MONIKA PRONCZUK

West and Central Africa reporter

Pronczuk covers 22 countries across Central and West Africa for The Associated Press. She is based in Dakar, Senegal.
Aminata Doumbia, president of the women's group, sits next to a pit on farmland that was leased with help from USAID but has not yet been cultivated because the funding has ceased in Kimbirila-Nord, Ivory Coast, Feb. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
Ivory Coast is losing US aid as al-Qaida and other extremist groups are approaching
 
Burkina Faso junta leader Ibrahim Traore participates in a ceremony in Ouagadougou, Oct. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Kilaye Bationo, File)
Video of Burkina Faso massacre appears to implicate government-allied militia, watchdog says
 
M23 rebels enter the centre of east Congo's second-largest city, Bukavu, and take control of the South Kivu province administrative office, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Janvier Barhahiga, file)
Congo and M23 rebel group will hold peace talks on Tuesday, mediator Angola says
 
Somali internally-displaced persons (IDP) children look out from family's makeshift homes in Maslah camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)
USAID cuts are already hitting countries around the world. Here are 20 projects that have closed
 
In this video frame grab, people assist victims after two explosions hit a meeting of M23 rebel group leaders and residents in Bukavu, eastern Congo, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Janvier Barhahiga)
At least 11 dead and scores injured in Congo after blasts at M23 rebel leaders’ rally, rebels say
 
Zawadi Sifa, right, 35, mother of seven, who has been fleeing fighting from camp to camp, carries water in her latest displaced camp in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2025.(AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
A family fleeing violence in eastern Congo sees little hope as rebels grab more land
 
At least 10 soldiers in Niger are killed in an ambush, the army says
 
Medics treat a man wounded during fighting between Congolese government troops and M23 rebel forces in Goma's Kyeshero hospital Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
Rwanda-backed rebels have seized another town in eastern Congo
 
Residents walk by charred vehicles in Goma, Democratic republic of the Congo, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
Congo says 773 dead in weeklong fighting as military tries to repel Rwanda-backed rebels
 
FILE- French journalist Olivier Dubois arrives at the VIP lounge at the airport in Niamey, Niger, on March 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Judith Besnard, File)
A French journalist recounts 711 days of captivity as a hostage of Islamic extremists in Mali
 
Government soldiers and police officers who surrendered to M23 rebels, center, run to board trucks to an undisclosed location in Goma, Democratic republic of the Congo, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
Rwanda’s evolving stature ensures muted global pressure as M23 advances in eastern Congo
 
People displaced by the fighting with M23 rebels make their way to the center of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
‘No safe place to go to from Goma’ for millions as humanitarian crisis looms in eastern Congo city
 
People displaced by the fighting with M23 rebels make their way to the center of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
Rwanda-backed M23 rebels claim major Congolese city, which Congo calls a ‘declaration of war’
 
People protest in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025, against the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels' advances into eastern Congos capital Goma.(AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)
What is happening in eastern Congo, where rebels captured a key city?
 
French President Emmanuel Macron delivers his speech to French ambassadors posted around the world, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool)
Senegal and Chad say ousting of French troops was their sovereign decision
 
Internally displaced people wait for aid in Djibo, Burkina Faso, May 26, 2022, when violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group began surging and spreading across the West African nation. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)
They fled from extremists. Now the government in Burkina Faso tries to hide their existence
 
French soldiers secure the area where a suicide bomber attacked, at the entrance of Gao, northern Mali, Feb.10, 2013. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
France’s military is being ousted from more African countries. Here’s why
 
A view of the Panzi general Hospital, in southwestern Congo, Thursday, Nov 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Lucien Lufutu, File)
Congo man dies with hemorrhagic fever, indicating mystery outbreak could be more than just malaria
 
Supporters of opposition candidate and former President John Dramani Mahama celebrate his victory after his opponent conceded in Accra, Ghana, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Ghana’s ex-leader is declared the presidential election winner and pledges ‘reset’ in a bad economy
 
Election officials count the ballots after polls closed in the general elections in Accra, Ghana, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024 (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
Polls close in Ghana’s general election in the shadow of the worst economic crisis in a generation
 
A supporter of presidential candidate and Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia waves a flag during the final rally of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), in Accra, Ghana, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, ahead of the presidential election. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
Ghanaians go to the polls with the backdrop of the worst economic crisis in a generation
 
Congo's Health Minister Roger Kamba speaks, during a press conference, in Congo, Kinshasa, Thursday, Nov 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)
Congo government says it’s ‘on alert’ over mystery flu-like disease that killed dozens
 
Jeweller Moussa Diop works on a bronze hippopotamus in his workshop, as part of the rebondir exhibition at the Dakar 2024 biennial Off in Dakar, Senegal, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)
Senegalese artisans in the spotlight as they exhibit for the first time at a prestigious art event
 
FILE -France's President Emmanuel Macron, left, and Secretary General of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie Louise Mushikiwabo, center, welcome Chad's President General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno for the 19th Francophonie summit in Villers-Cotterets, France, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, File)
Chad ends a defense cooperation agreement with France, its former colonial ruler
 
French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a statement as part of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu's two-day state visit to France, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (Sarah Meyssonnier/Pool via AP)
For the first time, France’s Macron calls 1944 killings of West African troops by French a massacre
 
A man collects voting cards, that are set on a table, before casting his vote for legislative elections at a polling station in Dakar, Senegal Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
Senegal’s ruling party secures majority in parliament, paving the way for ambitious reforms
 
CORRECTS SURNAME TO YALIKE-NGONZO - Whistleblower Ephrem Yalike-Ngonzo, who was recruited by Kremlin-backed Wagner forces to spread Russian propaganda in Central African Republic, sorts through CAR newspapers during a visit in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nov. 2, 2022. (Forbidden Stories via AP)
A former staffer exposes how Russia’s disinformation machine worked in Central African Republic
 
Actors participate in Recreatrales, an international theater festival held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Kilaye Bationo)
Theater festival offers solace in Burkina Faso, a nation torn by violence
 
A visitor explores the international exhibit at the Dakar Biennale of Contemporary African Art in Dakar, Senegal, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)
At an art festival in Dakar, artists from both sides of the Atlantic examine the legacy of slavery
 
Maodo Faye, radio presenter at Sud FM, presents the afternoon Wolof program from the Sud FM studio in Dakar, Senegal, Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Annie Risemberg)
In Senegal, the bastion of the region’s Francophonie, French is giving way to local languages
 
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