Africa Daily

In April the UK government announced that they had signed a deal that would see asylum seekers to the UK processed instead in Rwanda, some 6,500km away. This caused outrage, with rights groups and campaigners calling the deal cruel, saying the asylum seekers who come to the UK have already faced gruelling and treacherous journeys and shouldn’t be sent to another country for their papers to be proc...

WARNING: Some might find the language in this episode upsetting. In February 2020 a video of African children speaking Chinese went viral. In the clip, the children are seen cheering and dancing while repeating words from an unseen male voice in the background. Some of the language used in that viral video are offensive and derogatory. In the short clip, the children, all dressed in similar red co...

Funerals have begun for some of the forty people killed after armed men burst into a Catholic church in the town of Owo in the South West of Nigeria – shooting anyone who moved, and setting off explosives. The town’s medical facility has been overwhelmed with casualties – many of whom had been shot. The authorities say they suspect the extremist group Islamic State West Africa Province carried out...

Earlier this week, two brothers - Atul and Rajesh - were arrested in Dubai. For years the businessmen’s close relationship with politicians in South Africa has caused controversy. And they have been accused of allegedly bribing officials to secure lucrative state contracts during the rule of former President Zuma. The Gupta’s have always denied any wrongdoing. But South Africa is now seeking to ex...

With a population of at least 20 million residents and with close to no proper city planning, Lagos is often plagued with intense traffic jams and locals often turn to commercial motorbike taxis, known locally as okada, or its 2-wheeled equivalent, keke, to get around quickly. But now due to what Lagos authorities are calling safety concerns, Nigeria’s largest city has yet again banned the okadas...

Monkeypox was first detected in Nigeria and the DRC in the 1970s. Since then there’ve been a number of cases in West African countries including Cameroon, the Central Africa Republic and Sierra Leone – but it hasn’t been a problem for much of the rest of the continent – and compared to major killers like malaria, HIV and TB, very few people actually die from it. And yet the World Health Organisati...

“Great plan on paper. Poor implementation. I wish things could get better… I remember when I was growing up my Grandfather used to work for the railways corporation and it was prestigious to work for the railways. He would work across Kenya, go to Tanzania and that’s not possible now.” In 2004, an East African Community Summit announced a plan to invest in and integrate railway lines and services...

There have been a series of suicides in the Kenyan police force in the last year - at the rate of at least one or two each month. And last month, Kenya’s Inspector General of Police announced that nearly 2,000 officers weren’t fit for service – due to issues with their mental health. That's 2,000 officers who carry guns. So how can the police service tackle these issues – for the welfare of its of...

Since 2014, Malawi has suffered a wave of assaults against people with albinism. In that time more than 40 people with the condition have been murdered. In many of the cases, these killings are motivated by the baseless belief that the body parts bring wealth and luck. Just this week, twelve people, including a priest, a hospital worker and a police officer, appeared in court for the murder of a m...

Niger is reported to be building a drone base and taking delivery of Bayraktar TB2 drones from Turkey. The pilotless aircraft were used to great effect by Ukraine in the weeks after Russia invaded. And Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the drones will “increase the military and security capacity” of Niger. Niger is often listed among the very poorest countries in the world and is dealin...

Rebel groups and violent conflicts are far too common in the Democratic Republic of Congo. At the heart of this violence are continuing wars that are fuelled by the country’s vast mineral wealth, with various groups taking advantage of the anarchy to plunder copper, cobalt, gold and diamonds. Between 1994 and 2003, millions of people were killed or forced to flee from conflicts that continuously l...

In their quest to try and find ways to control what they are calling an “overpopulation” of its elephants, Zimbabwe recently held a summit, in the hopes to garner support to lift the ban on the ivory trade. Zimbabwe says it’s sitting on an ivory stockpile of more than 130,000 tonnes which could net them more than half a billion dollars and which in turn could help develop the country with building...

Over the last month or so, two successive floods have hammered South Africa’s KwaZulu Natal province. More than 400 people have lost their lives, and roads, bridges and schools are amongst the infrastructure damaged in what has been described as the biggest natural disaster of post-apartheid South Africa. But why has the region been so badly impacted by this flooding? Is this the ‘new-normal’ beca...

In April, the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal experienced a period of heavy rainfall. It caused flooding that killed more than 400 people. Many are still unaccounted for and tens of thousands were made homeless. In recent days, the rains have returned putting more people in danger and without homes. But why has the flooding been so devastating? Africa Daily’s Mpho Lakaje has travelled to t...

“I lost a schoolgirl. Eleven-year-old. My first-born daughter. She was just killed in cold blood – simply because of her ethnicity.” Marsabit in Kenya is a frontier district which borders Ethiopia. Because it’s arid, water is scarce – and over the years the two main communities living there have clashed over resources and politics. But now the violence has reached a new level: with children and ci...

Despite it being a regular bodily function, menstruation isn’t often talked about. But it’s something that is causing huge problems for many women on the continent. It’s estimated that one in ten girls miss school while they’re on their period And the cost of sanitary products can make them too expensive for many. At the end of this week, World Menstural Hygiene Day is encouraging us all to think...

Doormen hassling you, endless questioning and a ban on visitors. These are the challenges faced daily by single women renting in Egypt. And this is after they've managed to clinch a deal with an amenable landlord. Many refuse to let to single women, arguing it could damage their building’s reputation or ruffle its other residents’ moral feathers. And boyfriends? Out of the question. So, why is it...

“None of the politicians are close to decision making today”. When Guinea’s army toppled the sitting – and unpopular – president Alpha Conde in September last year, people celebrated in the streets. Even opposition politicians expressed a cautious welcome – and supported a transition to civilian rule of over a year or more. But now, eight months on, the army has said it needs 36 months before it h...

They say necessity is the mother of invention… and that seems to be the case for one entrepreneur in Zambia. The country’s reliance on imported foreign fuel has led to years of price hikes and shortages at the petrol pumps – which lead in turn to panic buying. But Mulenga Mulenga kept his head and switched on his brain – using the crises as inspiration for finding a new source of fuel. It’s curren...

Hundreds of US troops could soon be returning to Somalia after President Biden approved their deployment. It's nearly 18 months since American forces left, which was the decision of former President Trump. In that time, the militant group al-Shabab is said to have gained strength and attacks against government and peace keeping forces have increased. It has been a busy few days in Somalia, with a...

“Is she qualified? Absolutely. Is she a good leader? Absolutely.” In the run up to Kenya’s presidential election in August, the two main candidates - Raila Odinga and William Ruto – have been making a lot of noise about making sure that ‘women are at the decision-making table’. So as deadline day approached today, most people expected them both to choose a woman as their running mate. This would h...

Preparations are underway in South Africa for the coronation of Misuzulu Zulu as the new king of the AmaZulu tribe. There was high drama when his succession was announced last year on television – after one of the royal family members stood up and questioned the recognition of the new king. Chaos ensued. But now – as he prepares to ascend the throne, Africa Daily looks at the part monarchies play...

If all goes to plan, Somalis will wake up to a newly elected president on Monday morning. But they won’t have had the chance to vote for them. Their leader will be chosen by members of parliament gathered at secure location in Mogadishu airport. And those MPs were chosen by clan elders and local parliaments – not by popular vote. It means that the election process is being watched just a closely a...

On Sunday, members of parliament in Somalia will gather in a hangar at an airport outside the capital Mogadishu. They’re meeting to decide who will be the next president. The MPs themselves were only sworn in last month, after elections were postponed for more than a year. But even with a vote about to take place, most Somalis won’t get to cast a ballot. The electoral system in Somalia is unique,...

Maryben Omollo is the CEO Greenseal Limited, a cleaning and pest control startup in Kenya. But it’s a business with a difference… only employing and supporting single parents. Maryben faced harassment and struggled to find work after she got pregnant and the father left her. She faced depression and even attempted suicide. But her mental health has improved and she’s now set up her business and is...