A row has erupted between France and the Comoros after Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau accused Comoran officials of facilitating illegal immigration to Mayotte, a French territory in the Indian Ocean. Mayotte is struggling to recover from Cyclone Chido, which devastated shanty towns housing many undocumented families.