Spotlight on Africa

This week: the start of Jean-Pierre Bemba's war crimes trial; fundraising for the trial of former Chadian president Hissène Habré; a northern rival for Nigerian presidential candidate Goodluck Jonathan; and Zimbabwe’s Vice President Morgan Tsvangirai takes President Robert Mugabe to court for breaching the country’s power-sharing deal.

Ethnic clashes in Guinea cast a pall over victory celebration after the election of the country's first democratically picked leader, Madagascar's referendum day coup and journey's end for Victor Bout, extradited to the United States to face terrorism charges.

France's highest appeals court approves a case against three African presidents over their apparently ill-gotten wealth, elections in Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire and the fining of a South African hospital which performed kidney transplants with organs extracted from poor people.

Spotlight this week looks at Côte d'Ivoire's landmark elections; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's move to cleanse her image ahead of next year's Liberian elections; the continuing saga of Kenya's truth and reconciliation commission following Bethuel Kiplagat's decision to step down; and the extradition to the Hague of FDLR leader Calixthe Mbarushimana.

This week in Spotlight on Africa, RFI's William Niba highlights Guinea's troubled process to pick its first democratically-elected president, Khartoum's campaign to block a self-determination referendum in oil-rich Abyei, preparations for Uganda's upcoming presidential elections and Kenya's latest graft scandal.

Efforts to salvage Guinea's troubled electoral process; the failed bid by DRC ex-Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba to avoid standing trial at the Hague; Unesco's suspension of the Obiang Nguema science prize; and the troubles of Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye as he tried to file a complaint with the electoral commission ahead of next year's presidential elections.

This week, international efforts to prosecute those responsible for crimes against humanity in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo coincided with the arrest of a Rwandan opposition leader in Kigali. The uncertainty over Sudan's referendum on southern independence continued; and Nelson Mandela offered an unprecedented insight into his personal life with the publication of his letters and diaries.

This week’s Spotlight on Africa looks at the diplomatic face-off in Sudan as United Nations envoys put pressure on Omar al-Beshir's government to make sure the referendum on southern independence goes ahead on schedule. And in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a rebel group hands over lieutenant colonel Mayele to authorities, one of its the leaders who instigated mass rapes earlier this year.

This week: the escalating stand-off between the UN and seven Great Lakes countries linked to genocide in DR Congo; twin bombings at Nigeria's national day celebrations; and a signal from Al-Qaeda that the seven hostages taken from Niger are alive.

This week: French hostage crisis in west Africa, UN efforts to redeem the faltering Millenium Development Goals, South African President Jacob Zuma's tug of war with leftists in his party, and the timetabling problems facing next year's presidential elections in Nigeria.