A South African woman, Racquel "Kelly" Smith, her boyfriend Jacquen Appollis and their friend Steveno van Rhyn have been given life sentences after being convicted of trafficking her missing 6-year-old daughter, Joshlin Smith. The case has captivated and horrified audiences around the world. It has also highlighted the wider issue of human trafficking in South Africa. An anti-trafficking campaigner responds to the rulling and explains the extend of problem in the country. Also, Kenya and Mayotte...
May 30, 2025•32 min
US embassies globally have halted student visa appointments, as social media vetting expands. How is Africa affected? Why is Zimbabwe's controversial radio tax now being implemented? And how can AI predict and prevent child malnutrition in Kenya? Presenter: Richard Kagoe Producers: Yvette Twagiramariya and Bella Hassan Technical Producer: Chris Kouzaris Senior Producer: Paul Bakibinga Editors: Andre Lombard and Alice Muthengi
May 29, 2025•27 min
Russia's 13th International Security Summit in Moscow attracts over forty African leaders. How significant is it and what does it mean for the continent, especially for the Sahel? Also, Boeing seals a deal with the US Department of Justice over the fatal crashes of two 737 Max aircraft that killed hundreds of people. One family who lost their son and daughter-in-law in the 2019 Ethiopian plane crash share their reaction with us. And the impact of the temporary closure of Ghana's embassy in US ov...
May 28, 2025•35 min
Uganda cuts military ties with Germany following diplomatic rift. Somalia's government moves to control clan militias fighting al-Shabab - after allegations of serious atrocities. And will Starlink's strategy of 'winning big by thinking small' help them cover the African continent? Presenter: Blessing Aderogba Producers: Bella Hassan, Tom Kavanagh and Yvette Twagiramariya. Technical Producer Chris Ablakwa Senior Producer: Paul Bakibinga Editors: Andre Lombard and Alice Muthengi...
May 27, 2025•28 min
The big stories from across the continent and the African perspective on major global stories. Africa Daily has now closed. You will get Focus on Africa episodes here this week. For future episodes, search for Focus on Africa, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
May 27, 2025•38 sec
“My responsibilities as a captain became more… A player would receive a call telling him he’d lost a brother or a relative or a dear one.” After war broke out in Sudan, the football team Al Hilal Omdurman had to flee from Khartoum like many of those around them. They spent months looking for a new home, but eventually were welcomed to Mauritania where they have played competitively in the league there. They've now finished top of the league with two games to play. In this final episode of Africa...
May 23, 2025•21 min
Today, Africa Daily’s Mpho Lakaje sits down with Johannesburg mother Mankepe Matsoakeletse. Her daughter, seven-year-old Agnes, went missing in August 1989. She hasn’t stopped searching for her. “I do not know if she is alive or struggling or if she is eating. That's why I cannot give up. I cannot forget because I do not know what kind of life she is living where she is, if she is still alive”, she says. This conversation comes as South Africa will be commemorating Child Protection Week, between...
May 22, 2025•20 min
12 year old Mary has spent most of her life in an Internally Displaced People’s camp in north-east Nigeria. Her family were driven out of their village by militants Boko Haram- a group whose exploits have left millions in the region displaced. Over 3 million people have been displaced in Nigeria and more than half of that number are children. This have also contributed to the north’s reputation for having the highest number of children out of school. But over the last year a very different world...
May 21, 2025•21 min
Anyone who has spent time in hospital will know just how vital nurses are. They’re often the people we have the most contact with as they look after our comfort as well as our medical care. But the role of nurses is expanding. They are taking on more medical responsibilities and are becoming leaders in healthcare. Alan Kasujja speaks to Khadija Mohamed Juma, a Kenyan nurse who has been revolutionizing blood donation in the country. And also to Naomi Oyoe Ohene Oti, a nurse from Ghana who has bee...
May 20, 2025•15 min
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains references to violence against children, which some listeners may find distressing. Three young girls - Ingrid Maasdorp, Rosvind Fabian and Beyoncé Kharuxas - were found dead in the Namibian town of Okahandja within weeks of each other. Their deaths, though separate, shared chilling similarities and sparked a wave of grief, protests and urgent calls for justice. What do these tragedies reveal about gender-based violence in Namibia? How are families and comm...
May 19, 2025•22 min
It’s more than six years since Joseph Kabila stepped down as President of the Democratic Republic of Congo…handing over power to Felix Tshisekedi. And yet Mr Kabila’s presence still looms large over politics in the country. On Thursday the Senate in the DRC began to examine an indictment request against Mr Kabila. On today’s episode, a senior member of Mr Kabila’s party responds to the prospect of him losing immunity. And helps us get to the bottom of reports that he has returned to the country....
May 16, 2025•18 min
This week the first group of Afrikaners arrived in the United States, as part of President Donald Trump’s initiative to resettle them in his country. President Trump alleges that this ethnic group is being targeted. “It’s a genocide that’s taking place that you people don’t want to write about. But it’s a terrible thing that’s taking place, and white farmers are being brutally killed and their land is being confiscated in South Africa. And the newspapers and the media, television media doesn’t e...
May 15, 2025•23 min
“Even the patients, their relatives had to carry them on make-shift stretchers trying to escape. We had 38 cholera patients and they all fled. Which means they spread the disease in other areas, and some of them might have died in the bush.” Tensions have escalated in South Sudan in recent weeks after the Vice President was put under house arrest and his key allies were detained. In Upper Nile and Jonglei states, violence between a militia allied to the VP and forces loyal to the President force...
May 14, 2025•21 min
The number of African countries now allowing Elon Musk’s company Starlink to provide internet services has been growing rapidly - six have granted permission in 2025 alone. And there are reports that Uganda might be next. Starlink can be cheaper than some traditional internet providers and has been seen as a way to provide internet access to communities that are hard to reach. But does it come at a cost to governments who might have less control over internet access? And what does it mean for lo...
May 13, 2025•19 min
“90% of Somali people don’t know the value of art. That is the problem.” Maslah Abdi Dahir has been threatened by the Islamist insurgent group Al Shabaab who believe portraiture is ‘haram’ or forbidden under Islam. Other Somalis have told him art is a waste of time with so many people out of work. But the Prime Minister spotted and praised his work and he has 250K followers on TikTok. So what drives the 28 year old founder of Mogadishu’s art centre and school? For today’s Africa Daily, Peter Mus...
May 12, 2025•14 min
The government of Zimbabwe is pressing ahead with compensating white citizens who lost their farms due to the country’s land reform programme. Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube recently told the media that the time has come. “We struck an agreement a few years back and we have now begun to honour that agreement” The controversial law, which was introduced in the year 2000, led to at least 4,000 white citizens being kicked out of their farms to make way for their black counterparts. The then presiden...
May 09, 2025•21 min
“Immediately you say I am menopausal or I’m approaching 40 years, in our culture they will brand you as an old person.” Do you know what the menopause and perimenopause are? It can mean hot flushes, sore limbs, brain fog and depression – but the symptoms are almost as varied as women are. All women will go through it – but many people don’t know anything about it. Two women on the continent who are determined to change that are Irene Ngadire, head of Menopause Initiative Uganda, and Nigerian She...
May 08, 2025•19 min
Cardinals from around the world are meeting at the Vatican to elect the next head of the catholic church in a secret conclave. There are thought to have been three popes from Africa in the past, but the last of those was more than 1,500 years ago. So, could the new pope come from Africa? And what is at stake for the continent as the catholic church chooses its next leader? Alan Kasujja speaks to Reverend Professor Paulinus Odozor, a Professor of Theology and African Studies at Notre Dame Univers...
May 07, 2025•14 min
‘’When the bush is on fire, the chameleon must abandon the walking styles of its ancestors.’’ Save the Children Fund says international aid cuts have significantly impacted school feeding programs in Africa, affecting millions of children who rely on these meals. Across the continent 86 million children benefit from subsidised programmes which make sure that even those below the poverty line can get at least one nutritious meal a day. In this episode of Africa Daily podcast Peter Musembi explore...
May 06, 2025•19 min
Aano Qabiil - or Clan Vengeance - is a short film which explores the vendettas between clans which have led to many senseless deaths in Somalia. One of the actors in the film is veteran poet and songwriter, Guudey Mohamed Geedi. He plays a man who tries to intervene to stop the owner of the teashop from being killed by a rival clan. After filming finished, Guudey Mohamed Geedi went to his village outside Warsheikh, in the Middle Shabelle region, to see his family. He was shot dead outside his ho...
May 05, 2025•15 min
“This was on another level, but a typical Nigerian wedding is usually big, bold, and rich in tradition and culture - it's a show of our heritage.” When Tanzanian music star Juma Jux married Nigerian influencer Priscilla Ojo, the hashtag #JP2025 took over social media feeds across Africa and beyond. Their lavish Lagos wedding had flamboyant fashion, a 15-foot cake entrance, and a celebrity-filled guestlist. It became one of the continent's most talked-about weddings. But in times of economic hard...
May 02, 2025•21 min
In January 2024, protests erupted across Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa as Kenyans demanded justice for women killed in a wave of femicides. The government promised action, launching a 90 day task force to deliver recommendations to President William Ruto. But that deadline has long passed and there’s still no clear plan. BBC Africa Daily’s Mpho Lakaje speaks to feminist activist Editar Ochieng and policy expert Kavinya Makau to explore why progress has stalled, what’s happening behind the scenes a...
May 01, 2025•19 min
”It has been a week and a half since we heard that Joseph Kabila was leaving South Africa for DRC. Since then, however, we haven’t heard much more about whether he arrived in Goma” - Goma resident. Last week the news that former President Joseph Kabila had returned to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo grabbed the attention of the world’s media. But why has his presence in that part of the country been such a hot topic, even against the backdrop of a potential, imminent deal between the go...
Apr 30, 2025•19 min
“I can see that president Trump is trying to play some kind of a chess [game] to put the other nations in the context of a prisoner’s dilemma to say, okay, if I do this, what happens? If I do that, what happens?” - Professor Gowokani Chijere Chirwa, University of Malawi This week, American president Donald Trump will mark 100 days in office. His second tenure at the White House has been marred by controversial Executive Orders and heated exchanges with foreign governments. Some of his decisions,...
Apr 29, 2025•16 min
“This generation of storytellers are ageing. Our elders are ageing. I am the one who needs to start this preservation process — at least in my family,” says Hana Baba, a Sudanese-American journalist and podcaster. Her new podcast, Folktales from Sudan, brings ancient Arabic fables to life in English for the first time. It’s aimed at young people in the diaspora who may not speak the language or have lost their connection to Sudanese traditions. As conflict continues to devastate Sudan and displa...
Apr 28, 2025•20 min
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 Kasujja speaks to BBC Arabic’s Ahmed Rouaba to unpack what’s fuelling the latest fallout between the two c...
Apr 25, 2025•16 min
“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 and several other issues. This comes a few days after Ramaphosa had a telephone conversation with Rus...
Apr 24, 2025•20 min
“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 bombardment. And in other parts of the continent there are other equally bloody and apparently unresolv...
Apr 23, 2025•15 min
“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 and the rights of the poor and suffering central to his papacy. So when the news of his death was ann...
Apr 22, 2025•16 min
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 western diet to the traditional Kilimanjaro diet, their health markers improved in as little as two week...
Apr 21, 2025•15 min
