Stories tagged "region africa"

One of South Africa's most celebrated anti-apartheid campaigners has died at the age of 91. Helen Suzman passed away at her home in Johannesburg. For 13 years, she was the only member of parliament to openly condemn South Africa's whites-only apartheid regime. Here to talk about her life and legacy is BBC Africa editor Martin Plaut.

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The Somali president, Abdullahi Yusuf, has announced he's resigning. Mr. Yusuf has come under increasing pressure since he tried to sack the Somali prime minister in a power struggle nearly two weeks ago. BBC's Africa editor, Martin Plaut, joins us now to explain more.

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Somali pirates have been grabbing headlines for months for hijacking tanker after tanker. The Somali government is in shambles and its president is resigning and they are in no position to stop the insanity. But the international community has had enough and the snatch-and-get-paid schemes of Somali pirates may be coming to an end. Last week German fighter ships thwarted an attempted hijacking and now China has sent two destroyers to escort and protect its merchant ships. Chris Hogg, a reporter for the BBC, is in Beijing covering this aspect of the story.

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To outsiders Zimbabwe seems to be in crisis. A cholera epidemic has killed over 1,000 Zimbabweans and the economy is in collapse. On Monday, the U.S. and Britain demanded that President Mugabe step down but Mugabe says he will never surrender. For insight into this transcontinental power-struggle, we turn to journalist Heidi Holland, the author of "Dinner With Mugabe: The Untold Story of a Freedom Fighter Who Became a Tyrant."

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From Sudan to Somalia to Zimbabwe, nearly all of the news from the African continent seems to center on fractured leadership in nations torn apart by violence and mired in poverty. But Charles Stith, former U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania and editor of the book "For such a time as this: African Leadership Challenges," says there's a lot of good news to be found on the continent as well.

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Hours after the death of the President in the West African state of Guinea, a statement from the military said it was dissolving the government. An army officer went on radio and television to say the army had taken over, and a body called the National Council for Development and Democracy had been set up to root out corruption.

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The Takeaway gets a first-hand update on the worsening situation in Zimbabwe from U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee. He shares his thoughts on president Robert Mugabe, the cholera epidemic and the possibility of a power-sharing deal between Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and Morgan Tsvangirai's opposition MDC.

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A raging outbreak of cholera has struck thousands in the troubled African nation.

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The BBC's Martin Plaut explains the close race in Ghana and a breakaway faction in South Africa.

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There are major political developments across Africa.

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A cholera epidemic and growing food shortages add to the problems in Zimbabwe.

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A doctor in the Congo performs an amputation with the help of a text message.

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Zimbabweans have long been entering South Africa to escape their country's economic decline. Now they're fleeing a cholera epidemic. South African resources are being stretched to the limit as health workers try to contain the disease. In Musina, fifteen minutes from the border, tents have been set up in the grounds of the local hospital to treat patients. Many of the Zimbabweans coming into South Africa do so illegally by swimming the Limpopo river. Officials have confirmed that tests carried out on the river have found it to be polluted. But South Africa is not turning away anyone who is sick. Sarah Jacobs from Save The Children discusses the situation.

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"Not only is it the largest vessel that has been attacked -- over 300,000 metric tons -- it's almost three times the size of a U.S. naval aircraft carrier."
--Nathan Christiansen on the hijacking of a Saudi Arabian oil supertanker

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"She was someone who always wanted to cook for all her musicians. Every time we were on tour, she would always invite us in." — Music producer Sipho "Hotstix" Mabuse, remembering "Mama Africa" Miriam Makeba

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"In this province alone it's estimated there are a million people who have now been left homeless. A fifth of the population." — Mark Lowen, BBC News

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In the Democratic Republic of Congo, fighting continues between government troops and the rebels loyal to the renegade general, Laurent Nkunda. Tens of thousands of people are fleeing. Some are accusing the U.N. and its troops on the ground of not doing enough. The Congolese government accuses Rwanda of backing the rebels -- something the rebels deny.

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