As climate talks enter their second week in Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, MICHAEL USI, Malawi's Vice President, says it's time to get serious about past pledges. And Kenyan pastoralist CHARLES EKALELE tells us why those pledges matter. Changing weather patterns in Turkana County are making people in his community poorer. Africa's Last Colony. As the US, Spain and most recently France add their support to Morocco's claim over Western Sahara, we ask has the Polisario Front given up on its idea of...

As Botswana's new government begins its work, former president IAN KHAMA, reflects on the big political changes in his country as the party of independence - his father's party - the BDP is swept away. He discusses the current state of his country, with high unemployment, low growth and a widening gap between rich and poor. He outlines possible first steps for the new UDC administration of president DUMA BOKO. The former president again acknowledges his poor judgement in appointing his...

We ask political analyst, ADAM MFUNDISI, about the challenges ahead for Botswana's new president DUMA BOKO. He tells us the country is in 'an undeclared recession' brought about by lacklustre diamond sales and corruption. Sudan's war is having horrifying effects on the country's people. The UN has called it 'the world's greatest modern-day famine' with at least 1.5 million people on the brink of starvation. Food is being used as a weapon of war by both sides. More than 10 million people have...

Africa here and Now's PATRICK SMITH has rocked up in Gaborone to gauge the mood in diamond-rich Botswana as people prepare to vote. He finds that this month's election could present the most serious challenge to the ruling party's almost 60 years in power. Have the books been cooked in Mozambique's election? The stakes are high, a $150billion gas project is on the cards. Somaliland- the breakaway republic which has no international recognition - is in the eye of a growing storm in the Horn of...

Talk at this year's General Assembly about reforming the UN has gathered pace. Meeting in the shadow of war: Sudan, Ukraine and the Middle East, the idea of changing the makeup of the Security Council took on more urgency. Support for Africa to get two permanent seats on the Council has grown. We asked Kenya's former UN ambassador, MARTIN KIMANI, if and when that's likely to happen. Ambassador Kimani, now Executive Director of NYU's Centre on International Cooperation, explains the...

The complex web of hostilities in the Horn deepen as Egyptian troops prepare to enter Somalia on peacekeeping duties. Ethiopia makes clear its opposition. Some are warning of a coming proxy war fuelled by Ethio-Egyptian animosity. We get the views of Mogadishu-based journalist MOHAMMED SHEIKH NOR. How would a second Trump administration deal with Africa? A question for former Trump Africa ambassador J.PETER PHAM. Nigerians always have something to say about their president's comings and...

Can Africa's leaders gathering in Beijing for the Forum on the China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) get more out of the relationship than in the past? Historically, China has imported African raw commodities with little or nothing added to the value of the metals and minerals. Now, with demand on the rise for Africa's vast supply of critical metals and minerals that are vital for the transition to net zero carbon emissions, the continent's leaders could demand greater benefits for their own...

Legendary Ghanaian artist, ABLADE GLOVER, talks exclusively to Africa Here and Now on the occasion of his 90th birthday and the opening of his 10th exhibition at London’s October Gallery, Inner Worlds, Outer Journeys. He takes us through seven decades of loading his palette knife with oils to create dense, mainly urban scenes. He explains his love of Accra life and the hustle and bustle. His work has been described as extracting order from disorder. “I seem to study the aesthetic of the...

We talk to ADAMA GAYE, former ECOWAS director of communications, and journalist and Chatham House consulting fellow, PAUL MELLY about the West African bloc’s future as Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali form their own breakaway group. Adama tells us the 15 member ECOWAS is facing a ‘death threat’ because of the loss of three of its founding countries. Senegal’s new president BASSIROU DIOMAYE FAYE is given the job of trying to woo them back to the clan. Has he been given a fool’s errand? Zimbabwe’s...

Battered by drought and flooding, laid low by more than 30 years of civil war, as SOMALIA prepares to accede to a seat on the UN Security Council and joins the East African Community, we ask a senior member of the Prime Minister’s Office could the hostilities between Mogadishu and Addis Ababa over Somaliland descend into all -out war? Plus, why are so many Somali baby girls being named Istanbul? ABDIHAKIM AINTE, Director of Climate Change and Food Security talks to Africa Here and...

In South Africa the race is on to find a government of national unity. Parliament must sit by June 16 to elect a new president. Will the ANC appease the markets and investors by joining with the DA and risk widening the rifts in its ranks? Or will it take the ‘Chernobyl option’ of joining with the leftists of Malema’s EFF and former president Zuma’s MK party? We get the views of lawyer, businessman and author OYAMA MBANDLA whose new book ‘The Soul of a Nation’ reflects on where the ANC has...

Chigozie talks with Donu about his new novel – The Road to The Country – a war novel which documents Nigeria’s Biafran civil war. In a frank exchange, he tells Donu this is the story he has always wanted to tell even though he was born almost two decades after the war ended. He tells us that it was so emotionally challenging to write this book, that he missed his deadline – it took much longer than he had anticipated. The Road to the Country is his third novel, both of his earlier books made...

Kenya’s PRESIDENT WILLIAM RUTO gets the red-carpet treatment in Washington DC. Why has he become the first African leader IN MORE THAN FIFTEEN YEARS to receive the privilege of a state visit to the US? We’re in conversation with Nigerian investigative journalist, DAVID HUNDEYIN about why he fled his country fearing for his life and (CAN LOSE about) the lamentable state of journalism on the continent. David’s new book, Breaking Point, is published by Abibiman. Africa is already the continent...

Africa is the world’s youngest continent with a median age of 19. So why does it have the oldest leaders on the planet? And they tend to stick around. Cameroon’s President Biya – in his 90s – is the world’s oldest leader and has been at the top for 42 years and there are plenty of others in their 70s and 80s. We ask independent researcher, DR JOSEPH ADEBAYO why Africa is a continent for old men.   ZEINAB BADAWI tells us about Africa’s often overlooked ancient civilisations that she has...

Africa Here and Now is back for it's second season with episode one coming next week! We’ll continue looking at the major political and security challenges facing the continent, but we’ll also be looking at what else is going on in Africa including sport, art, film and music, in fact anything that we think you’ll find interesting! Get in touch, let us know what you’d like to hear more of: [email protected] Find us wherever you get your podcasts and on Youtube, Twitter, Instagram...

In this, our 12th Episode we showcase African classical music. TUNDE JEGEDE is a musical maestro who has mastered the cello and the west African kora. He explains how his training in both instruments has inspired him to produce a style of music that combines elements of African and western classical genres resulting in a unique sound that is thrilling global audiences.   Along with some of the finest young musicians on the continent, like DAVID ETIM and VINCENT HAASTRUP,  Tunde has created...

Five months into the war on Gaza, we ask why Egypt is so unwilling to take in desperate Palestinians. Independent Consultant HAFSA HALAWA tells us Cairo fears letting in Islamist militants. Prominent Nigerian political economist KINGSLEY MOGHALU warns the country's economic troubles have already become a political crisis that will only get worse. And a former president contender himself, from the east, we ask if his country will ever vote for an IGBO president. As Ghana hosts the 13th Africa...

South Africa political commentator, MOELETSI MBEKI, is a harsh critic of the ruling ANC's record in office. But, he tells us, that hasn't harmed relations with his big brother, THABO MBEKI, a former South African President. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Former Nigerian President, OLUSEGUN OBASANJO, in an exclusive interview, tells us why Western-style democracy doesn't work for Africa and suggests a traditional system of consensus instead. Political economist, MOELETSI MBEKI, explains why the ANC is facing a drubbing in South Africa's next elections; he pays tribute to OBASANJO, the elder statesman, and tells us he doesn't argue with big brother, THABO MBEKI. Plus, How the fate of the humble mule reached the in-trays of Africa's leaders;...

AfricaHere&NOW's panellist, DONU KOGBARA, tells us of the time she was kidnapped from her home in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. For almost 2 weeks she was kept captive in a tiny hut in a mangrove swamp. She was beaten but developed an empathetic relationship with her captors. She grew to understand the reasons why the young men had taken her by force and were demanding $2 millons for her release. Donu tells us of the impact her kidnapping has had on her life, and on that of her family. Hosted...

Donu and Gary Al Smith enlighten us... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

* We examine the state of ECOWAS, the West African bloc, as Senegal postpones elections and as 3 Sahelian countries announce their decision to leave. ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Dr ABDEL FATAU MUSAH admits that sanctions against Niger were 'not well handled' and that there's now a need for dialogue to get the 3 states back. @DrFatauMusah *Former top tier ZANU PF member, turned independent presidential contender, SAVIOUR KASUKUWERE tells us about the shrinking democratic space...

Mass killings and kidnappings get closer to Abuja, the Nigerian capital. Expert, Dr CHIDI ODINKALU, tells us it's not a matter of failing security forces, it's because of COLLUSION between some senior politicians and armed groups. And DONU, talks about her own terrifying kidnapping ordeal. Plus, Should Africans who collaborated in the trans-Atlantic slave trade also pay reparations, along with their European business partners? One of the questions for British-Ghanaian MP, BELL RIBEIRO ADDY....