People sit near a fully loaded in Madama near the border with Lybia on January 1, 2015. French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian paid a surprise visit to northern Niger on January 1, to visit a base being built to combat the growing flow of weapons and jihadists from neighbouring Libya. Le Drian travelled from Chad to Madama, a desert outpost about 100 kilometres from Libya, where he saw in the New Year with troops at a French base. Madama is situated on the route used by jihadists and arms smugglers in southern Libya to reach northern Mali and Niger. (Photo by Dominique Faget/AFP Photo)

A man crosses from a pirogue to another pirogue during the annual boat regatta in Yauri, Kebbi State, on February 15, 2025. The regatta festival started about 200 years ago as a display of naval strength of the Gungu people, where the Gungu warriors annually attacked dangerous hippopotamus that were destroying farmlands. Warriors would board various sizes of canoes with different types of weapons to attack the animal on the River Niger. This required expertise in canoe paddling and naval warfare. It also served as training exercise for upcoming Gungu warriors. (Photo by Toyin Adedokun/AFP Photo)

Fighters from Germany take up position before competing in the Medieval Combat World Championship at Malbork Castle, northern Poland, April 30, 2015. Medieval combat is a full contact sport that revives the foot based tournament fighting of medieval Europe. Countries fight in refereed matches where the objective is to get the opposing team to the floor. There are also duels with polearms, swords and shields where the number of hits landed are scored. The fighters, both male and female, wear heavy armours and weapons, mostly replicas of authentic pieces, and fight following the knights code of conduct. According to organizers, 25 nations from 6 continents are taking part in the Championships, which started on April 30 and will go on until May 3. (Photo by Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

A Turkana man and a boy carrying a gun look on as a G3 battle rifle hangs from a structure used to dry fish at a fishing camp on the shores of Lake Turkana, some kilometres from Todonyang near the Kenya-Ethiopia border in northwestern Kenya October 12, 2013The Turkana are traditionally nomadic pastoralists, but they have seen the pasture that they need to feed their herds suffer from recurring droughts and many have turned to fishing. However, Lake Turkana is overfished, and scarcity of food and pastureland is fuelling long-standing conflict with Ethiopian indigenous Dhaasanac, who have seen grazing grounds squeezed by large-scale government agricultural schemes in southern Ethiopia. The Dhaasanac now venture ever deeper into Kenyan territory in search of fish and grass, clashing with neighbours. Fighting between the communities has a long history, but the conflict has become ever more fatal as automatic weapons from other regional conflicts seep into the area. While the Turkana region is short of basics like grass and ground-water, it contains other resources including oil reserves and massive, newly discovered underground aquifers. (Photo by Siegfried Modola/Reuters)

Tigray refugees who fled the conflict in the Ethiopia's Tigray arrive with their donkey on the banks of the Tekeze River on the Sudan-Ethiopia border, in Hamdayet, eastern Sudan, Saturday, November 21, 2020. (Photo by Nariman El-Mofty/AP Photo)

Bride Ana Vallejos, wearing a traditional “Caporales” Andean outfit, is escorted by her parents to her wedding celebration, in La Paz, Bolivia, Saturday, December 12, 2020. As a measure to reactivate the economy, the Bolivian government lifted restrictions to help curve the spread of the new coronavirus. Sporting, religious and cultural events may take place publicly until mid-January. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)

Children walk behind their Morrocoye, a terrestrial tortoise native to South America, before a tortoise race held to celebrate the upcoming feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals, in the town of San Francisco de Asis, Venezuela, on October 3, 2025. (Photo by /Juan Carlos Hernandez/Reuters)

A woman carries a heavy load on her head while walking along the narrow Kilo ZeroKilo 30 road near Bentiu in Unity State, South Sudan, on November 6, 2025. The eroded and flood-affected road compels residents to travel long distances on foot to access supplies in Bentiu and Rubkona. (Photo by Rian Cope/AFP Photo)