Africa Daily

We all know that Africa is getting hit hardest by climate change - even though the continent contributes less than 4% of global emissions. BBC’s Africa Daily’s Alan Kasujja spoke with Kulthoum Omari Motsumi, Africa’s lead negotiator in global climate talks. Kulthoum is on the front line, making sure Africa’s voice is heard and fighting for the support it deserves. She talks about the unique challe...

“The cost of food will just go higher and higher, because farmers like myself cannot afford to invest in farming and can’t even have their capital back at the end of the season.” More than 300 million people faced acute hunger in 2023 according to the World Food Programme. The UN body said this was caused by a number of issues including global warming, insecurity and conflict, and food and energy...

“If the leadership of the minibus taxi sector is prepared to be patient and invest in research and development, absolutely, they stand a chance” – Dr. Mathetha Mokonyama, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research When international e-hailing services Uber and Bolt arrived in South Africa about a decade ago, they claimed a massive chunk of the metered taxi market. This left local taxi operator...

Just over four months ago Senegal elected a new president. After a tumultuous start to the election- Bassirou Diomaye Faye was declared the winner and became at 44 years old Africa’s youngest head of state. Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko promised a radical break from the past, an Afrocentric and nationalist agenda. They vowed to fight poverty and corruption. To create jobs...

It started with the horrific killing of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event for children in the seaside town of Southport, in northern England. After false rumours were spread on social media that the 17-year-old charged with their murders was a Muslim migrant who’d arrived by boat a few years before, a wave of anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant protests spread across the UK. Cars w...

The funeral of former president of Confederation of African Football Dr Issa Hayatou is taking place today in Garoua, northern Cameroon. Hayatou died aged 77 last week in Paris, where he’d been receiving dialysis for kidney problems. His name was synonymous with African football for nearly three decades. He served as president of Caf from 1988 to 2017. He is credited with expanding Africa’s partic...

“These MPs were never advocates of violence. They were speaking inside the chambers of parliament. They have never joined any mass action on the streets” – Thantaza Silolo, Swaziland Liberation Movement Eswatini’s former Members of Parliament, Mduduzi Mabuza and Mthandeni Dube were arrested following the anti-monarchy riots that claimed dozens of lives back in 2021. Mabuza is currently serving 25...

“It’s a clarion call to action. It’s a recognition that we can no longer afford to be reactive. We must be proactive and aggressive in our effort to eliminate this threat.” Africa’s leading health body - Africa CDC – has declared the rapidly rising cases of Mpox in East Africa a public health emergency. Since the beginning of the year, nearly 14,000 cases and 450 deaths have been recorded in the D...

Less than 50% of the world’s population have access to diagnostics, according to statistics from the medical journal, The Lancet. That drops to 20% when it comes to Africa, where the diagnostic gap is most severe at the level of primary health care. According to The Global Health Fund, Africa bears a quarter of the global disease burden and endures over 100 health emergencies a year. In this episo...

The number of women using modern contraception in sub-Saharan Africa has nearly doubled to 66 million, thanks to methods like hormonal implants and injections reaching even remote areas. Community health workers play a crucial role, often delivering contraceptive injections and birth control pills door-to-door. Global health agencies have expanded family planning services to reduce child mortality...

Not long ago, huge demonstrations took place in Kenya against President William Ruto’s plan to increase taxes- he eventually overturned his decision. But despite this, protests in Kenya continue- yesterday police used teargas to disperse pockets of protestors from Nairobi Central Business district. Across the continent, demonstrations have taken place in both Nigeria and Somalia too. Africa Daily'...

“If South Africa was that hostile towards African immigrants, I would expect that people would stop coming. If South Africa was such a deadly place to be an African national, then why would you still be seeing South Africa top the charts on the lists of immigrants flocking here?” - Makone Maja, Institute of Race Relations Chidimma Adetshina, a 23-year-old model based in Cape Town will be among the...

Not too long ago we spoke with Benin’s former Minister for Environment and Urban Planning, Luc Gnacadja, about the challenges and strategies for planning African cities. He told us that he considers Africa’s biggest city, Lagos, to be the least climate resilient city on the continent. Africa has suffered disproportionately from climate change, and this is set to continue- scientists predict that g...

South Sudanese citizens will finally get to vote in an election at the end of this year. This will be the first time a democratic process will have been carried out since Independence in 2011. But the basic preparations for such an event do not seem to have got off the ground yet. So will the politicians of a country that has suffered years of civil war, and is still affected by inter-communal vio...

Surfing looks amazing fun – seeing a surfer crouched on a board riding a big wave at speed must be an incredible feeling. But it’s not a well-known sport in Africa, despite nearly 40 countries on the continent having coastlines, with waves breaking along hundreds of miles of beaches. Four African surfers did make it to the current Olympic games, from South Africa and Morocco. But their ratio of th...

“It’s unacceptable for a member who was a veteran and he was a former president, to have started a new political party. Of course he knew that he was violating the ANC’s rules” – Snuki Zikalala, president of the ANC’s Veterans League The relationship between South Africa’s African National Congress and its former president Jacob Zuma appears to have come to an end. Zuma was officially expelled by...

Hidden behind the fearlessness displayed by Kenyan youths during recent anti-government protests could be a mountain of mental health challenges. A mental health expert says this is linked to the extra responsibilities young people are having to take up in a continent where the median age is 19. But while mental health awareness is high among the youth, access to mental health services remains lim...

Last year, the United Nations Security Council unanimously voted to lift Somalia's arms embargo, a decision that is now under scrutiny. The embargo had aimed to limit weapon deliveries to the Somali government and security forces, preventing them from reaching warlords. A recent ambush in Abudwaq, central Somalia, has some people debating whether lifting the embargo restriction was a mistake. Duri...

“Why were they born in Europe? Their parents were escaping the economic realities of Africa. We need to work on ourselves. We need to work more as Africa in order to keep this talent here” – Brian Wesaala, Football Foundation for Africa In recent times, Barcelona star Lamine Yamal has been captivating football lovers around the world with his talent. He played a critical role when his national tea...

“A lot of people were mocking me. People would send pictures to my mum saying ‘is there something wrong with your son? We’ve seen him in traffic hawking watches’”. For a lot of African people, luxury goods are synonymous with international brands. They believe that high-quality products can only come from abroad. Today in the podcast, Africa Daily’s Muthoni Muchiri speaks with Anthony Dzamefe of C...

The Olympic Games officially open in Paris today. Over three billion people around the globe are expected to watch the world’s best sportsmen and women compete for 329 gold medals in 32 sports over 18 days. The continent will be fully represented with all 54 countries taking part. So, what can Africa expect from the games and who are the athletes to watch? Peter Musembi has been finding out from M...

An investigation by BBC Verify has revealed that over 2 million people in the northern part of Ethiopia are at risk of starvation due to drought. The need for food aid has forced many to remain in camps for displaced persons. The Tigray region is still dealing with the aftermath of a bitter two-year war with the federal government that ended in 2022. BBC reporter Girmay Gebru led the investigation...

“The initial investment is quite high, but looking long-term into many development projects, I think it is an investment worthwhile” – Professor Otlogetswe Totolo Botswana is building its very first space satellite. Known as Bot-Sat-1, it is being developed by scientists and engineers at Botswana International University of Science and Technology in the town of Palapye. The southern African countr...

“That will be a miracle on its own because when I started taking ARVs I began with 20 tablets.” In June, the US drug company Gilead announced that a trial of its HIV drug Lenacapavir had got a 100% success rate. The drug - a twice-yearly injection – can be used to protect people from catching the virus, but also to treat those who have it. But the question of pricing remains – with people in poor...

‘The Apartheid Killer’ is the latest investigation from the BBC Africa Eye team. Filmed over four years, it tells the story of Louis van Schoor, an ex-police officer turned security guard who in the late 1980's terrorised and killed at least 39 people in the South African city of East London. All of his victims were black and the youngest was just 12 years old. He was finally arrested in 1991. But...