Africa

Zambia withdraw four US-based players for an upcoming tournament in China because of “travel measures” introduced by Donald Trump’s administration.

29 March 2025ShareSaveAnne Soy & Lucy FlemingBBC News, Nairobi & LondonShareSaveCaptain Serhiy Muzyka, who started his career in the Soviet army, never dreamt that his final deployment before heading into retirement after 43 years piloting helicopters would be play out like a Tom Cruise movie.
The 60-year-old Ukrainian ended up in a terrifying and deadly situation in South Sudan, when what seemed like a routine operation for the UN earlier this month turned into the most dramatic of his career.
During his military service – which included 20 years in the Ukrainian army – he served in Afghanistan and other dangerous places. He also encountered other danger zones during his work as a private contractor, including rescuing victims of a plane crash in Somalia in 2015.
But the mission to evacuate wounded soldiers from a military base in Nasir, in South Sudan's northern state of Upper Nile, is his most memorable.
A shoot-out at the base after he arrived ended up claiming the lives of a ..

30 March 2025ShareSaveAdaobi Tricia NwaubaniLetter from Africa series, AbujaShareSaveFor many years, well-off Nigerians have sent their children to prestigious British boarding schools – but now some of those institutions are setting up campuses in Africa's most populous nation.
Last year, Charterhouse launched a primary school in the city of Lagos and will open a secondary school this September.
Rugby School will also begin offering secondary education in September. Other well-known institutions, such as Millfield, Wellington College and Harrow, are also exploring opportunities in Nigeria.
This obviously all comes with a price tag for Nigerian parents – but the country's well-heeled elite have historically sent their children to the UK for secondary education, drawn to the British curriculum's rigour, prestige and global opportunities.
“I'm actually excited about it,” says Karima Oyede, a British-Nigerian management consultant, whose son is currently in year 10 at ..

30 March 2025ShareSaveTamasin FordBBC Global Disinformation Unit and Africa EyeShareSaveRecruitment agents who scam foreign nationals applying to work in the UK care sector have been exposed by BBC secret filming.
One of the rogue agents is a Nigerian doctor who has worked for the NHS in the field of psychiatry.
The Home Office has acknowledged the system is open to abuse, but the BBC World Service's investigation shows the apparent ease with which these agents can scam people, avoid detection, and continue to profit.
Our secret filming reveals agents' tactics, including:
Illegally selling jobs in UK care companiesDevising fake payroll schemes to conceal that some jobs do not existShifting from care to other sectors, like construction, that also face staff shortagesReports of immigration scams have increased since a government visa scheme – originally designed to let foreign medical professionals work in the UK – was broadened in 2022 to include care workers.
To apply for the..

1 April 2025ShareSaveWedaeli ChibelushiBBC NewsShareSaveBooming gunfire, vibrant gowns and blaring trumpets have animated the Nigerian city of Dutse during the durbar.
This is a days-long horse parade held to mark Eid al-Fitr, a celebration for the end of the Ramadan.
Emirs – traditional Islamic leaders – usually parade through their territories with a huge procession of horseback riders.
On Monday, Emir of Dutse Hameem Nuhu Sunusi rode on a white stallion, shielded from the sun by a patterned blue parasol.
The emir told the AFP news agency that the festival showcases Nigeria's rich traditions.
According to the UN's cultural organisation, the durbar is “a dexterous display of horsemanship and brilliant exhibition of a people's… heritage”.
Royal hunters fired guns on Monday to announce the emir's approach.
Dutse is just one area in Nigeria's majority-Muslim north holding a durbar – a centuries-old tradition. The festival takes places twice a year – during th..

1 April 2025ShareSaveBarbara Plett UsherBBC News, KhartoumShareSaveThe battered heart of Khartoum lies eerily quiet now, after weeks of intense urban combat in the Sudanese capital.
We entered the city just days after Sudan's army recaptured it from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the culmination of a six-month offensive through the central part of the country.
Once the commercial heart and seat of Sudan's government, Khartoum is now a burnt-out shell.
Taking back the capital was a turning point in the two-year civil war, which erupted out of a power struggle between the army and the RSF, and is estimated to have claimed at least 150,000 lives.
But – as celebrations for Eid spill out into the capital's streets and people here consider the war to be over – it is not clear what direction the conflict will take now.
We drove first to the presidential palace, which the RSF seized early in the war.
It was an important base for the paramilitary fighters.
The floor..

3 April 2025ShareSaveWycliffe Muia & Damian ZaneBBC NewsShareSaveJeans form a part of Lesotho's textile exports to the US Lesotho was slapped with the White House's highest tariff rates in the list released by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
Americans bringing goods in from the small southern African country will have to pay an additional 50% import tax.
The US has a big trade deficit with Lesotho, which sells textiles – including jeans – and diamonds to America.
The 50% rate for Lesotho was part of what Trump described as “reciprocal tariffs” imposed on imports from dozens of countries, including 20 in Africa. All nations face a minimum rate of 10%.
Responding to the news, Lesotho's Trade Minister Mokhethi Shelile said his government would send a delegation to Washington to argue against the new trade measure.
“My biggest concern was the immediate closure of factories and job losses,” the AFP news agency quotes him as telling journalists on Thursday…

3 April 2025ShareSaveFarouk ChothiaBBC NewsShareSaveDA leader John Steenhuisen pictured with President Ramaphosa (L) and Deputy President Paul Mashatile (R) not long after their coalition was formedSouth Africa's coalition government is on shaky ground, with the sharp divisions between its two biggest parties – the African National Congress (ANC) and Democratic Alliance (DA) – exposed in a crucial vote on the national budget.
The centre-right DA voted against the fiscal framework – a key part of the budget – after rejecting an increase in VAT, and demanding a cut in spending across all government departments.
The ANC, which positions itself as a centre-left party, refused to bow to what it called the DA's demand for an “austerity budget”.
It demonstrated its political acumen by winning the support of a slew of smaller parties – both inside and outside government – to get the fiscal framework through parliament by 194 votes to 182.
The DA filed papers in court to challenge t..

A selection of the week’s best photos from across the African continent and beyond.

2 days agoShareSaveChiamaka EnenduBBC NewsShareSaveMassad Boulos has business interests in AfricaThe US and the Democratic Republic of Congo are in talks over a minerals deal in the resource-rich central African nation, according to a senior US official.
“You have heard about a minerals agreement. We have reviewed the Congo's proposal. I am happy to announce that the president and I have agreed on a path forward for its development,” US senior adviser for Africa, Massad Boulos, said after meeting Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi in Kinshasa.
Mr Boulos, who is Tiffany Trump's father-in-law, did not expand further on the proposals, but did indicate the involvement of US firms.
“Rest assured, American companies are operating transparently and will stimulate local economies,” he said.
DR Congo, home to vast natural reserves like lithium which is essential for battery and electric vehicle production, has been battling Rwandan-backed M23 rebels, who have seized large are..