Image source, AFP

More than 20 people have been killed and several others injured after shells hit a market in a suburb of Sudan's capital, Khartoum, a group of lawyers said.

The crowded market in Omdurman was hit after an intense exchange of fire between the Sudan army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sudan's Emergency Lawyers, a non-governmental group, said in a statement on Sunday.

A medical source told AFP news agency that the Saturday shelling killed 15 people in the Al-Thawra neighbourhood of Omdurman.

The lawyers condemned the two warring sides for continued fighting in populated areas and called for a ceasefire.

The clashes continue in the capital and in other cities in Darfur and the Kordofan region, amid talks between the rival forces in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

More than 9,000 people have been killed and nearly six million others displaced since the fighting started in mid-April.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

The Spanish authorities say nearly 32,000 migrants have reached the Canary Islands by sea from West Africa this year - higher than the previous record posted in 2006.

Since Friday more than 700 people have been rescued in the Atlantic Ocean off El Hierro, the smallest and most westerly of the seven islands.

The Canary islands have become the main destination for migrants from Senegal and other African countries trying to reach Spain.

The UN says at least 140 migrants have died trying to make the crossing since the beginning of the year.

Paul Njie
BBC News

Chad says it has recalled its Chargé d’Affaires in Israel for consultation over “unprecedented deadly violence in the Gaza Strip”.

In a statement from the country’s foreign affairs ministry, the government condemned "the loss of human lives of many innocent civilians" and called "for a ceasefire leading to a lasting solution to the Palestinian question".

In 1972, Chad, a Muslim-majority country severed its diplomatic relations with Israel but later revived ties in 2019.

It is now the first African country to recall its envoy from Israel since the start of the war in October.

So far, Turkey, Chile, Bahrain, Honduras, Colombia, and Jordan have also recalled their ambassadors to Israel.

Image source, AFP

Uganda's president has downplayed a decision by the US to remove his country from a major trade deal due to human rights concerns

For years, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) has enabled Uganda to export goods, including coffee and textiles, to the United States without paying taxes.

But last week, President Joe Biden said that from January Uganda (along with Gabon, Niger and the Central African Republic) will be excluded from the agreement.

The US government had previously said it was considering removing Uganda from Agoa and introducing sanctions on the country after it passed a controversial anti-homosexuality law.

The law, which imposes a death penalty on people found guilty of engaging in certain same-sex acts, has faced global criticism.

On Sunday, Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni said on social media, external that people should not be "over-concerned" by the US president's decision.

He wrote: "As far as Uganda is concerned, we have the capacity to achieve our growth and transformation targets, even if some of the actors do not support us."

His senior aide and son-in-law, Odrek Rwabwogo, had earlier warned that Ugandan farmers and small business owners would be hit hard by the expulsion. Mr Rwabwogo added that Uganda was open to discussing the issue with the US.

Read more:

• Has the US' Agoa trade pact helped Africa?
• Gay Ugandan asks 'Where will I go?' as secret shelters under threat

Image source, UNFPA SOMALIA/X

Thousands of people are trapped in flooded areas following heavy rains in Somalia's Jubbaland state, the UN's humanitarian agency says.

The heavy rains that started last month have elevated the water levels on the Juba River, causing flooding in riverine areas of the state, the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said in a statement.

"In Luuq district, 2,400 people have been trapped in an area surrounded by water," it added.

Efforts by the authorities and rescue partners are under way to evacuate the stranded locals.

At least 14 people have died and 47,000 been displaced in the flash floods across Somalia since last month, Ocha had said earlier.

Somalia's Information Minister Daud Aweis said the floods, which also affected Hirshabelle and South-West states, have caused widespread damage. He appealed for support, adding that the situation was critical.

The country is experiencing heavier than normal rains after emerging from one of its worst droughts in four decades.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned of a high risk of flooding, particularly in the south-western Gedo region.

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In 1986 Dr Aleida Guevara, the daughter of revolutionary icon Che Guevara, went to Angola to work as a paediatrician.

Dr Aleida was one of a number of medics Fidel Castro’s Cuban government sent to their fellow communist country in southern Africa as it emerged from Portuguese colonialism into civil war.

Marcia Veiga hears how Dr Aleida treated children with cholera in a hospital in the Angolan capital Luanda.

Dr Aleida also reveals how, during downtime from working as Cuba’s minister of industries, her tired father played with her by carrying her on his back as if he were a horse.

The music for this programme is from Dadifox and Receba.

(Photo: Dr Aleida Guevara with a patient at Luanda’s Josina Machel Hospital. Credit: Dr Aleida Guevara)

In November 2008, Johns Hopkins University calculated Zimbabwe’s year-on-year inflation rate as 89,700,000,000,000,000,000,000% – one of the worst cases of hyperinflation in history.

Professor Gift Mugano was a government economist at the time.

He tells Vicky Farncombe what it was like to live through those times when wages were worthless and there was no food to buy in the shops.

“It was a very painful period. It is a year which one would not want to remember,” he said.

(Photo: Harare shoppers in an almost empty supermaket. Credit: Desmond Kwande/AFP via Getty Images)

In 2015, Akinwumi Adesina was elected President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), and since then he's become a symbol of optimism across the continent. How did he become known as Africa's "optimist-in-chief"?

In this edition of Business Daily, Dr Adesina tells Peter MacJob what has shaped him as an economist, his outlook for the continent and how Africa could determine the future of renewable energy and green minerals.

He says the international financial architecture should be more inclusive and favourable towards African economies, and the global north should compensate the continent for the adverse impacts of climate change on Africa.

(Picture: Dr Akinwunmi Adesina. Credit: Getty Images)

Presented and produced by Peter MacJob

In 2011, models, stylists and fashionistas gathered for Lagos Fashion Week’s debut which would put Nigerian style on the global map.

Omoyemi Akerele founded the event which helped to launch the careers of designers internationally.

The annual event has become a major fashion occasion attracting Africa's biggest celebs and collections are sent around the world. Omoyemi Akerele speaks to Reena Stanton-Sharma.

(Photo: A model prepares backstage at Lagos Fashion Week in 2013. Credit: Per-Anders Pettersson)

In February 1966, Kwame Nkrumah, one of Africa's most famous leaders, was ousted from power in Ghana.

While he was out of the country, the Ghanaian military and police seized power in a coup.

Ghanaian film maker Chris Hesse worked closely with Nkrumah and was with him at the time.

In 2021, Chris spoke to Alex Last about his memories of the coup and his friendship with the man who led Ghana to independence.

(Photo: Kwame Nkrumah after Ghana's independence from Britain. Credit: Bettman, Getty Images)

In 2004, Kimani Maruge became the oldest man to start primary school when he enrolled at the Kapkenduiywo Primary School in Kenya.

The 84-year-old student was a former soldier who had fought against colonial rule in the Mau Mau independence movement.

He missed out on school as a child so when the Kenyan government scrapped all fees for state primary education, he saw his chance to finally learn to read and write.

Kimani's former teacher Jane Obinchu tells Vicky Farncombe how his story inspired people all over the world.

(Photo: Kimani Maruge attends class at Kapkenduiywo Primary School in Kenya. Credit: Reuters/Thomas Mukoya)

Earlier this month two dams collapsed after torrential rain in eastern Libya. Whole neighbourhoods in the city of Derna were swept into the sea. More than 15,000 Libyans are dead or missing and the full death toll may never been known. Since the ousting of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has been riven by power struggles and currently has two governments - a UN-recognised one based in Tripoli, and another in the country's east backed by General Khalifa Haftar. He has been calling the flooding a natural disaster but many Libyans disagree, saying the eastern government had neglected the dams despite prior warnings about their fragile condition. There have been protests in Derna against the leadership in the region but anger is also being expressed across the country. The anguish and anger across Libya have now developed into demands for an investigation. But who will conduct this investigation? Libya is rich in oil wealth but the country's infrastructure is crumbling and the elites are increasingly accused of rampant corruption. Could this be a reset moment for Libya?

Shaun Ley is joined by: Mary Fitzgerald - A writer and researcher focused on Libya and non-resident scholar for the Middle East Institute think tank. Tarek Megerisi - Senior policy fellow with the Middle East and North Africa programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Elham Saudi - Co-founder and Director of Lawyers for Justice in Libya, an NGO focusing on accountability, human rights and the rule of law in Libya.

Also in the programme: Othman Abdul Jalil - Minister for health for the Eastern Libyan government. Noura El-Jerbi - A Libyan journalist from Derna but now living in Turkey.

Produced by Ellen Otzen and Zak Brophy

Image: A view from the area as search and rescue efforts continuing in disaster zones after the floods in Derna. Credit: Hamza Al Ahmar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images.

In 2013, gunmen from a Somali Islamist group known as Al-Shabab attacked a shopping centre in Kenya’s capital Nairobi.

They took hundreds of people hostage during the siege which lasted four days. More than 60 people were killed, with many more injured.

In 2021, Rebecca Kesby spoke to Daniel Ouma who was a paramedic on duty at the time.

(Photo: A Kenyan police officer deployed near the Westgate mall. Credit: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

In the 1980s, Bi Kidude burst onto the international music scene, when she was in her 70s. She was one of the first women from Zanzibar to sing in public without wearing the veil, in the traditional Muslim country.

She was born Fatuma binti Baraka, known as Bi Kidude or "little madame" in Swahili, and fondly referred to as the "golden grandmother of music".

Maryam Hamdani was one of her oldest friends and helped launch Bi Kidude's career globally. Maryam spoke to Reena Stanton-Sharma about the charismatic musician who died in 2013.

(Photo: Bi Kidude at the Sauti za Busara Music Festival. Credit: Mwanzo Millinga/AFP via Getty Images)

Soldiers in the West African country of Niger announced a coup on national TV last week, saying they had dissolved the constitution, suspended all institutions and closed all borders. The coup was widely condemned, including by France, the UN and West African regional body ECOWAS.

Niger was seen as the last solid ally of the West in the Sahel region. It’s also a country seen as vital to U.S. counter-terrorism efforts in Africa. There are concerns that the security situation in Niger and across the Sahel could deteriorate further. President Bazoum's government has been a partner to European countries trying to stop the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean Sea, agreeing to take back hundreds of migrants from detention centres in Libya. He has also cracked down on human traffickers in what had been a key transit point between other countries in West Africa and those further north.

On the programme this week, we look at why Niger matters and how the coup could be making a troubled region even more fragile. Why did the presidential guards turn on the man they were hired to protect? How did France squander its historic advantage in a Francophone country? Will this coup make the citizens of Niger safer — or are the only winners the armed groups who roam the Sahel? Could the crisis in Niger spread into a wider regional conflict?

Shaun Ley is joined by:

Paul Melly, consulting fellow at the Africa programme at Chatham house Idayat Hassan, senior associate for the Africa program of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies and director of the Centre for Democracy and Development

Ebenezer Obadare, senior fellow of African studies at the Council on Foreign Relations

Also featuring:

Rama Yade, director of the Africa Centre at the Atlantic Council

Chris Ogunmodede, editor of the pan-African international affairs publication The Republic

Photo: Supporters of General Abdourahamane Tchiani rally in Niamey, Niger - 30 Jul 2023. Credit: ISSIFOU DJIBO/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Produced by Max Horberry and Ellen Otzen

Joseph Mbilinyi pioneered Swahili rap and then turned to politics, but ended up in jail.

In the 1990s he'd become one of Tanzania's biggest stars under the stage name Sugu. He'd released albums, toured the country and abroad, and helped create a new genre called Bongo Flava. He's known for hard-hitting, often political, lyrics. In 2010 he took that message to parliament when he was elected as an opposition MP. But he ended up being jailed after speaking out against the president of the time.

Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Rob Wilson Editor: Munazza Khan

ANC spy Sue Dobson infiltrated the South African government. Then her cover was blown.

After training, Sue had got a job within the government's propaganda unit, and she was feeding back good intelligence to her ANC handlers. Then she got a phone call. The security services were after her, and she was a long way from safety.

Presenter: India Rakusen Producer: Harry Graham Editor: Deiniol Buxton Sound design: Joel Cox

Sue Dobson was a white South African who risked her life as an ANC secret agent

Sue was a student when she was first recruited as a spy for the African National Congress liberation movement in the 1980s, and she knew that if she was caught she'd face prison, torture or death. Sue's mission would require her to infiltrate the pro-apartheid media establishment, but first she needed to learn spycraft and weapons handling. Her training would take place in Soviet Russia.

Presenter: India Rakusen Producer: Harry Graham Editor: Deiniol Buxton Sound design: Joel Cox

Pilot Firoz Khimji witnessed his country's wars from above. Then conflict came for him.

For most of his life, Uganda had been unstable, but he'd been able to train as a commercial pilot despite the violence. When qualified, Firoz took a job with Ugandan Airlines. This was the 1980s, and he had to routinely fly between territories controlled by different armed groups. War was ever-present, but Firoz would always emerge unscathed, until a routine flight went badly wrong.

Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Eric Mugaju and Harry Graham Editor: Munazza Khan