This week on Spotlight on Africa, we're heading to Zambia, where general elections are set to take place on the 13th August. Voters will go to the polls to elect a president, members of the National Assembly, councillors and council chairs. Incumbent President Hakainde Hichilema has already picked up endorsements from within his own camp, the UPND Alliance, the coalition that's held power since…
This week in Spotlight on Africa, we look at climate change, environmental justice and the challenges of adaptation. While Europe's heatwaves make headlines, temperatures are also climbing across Africa, with parts of the Sahel approaching 50°C. West Africa is also experiencing severe flooding caused by climate change. Yet Africa is also a source of innovation and solutions, as we'll be discussing…
This week, Spotlight on Africa turns to the Great Lakes region. First, a new Global Witness report reveals how coltan is being smuggled out of the Democratic Republic of Congo, amid the ongoing conflict in the east, through Rwanda and on to companies worldwide. Then, artist Grada Kilomba discusses her journey to create a unique monument for Paris commemorating the 1994 Rwandan genocide. This…
This week, Spotlight on Africa explores cinema and music scoring for African documentary projects with storytellers from Mozambique and Kenya. We will also bring you news from the Cannes Film Festival, along with the African teams selected to take part in the football World Cup. The next time you watch a nature documentary filmed in Africa, listen carefully to the soundtrack: you might be hearing…
As attacks from jihadist groups allied to Tuaregs continue in Mali, global jihadism threatens Africa like no other region on earth, according to ACLED's latest report. With the organisation's expert on West Africa, Spotlight on Africa explores how jihadist groups are expanding across the continent, controlling territory, targeting civilians and disrupting infrastructure. Coordinated attacks by…
This week, Spotlight on Africa takes you to the Africa Forward summit hosted by France and Kenya in Nairobi on 11 and 12 May. It marks the first time France has staged such an event in an English-speaking African country, and comes at a moment of change and challenges. Joining Kenyan President William Ruto at the summit, French President Emmanuel Macron is accompanied by some 30 heads of state, as…
As a major exhibition retracing how music from Africa, the Caribbean and North America merged to make a distinctly British sound opens in London, Spotlight on Africa looks at a century of black music in the diaspora. V&A East, the latest offshoot of the world-renowned Victoria & Albert Museum, opened in Stratford – the area regenerated by London's 2012 Olympic Games – on 18 April. Its inaugural…
This week in Spotlight on Africa: Sudan’s war enters its fourth year, with no sign of easing since fighting erupted on 15 April 2023. The conflict is intensifying, amid fresh accusations of foreign interference – most recently involving Ethiopia. The conflict, now nearing its three-year mark, has already killed tens of thousands, displaced more than eleven million people and created what the UN…
In Kenya, charities are working with landlords to fight gender-based violence – in particular the domestic violence experienced by women living in overcrowded, impoverished areas. In Kibera, one of the largest informal settlements in Africa , in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, the NGO CFK Africa has begun helping landlords to spot and respond to domestic violence and sexual assault. Siama Yusuf,…
US and Israeli attacks on Iran are raising concerns across Africa, from security risks in the Horn of Africa to economic pressures and fears for migrant workers in the Gulf. They also come as West African countries step up cooperation against spreading jihadist violence. In this week’s Spotlight on Africa podcast, we speak to Nigeria’s presidential adviser Sunday Dare and Africa analyst Heni…