Africa Daily

The relationship between Algeria and France - often sensitive, sometimes strained, but usually restrained - has soured horribly in recent weeks. With tit-for-tat expulsions, diplomatic recalls and lingering resentment over France’s stance on Western Sahara, some observers are calling this crisis unprecedented. So, have Algeria and France reached a point of no return? BBC Africa Daily’s Alan Kasujj...

“South Africa is known for championing human rights using diplomacy to bring all parties together. But it’s not as simple as that” - Thelela Ngcetane-Vika of the Wits School of Governance in Johannesburg. South African president Cyril Ramaphosa is meeting his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky in the capital Pretoria today. The two are expected to discuss the on-going war in Europe, trade a...

“Our goal is to... silence the guns.” One of the stated aims of the African Union is to 'promote peace, security, and stability on the continent'. With that in mind, the organisation co-hosted a conference aimed at finding an end to Sudan’s war last week in London. But even as discussions continued in London, thousands of civilians in Northern Darfur were fleeing for their lives under military bom...

“We’ve had a pope who was able to grasp and understand the problems in third world countries.” In 2023 Pope Francis showed his commitment to Africa by visiting two countries riven by conflict: the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. Hundreds of thousands of people turned out to celebrate him in Kinshasa. But his decision was not a surprising choice – given that he’d made social justice a...

Think about your favourite foods… the dishes you eat to make you happy. Are they traditional African foods - like vegetables, fresh fruits, roots, tubers, nuts, beans, and staple whole grains? Foods like Pap, Fufu or Ugali? Or are you thinking about a burger or deep fried chicken and chips from your favourite fast food shop? A new small-scale study found that when participants switched from a west...

“We must, as Africans, begin to solve some of our problems ourselves, because we have more local context, the nuances. It’s our people, it’s our community.” AI is transforming everything - from how we search information online to how we access healthcare. It’s also an industry that is projected to generate nearly $3 trillion for the African continent by 2030. But without African data, languages an...

For decades, wealthy Nigerian families have looked to the UK for elite education - drawn to what they see as prestige, global connections, and academic rigour. But that journey overseas may no longer be necessary. Top British boarding schools like Charterhouse and Rugby are now opening campuses in Nigeria, with others - including Harrow and Millfield - exploring similar moves. But what’s behind th...

Bobi Wine says to be an opposition politician in Uganda is to be labelled and treated as a terrorist. He’s been beaten, teargassed, arrested and shot at. So why does he want he want to be a presidential candidate in elections scheduled to take place in 2026? He was in London recently and came to our studio to talk to Africa Daily’s Victoria Uwonkunda about why he wants to change Uganda, corruption...

“Right now we’re receiving hundreds of patients and victims from ZamZam camp. You can hear the sounds of children… they do not belong to any military.” Today marks two years since war first broke out in Sudan, and in the second of two podcasts on the state of the war, we turn our attention to Darfur. Over the last few days, attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on the Zamzam camp, near...

The Sudanese capital, Khartoum, April 15th 2023. Families who’d gathered to celebrate Eid together woke up to gunfire and explosions as a power struggle erupted between two factions of the military led government. There were clashes at the presidential palace, at the airport and at the TV station. Both sides hoped for a quick win, but it quickly became a war of attrition, and in the two years sinc...

“We want to change the narrative, so we as Africans can stop being portrayed only as the poacher, the ranger, the guide, or are people who sing for you when you jump off your safari vehicle. From the presenters to the camera teams to the scientific experts, Africa’s wildlife stories have been mainly told by western documentary teams from large international broadcasters like the BBC and Netflix. H...

“We’ve heard that there’s a possibility that our firms might shut down. This has to do with what Mr Trump said. Should it happen, it will be devastating to us because there isn’t much work in Lesotho. We rely on these firms" - Mamonts'eng Lephallo According to White House figures, in 2024 the United States exported just $2.8 million worth of goods to Lesotho. The southern African country on the ot...

The ownership of land is central to our food production, our financial security, and our sense of identity. But in Africa most women do not inherit or own land, despite laws that often provide for their right to do so. Alan Kasujja finds out what is stopping women from inheriting land with the help of Esther Mwaura-Muiru, the Global Advocacy Director for the ‘Stand For Her Land’ Campaign, and Bank...

“What I’d like to see is when these girls go back into society, they don’t end up back in prison. It's about using football for positive social change. Football is more than just a game on the pitch and this is an example of that.” The “Football for Reform” programme kicked off in Sierra Leone last November, taking place over 8 days. Run by Caf – the Confederation of African Football – it involved...

“A lot of people in our communities don’t view them as pirates. I think they are defenders of the sea.” In 2011, Somali piracy peaked. Crews were attacked at gunpoint and many held as hostages for months. The World Bank says there were 243 incidents that year. After a crackdown involving international navies, attacks plummeted to almost zero. But since last year there’s been an uptick in incidents...

“The question that I’ve been grappling with is, are we not punching above our weight as a country given the fact that we are not one of the biggest economies?” – Professor Ntsikelelo Breakfast, Nelson Mandela University in South Africa Tensions between South Africa and the United States appear to be intensifying. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s party, the African National Congress recently said, it wo...

“It has made nearly every person, every mother, to have their child contaminated, because the lead levels are so rampant,” says Cornelius Katiti, a father from Kabwe, Zambia, whose three children are affected by lead poisoning. For decades, the town has struggled with remediating 6.4 million tonnes of toxic lead waste left behind by a former mine. A Human Rights Watch report shows 95% of children...

Africa’s cities are expanding at an unprecedented rate. A new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Sahel and West Africa Club says the urban population will double to 1.4 billion by 2050. But are these cities prepared to handle the growing demand for housing, transport and services? And as urban areas evolve, who truly stands to benefit from this tr...

Lupus is a condition where someone’s immune system attacks their own body, including healthy tissue and cells, leaving them with debilitating conditions like exhaustion, extreme weight gain, organ failure and pain. It can lead to death. It disproportionately affects black women but very little is known about the condition in Africa and statistics are hard to come by. In today's episode, Alan Kasuj...

Have you noticed how southern Africa tends to be hit by deadly cyclones that leave a trail of destruction? Right now the people of Mozambique are trying to piece their lives together after Cyclone Jude battered the country this month. Before it, two others, Chido and Dikeledi, hit the same part of southern Africa in quick succession. All three claimed dozens of lives, leaving schools, homes and ot...

“A lot is expected of her. A lot of eyes are going to be on her.” A moment of sporting history. That’s how many sports fans around the world will remember it. Africa’s most decorated Olympian, swimming champion, Kirsty Coventry will become the next President of the International Olympic Committee. The first time for a woman, an African and the governing body's youngest president. In today’s Africa...

“You cannot feel that you’re fasting when you’re playing. No water, no food, but it’s still very exciting to finish and to score" Ramadan is a time for prayer and reflection worldwide. But in Egypt they mark it using one of their nationwide passions: football. Since the 1960s street football tournaments have spread to every town – involving everyone from professional footballers to children and ol...

As Morocco faces one of its worst droughts in decades, soaring meat prices and dwindling livestock have made Eid al-Adha sacrifices difficult. In response King Mohammed VI has urged Moroccans to forgo the tradition, echoing a similar appeal by his father in 1966. Could changing weather patterns reshape how Eid is observed? BBC Africa Daily’s Alan Kasujja spoke to Moroccan journalist Basma El Atti...

"It was hell. The worst seven months of my life. I was beaten, humiliated, electrocuted." Jalil Muyeke thought he was travelling to Thailand for a dream job. Instead, he was trafficked to Myanmar, imprisoned in a scam centre, and forced to commit online fraud under the threat of violence. An estimated 100,000 people fell victim to these operations run by Chinese crime groups. Jalil endured seven m...

“For someone seeing a light bulb for the first time, it is like a magic show from heaven. They are so happy, they are singing. That moment, it never gets old.” Six hundred million people in Africa don’t have access to electricity – meaning that for many living on a continent with a median age of 19, the future is anything but bright. But it’s a challenge that the winner of this year’s Commonwealth...