Talking Africa

Mark Suzman is the CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.He sits astride one of the biggest charitable endeavours on the planet, a $50bn endowment that has in the last 18 months thrown itself at the Covid-19 pandemic, funding all manner of research and vaccine trials, and now the COVAX scheme itself.In this conversation with Nicholas Norbrook, he talks through the thorny nature of global collective action problems, and why the world should fund African vaccines shots to avoid a costly new Covid-19 variant.

The European Union has an ambitious trillion dollar plan to slash emissions by over 50% from 1990 levels by 2030. This can present opportunities to African countries... but also threats. Will it lock African farmers out of EU markets? Will it lock finance out of dirty energy projects too soon?Zainab Usman of the Carnegie Endowment and Olumide Abimbola of the Africa Policy Research Centre join The Africa's Report's Nicholas Norbrook

What next for Al Shabaab, the insurgent group that attacked Palma in the northern Mozambique province of Cabo Delgado in March? Is South Africa on the hook financially and now militarily? What has a decade of drug money done to local politics?Dino Mahtani, International Crisis Group's Deputy Director for Africa, takes us on a deep dive into Mozambique's thorny security imbroglio. With Nicholas Norbrook and Patrick Smith.

On 12 August, Zambians go to the polls to vote in their next president.Zambia’s ruling party, the Patriotic Front, confirmed Edgar Lungu in April as its candidate in this year's polls.With electoral campaigns now open since 21 May, 19 candidates have so far presented themselves as contenders against Lungu.But one man in particular is looking to take over from the incumbent president.He's hoping the sixth time will be a charm.In this week's Talking Africa, we speak to Hakainde Hichilema, Zambia's main opposition candidate, of the United Party for National Development.For more, head to www.theafricareport.com

Today Nigeria’s political system is more fiercely contested than ever with some militants trying to break up the federation – to what extent do these schisms have their roots in the extreme violence of Britain’s commercial exploitation of the territory and its colonial conquest ?To tackle this question, Talking Africa podcast speaks to Max Siollun, author of  What Britain Did To Nigeria; Barnaby Phillips, author of Loot : Britain and the Benin Bronzes , and Funmi Adebayo, an economist and publisher of the Black Monologues podcast series.This week's Talking Africa is mediated by Patrick Smith. For more, head to www.theafricareport.com

Former cabinet minister, co-ordinator of the #BringBankOurGirls campaign, VP at the World Bank... the multi-talented Obiageli Ezekwesili discusses why Nigeria's political elite missed a golden moment to create a nation, rather than just a country.For more, head to www.theafricareport.com

When veteran correspondent Michela Wrong started researching her book, ‘Do Not Disturb – the story of a political murder and an African regime gone bad’ on the killing of Rwanda’s spymaster Patrick Karegeya, she knew it was going to prompt fierce arguments about President Paul Kagame’s record and the country’s direction.In this special edition of the Talking Africa podcast, Patrick Smith brings together Michela Wrong and Kenyan writer and historian Parselelo Kantai to discuss the issues raised in the book for Rwanda and the wider region.

A report published by US-based the World Peace Foundation stresses the looming famine disaster in Ethiopia's Tigray if the fighting does not stop.Since the first foray into the Tigray by the Ethiopian government in Addis Ababa back in November, the following months have seen an entirely man-made humanitarian crisis unfold.This report documents how both Ethiopian and Eritrean elements in this Tigray war have single-handedly dismantled the region's economic and food system.But this can be stopped if the majority of the Tigrayan people, many of whom are are smallholder farmers, are able to farm in time for the rains in June.For more on the report's findings, we speak to Alex de Waal, the executive director of the WFP in this week's podcast with Patrick Smith.

A recent report released by the Nigeria-based Global Rights organisation, entitled 'Mass Atrocities 2020 Tracking' states 4,556 people were killed in 2020 between January and December.That's a 43% jump from the number of casualties in 2019. Of that number, 3,188 were civilians, and 698 were state security agents.Borno state in the North East had the highest number of fatalities followed by Kaduna state in the North West.As the authors of the report point out: "[...] The swiftest method for determining a nation's propensity for violence, is to measure how its most vulnerable are faring."Our podcast this week, mediated by Patrick Smith, will speak to two contributors to the report on Nigeria’s proliferating security clashes to better understand what has led to this spike in violence, and what can be done to address them.

In this week’s episode we’ll be visiting a dark moment in the history of Niger. It's a moment that few talk about. yet alone know about.Known as the Voulet-Chanoine mission, it was led by captain Paul Voulet in 1898. in just a few months, he spearheaded a campaign of terror as he made his way towards lake chad, in an effort to unite all of france’s territories in west Africa. Nearly a year later, the expedition ended. but the damage was done. and the scars are still felt to this day.In a feature-length documentary called ‘African Apocalypse, Femi Nyader and Rob Lemkin retrace the path of Voulet and meet the people who still share the stories of their families who survived the campaign. We speak to them about their visual journey.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which came into effect at the beginning of the year, has been heralded as a major step in increasing intra-continental trade with the potential to stimulate growth, industrialisation and generate an additional $450 billion for African countries by 2035.But connectivity issues, including weak transport infrastructure and the added costs that come with it, have been flagged as a significant challenge to the success of the initiative across the continent. Liberia will be no exception, given the deplorable state of much of its road network, with motorbikes the primary means of transporting goods and passengers in rural areas.We follow cocoa traders and farmers, as they struggle to move their crop from harvest to port.

Biden has also rescinded the Visa Ban that has caused so much suffering for African students and their families.But on the big picture questions: the relationship with China, the investment in African security challenges, the way in which the US uses its economic weight to extract political concessions from African regimes, will there be any change? In partnership with Invest Africa, we talk to four experts:Amaka Anku, Practice Head, Africa, Eurasia GroupJudd Devermont, Director, Africa Program, CSISW. Gyude Moore, Senior Policy Fellow, Center for Global DevelopmentAubrey Hruby, Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council

January 25 2020 marks the ten year anniversary of Egypt’s revolution in 2011. It put in motion an end to the 29-year rule of Hosni Mubarak. But looking back to the start of those unprecedented protests, was it all in naught or did some good come out of it?In this podcast, we'll explore those questions from three Egyptians who all participated in the revolution in their own way:Mohamed Abdelfattah, a journalist who was awarded the International Press Freedom award by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression for his work during the revolution.Nadia Idle a writer and activist from London and Cairo. She edited 'Tweets from Tahrir', a book that tells the story of the Egyptian uprising in tweets, published March 2011.*Amira (name changed for security reasons), a financial analyst living in Europe who participated later on in the protests and helped to establish the Social Democratic Party.The discussion is moderated by Anne-Marie Bissada.

Nigeria's turbulent and hamstrung history has plenty to tell us about the current malaise. And, as says writer Maya Angelou, "If you don't know where you have come from, you don't know where you are going." That is what Nigerian authors Feyi Fawehinmi and Fola Fagbule had in mind when they wrote Formation: The Making Of Nigeria from Jihad to Amalgamation.Likewise the former US Ambassador to Nigeria John Campbell, with a new book Nigeria and the Nation-State: Rethinking Diplomacy with the Post-Colonial World, says that if you want to reform Nigeria, you have to understand the forces that shape it.From the early 1800s, when Usman Dan Fodio created his Caliphate in Sokoto, through the flowering of city-states like Abeokuta -- famous for producing so many of Nigeria's elite politicians and cultural icons from Olusegun Obasanjo to Fela Kuti -- to the eventual hitching together of the Northern and Southern Protectorates into the formation that is now known as Nigeria.A conversation with the authors, Patrick Smith a

A surge of attacks linked to Zimbabwe's growing artisanal mining sector, has killed hundreds of miners.In this week's Talking Africa podcast, we speak to Piers Pigou, one of the authors of the International Crisis Group has just published a report called 'All That Glitters is Not Gold: Turmoil in Zimbabwe’s Mining Sector' that delves into illicit mines of the country and particularly those toiling for gold.

In this takeover episode, Ohenaba Ama Nti Osei speaks to leading Nigerian banker and CEO, Toyin Sanni.From her early days in the industry, to the battles and challenges that made her grow, Sanni has straddled both worlds, from Group CEO at one of Nigeria's largest investment banks, to founder of a new venture, Emerging Capital Africa.From the insider battles to institutionalise processes within a big corporation, to the battle to convince investors at the head of a brand new company, Sanni's real message is: just get started.This episode is produced partnership with our flagship event, Women Working For Change => find out more here: https://www.wearewfc.com/

What is next after Côte d'Ivoire's elections? President Ouattara was comfortably re-elected; but with the opposition claiming constitutional foul, and ex-Premier Guillaume Soro calling for a mutiny in the army, things are fragile.A wide-ranging conversation with Ivorian development expert Eric Kacou about the pressing need for political dialogue and economic progress in the country and wider region.

Forces unleashed against Nigeria's #EndSARS protestors suggest panicking politicians trying to manage a modern movement with the toolkit of the 1980s.They are unlikely to get the toothpaste back in the tube. But the amorphous leadership of the movement will need to avoid getting sucked into sectarian dynamics, and get ready for a marathon not a sprint.This is our 100th episode! If you enjoy it, get it touch to suggest guests or panel ideas at feedback@theafricareport.com - the best ones will be drawn from a hat, and read out on the show.

As head of the Rockefeller Foundation in Africa, William Asiko is on a mission. He believes that agriculture can play a transformational role, but only when all stakeholders are playing their part. The state, unfashionable as it is, is a critical component in helping structure rural markets; and helping farmers access the value under their soil.

With just a few days to go before the World Trade Organisation narrow the field of candidates from five to just two, here is a conversation with Kenya's candidate, Amina Mohamed.But in a world where economic nationalism and protectionism are the order of the day, what role for the WTO?