Smoke rises from burning aircraft inside Khartoum Airport during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum, Sudan - 17 April 2023
Live

Africa Live this week: 17-23 April 2023

Bringing you the latest news from around Africa at bbc.com/africalive. There is an automated feed overnight and at weekends.

Got a TV Licence?

You need one to watch live TV on any channel or device, and BBC programmes on iPlayer. It’s the law.

Find out more
I don’t have a TV Licence.

Live Reporting

All times stated are UK

Get involved

  6. This page is now closed

    For the latest updates, go to bbc.com/africalive

  11. Former Burundi prime minister arrested

    BBC World Service

    Burundi's then prime minister Alain-Guillaume Bunyoni attends the national funeral of late Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza, who died at the age of 55, at the Ingoma stadium in Gitega, Burundi, on June 26, 2020.
    Copyright: AFP
    Image caption: The US imposed sanctions on Mr Bunyoni in 2015 over a brutal crackdown, although these were later removed

    Burundi's justice ministry has confirmed that the country's former prime minister, Alain Guillaume Bunyoni, is in police custody following reports of his arrest on Friday.

    Burundi's General Prosecutor Sylvestre Nyandwi did not say what charges Mr Bunyoni was facing or where he was being detained.

    The arrest comes seven months after he was sacked following a warning by President Evariste Ndayishimiye that unnamed people were plotting a coup.

    The human rights commission said it visited Mr Bunyoni on Saturday to check on his wellbeing.

    Mr Bunyoni was prime minister for two years until 2022.

  13. Cleverly: British diplomats evacuated after specific threats in Sudan

    Video content

    Video caption: James Cleverly: British diplomats evacuated after specific threats in Sudan

    UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly says the embassy in Khartoum has been closed and staff re-located.

  18. Scroll down for this week's stories

    We'll be back on Monday morning

    That's all from the BBC Africa Live team for now. We'll be back on Monday morning Nairobi time.

    There will be an automated news feed until then. You can also get the latest from the BBC News website and listen to the Africa Today podcast.

    A reminder of Friday's wise words:

    Quote Message: The forest rewards one who has laboured and is exhausted." from A Shona proverb from Zimbabwe sent by Blessing Bere in Edinburgh, Scotland
    A Shona proverb from Zimbabwe sent by Blessing Bere in Edinburgh, Scotland

    Click here to send us your African proverbs.

    And we leave you with this photo of children showing off their gymnastic skills in Zimbabwe - one of our favourite images from this week's gallery of top shots from across the continent:

    Schoolchildren show off their gymnastic skills during Zimbabwe's independence day celebrations in Mount Darwin - Tuesday 18 April 2023
    Copyright: EPA

  19. Heavy gunfire reported despite Sudan army Eid truce

    Firing is continuing in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, despite a statement on Friday afternoon from the military saying that it had agreed to a three-day truce so people could celebrate Eid.

    Several eyewitnesses have reported that fighting is continuing in the city, where clashes between rival military factions erupted last Saturday.

    The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces had announced a truce from early on Friday, but there was no sign of it being implemented.

    The UN estimates that at least 400 people have been killed across Sudan since the fighting began.

    The main road leading south-east out of Khartoum has been the scene of fierce exchanges for the first time.

  20. Rapper Recho Rey feels the fear and does it anyway

    DJ Edu

    Presenter of This Is Africa on BBC World Service
    Recho Rey
    Copyright: BBC
    Image caption: Recho Rey was suspended for her gospel freestyling on stage at school

    Recho Rey is endearingly open about the struggles she has had to overcome to make it as a rap artist in Uganda.

    She is open too about her naivety at the outset. She started “rapping” in the school playground, imitating a TV advert that had caught her attention.

    But it was only when a group of boys asked her to join them that she discovered there was such a thing as rap or hip hop.

    Once her passion for the genre had taken root, the next hurdle was her family. They are Seventh Day Adventists and did not approve of “secular” music.

    Her attempts to appease backfired when she took the stage at her Seventh Day Adventist school with a gospel freestyle:

    Quote Message: I was actually suspended for almost a week. It wasn’t accepted."

    She also has serious nerves to overcome:

    Quote Message: Putting myself out there has been a struggle, let me tell you, because I get anxiety - what do they think about me? When I’m going to engage with a lot of people or go on stage I get panic attacks sometimes.”

    You would never know it from the confident persona she projects in songs like Who Is She, her breakthrough hit, which saw her engaging in the combat culture of rap, bigging herself up and dissing other artists.

    Or in Imagine Uganda, where she talks about the problems ordinary Ugandans face and what the solutions might be.

    She has also sung about female sexuality and how women should not be afraid to express themselves.

    My favourite Recho Rey track is Aye, a lyrical afrobeats number that sounds very fresh in the Ugandan context.

    Clearly, there is depth to this young Ugandan artist. I am going to be watching her career with interest.

    You can hear Recho Rey on This is Africa this Saturday, on BBC World Service radio - available online - and on partner stations across Africa.

Page 1 of 9
Navigate to the last page
Back to top