“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 Russia’s president Vladimir Putin about the conflict.

Today, Africa Daily’s Alan Kasujja attempts to understand if the southern African nation has what it takes to help end the conflict which started in February 2022.

Some political observers argue that it will be a tricky assignment for Ramaphosa, considering his close proximity to Putin.

Relations between Russia and South Africa date back to the years of apartheid, when the then Soviet Union threw its weight behind black liberation movements.

“Our goal is to... silence the guns.”

“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 announced yesterday, it was greeted by African Catholics with both sadness, but also prayers of thanks for his life.

For today’s Africa Daily, Alan Kasujja hears from two Congolese people who met the pope as students, Mpongo Simon and Christine Mwanini, and speaks to Father Desmond Nair, a Catholic Priest of the Archdiocese of Durban, South Africa.

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 weeks. The researchers say they believe traditional foods from throughout the continent could have a similar impact.

So could the ‘African Heritage Diet’ be the new Mediterranean diet which helps us all get healthier?

Today on the podcast, Mpho Lakaje speaks with the team from Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College which conducted the research: Dr Godfrey Temba, an expert in nutrition, and members of his research team, Dr. Mary Mosha and Dr Vesla Kullaya.

“We must, as Africans, begin to solve some of our problems ourselves, because we have more local context, the nuances. It’s our people, it’s our community.”

AI is transforming everything - from how we search information online to how we access healthcare.

It’s also an industry that is projected to generate nearly $3 trillion for the African continent by 2030.

But without African data, languages and culture, the risks are high, some experts warn, of a new kind of colonisation - led by algorithms.

Chido Dzinotyiwei’s ‘Vambo AI’ is building African language models, while Ifeoluwa Dare-Johnson’s ‘Healthtracka’ is using AI to expand healthcare access in Nigeria.

BBC Africa Daily’s Peter Musembi spoke to the two innovators to explore how their work is shaping a future that reflects Africa’s needs.

For decades, wealthy Nigerian families have looked to the UK for elite education - drawn to what they see as prestige, global connections, and academic rigour.

But that journey overseas may no longer be necessary. Top British boarding schools like Charterhouse and Rugby are now opening campuses in Nigeria, with others - including Harrow and Millfield - exploring similar moves.

But what’s behind this growing trend - and is it being embraced or viewed with caution by parents?

Mpho Lakaje speaks with parent Lucy Onoriode Okeke, as well as Dr Joy Isa from Rugby School Nigeria, to find out what’s driving this shift and what it could mean for the country’s education system.

Bobi Wine says to be an opposition politician in Uganda is to be labelled and treated as a terrorist. He’s been beaten, teargassed, arrested and shot at.

So why does he want he want to be a presidential candidate in elections scheduled to take place in 2026?

He was in London recently and came to our studio to talk to Africa Daily’s Victoria Uwonkunda about why he wants to change Uganda, corruption and his online spat with the chief of the country’s armed forces.

We also hear from Ugandan government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo.

“Right now we’re receiving hundreds of patients and victims from ZamZam camp. You can hear the sounds of children… they do not belong to any military.”

Today marks two years since war first broke out in Sudan, and in the second of two podcasts on the state of the war, we turn our attention to Darfur.

Over the last few days, attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on the Zamzam camp, near the city of El Fasher in North Darfur, have intensified, and the RSF say they have taken control. Over 700,000 people already displaced by the fighting have been taking shelter there.

The UN says more than 100 civilians have died in these attacks - including at least 20 children. The aid group Relief International, said its entire staff of 9 hospital employees - including the head doctor – were shot dead by paramilitaries after they broke into the main camp.

In today’s pod we hear from a member of the Masalit community of El Geneina which faced similar attacks earlier in the war.

The Sudanese capital, Khartoum, April 15th 2023.

Families who’d gathered to celebrate Eid together woke up to gunfire and explosions as a power struggle erupted between two factions of the military led government. There were clashes at the presidential palace, at the airport and at the TV station.

Both sides hoped for a quick win, but it quickly became a war of attrition, and in the two years since, the Sudanese people have suffered sexual violence, hunger, displacement and the loss of everything they hold dear. The UNHCR says nearly 13 million people have been displaced by the conflict.

In the first of a series of two podcasts to mark the anniversary, Mpho Lakaje talks to Sudan’s former deputy intelligence chief, analyst Dr Majak D’Agoot, and asks if we are now in a stalemate, and what the aims of the two sides are.

“We want to change the narrative, so we as Africans can stop being portrayed only as the poacher, the ranger, the guide, or are people who sing for you when you jump off your safari vehicle.