Across Africa

Clarisse Fortuné brings you a round-up of society, culture and hot topics from across the continent. This week on Across Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia are running on empty as drought dries up their shared hydroelectric dam. Now they must grapple with how to ensure their energy futures. On the other side of the continent, Sierra Leone is turning to natural defences to preserve its threatened coastline and the communities that live along it. Plus, Kenya's Ice Lions roar on the rink.

In this week's Across Africa, Georja Calvin-Smith speaks to Sudanese businessman Mo Ibrahim about the 2024 Ibrahim Index of African Governance and his immense sadness at the international community's failure to do more to protect Sudanese civilians caught up in one of the world's worst wars. 

FRANCE 24's Georja Calvin-Smith brings you a round-up of society, culture and hot topics from the continent. This week sees a big step for DR Congo's digital sovereignty as it inaugurates its first-ever data centre. Plus, an oil refinery in Nigeria could be a game changer for the continent's biggest oil producer as it finally starts supplying fuel to petrol-starved local markets.

FRANCE 24's Georja Calvin-Smith brings you a round-up of society, culture and hot topics from the continent. This week, the race to rebuild the Libyan city of Derna continues, and South Africa is in a spin over the potential professionalisation of previously outlawed motorsports.

Africa’s sporting elite have been showcasing their prowess at The Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. But sport is about more than performance and can have a huge social impact. For the first Across Africa after the summer break, Georja Calvin-Smith speaks to Remy Rioux, head of France’s Development Agency (AFD), about how big league investment in sport can help kick Africa's transformation up a notch.

In an interview with FRANCE 24 in Geneva, the head of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, speaks to Georja Calvin-Smith about her take on the vital components of Africa's trade and development roadmap.

Since a fragile 2022 peace deal ended Ethiopia's two-year war between Tigrayan fighters and federal forces, there are signs of recovery in the capital of Tigray. Also, Zanzibar commemorates the abolition of slavery. The island was a key stopping-off point for Arab slavers across East Africa for hundreds of years.

Benin encourages members of the African diaspora to call its shores home by offering citizenship to descendants of those who left the continent far in the past. Also, the Olympic flame symbolises the light of spirit, knowledge and life. Oumar Diemé, a Senegalese Olympic torch bearer and a former infantryman, has all of these qualities in abundance. The 90-year-old fought for France during both world wars. 

This week, a new law paving the way for the introduction of universal healthcare in South Africa both excites and divides. Also, ed tech has the potential to close education gaps in DR Congo. One digital learning portal is going down well with kids, but is struggling to attract the investment it needs to scale up. 

Northern Nigerian communities who have lost faith in the struggling security forces' ability to protect them are increasingly setting up vigilante groups to battle insurgents themselves. Also, rap is gaining ground in Egypt and although the scene is still overwhelmingly dominated by men, women are increasingly picking up the mic. And Kenya's birds of prey are falling prey to encroaching human activity. Some conservationists fear it may be too late to roll back the damage.