Investigation into the trafficking networks at the gateway to the Sahara at Gao, Mali for BBC Focus on Africa and Radio 4 PM

Investigation - Migrants Risking Desert Pkge  Alex Duval Smith

CUE: The film Timbuktu had it's first ever public screening in Mali last night, at the French Institute in Bamako.
 In Europe, Abderrahmane Sissako's film has been one of the most successful African movies of recent years, picking up many awards in France where more than one million people have seen it at the cinema. Timbuktu was also nominated for a Best Foreign Movie Oscar.
 The BBC's Alex Duval Smith went along to see the film and catch reaction from the audience.

Timbuktu finally screened Bamako 0715

Bamako postman Aboubacar Doumbia - From Our Own Correspondent BBC Radio 4, presented by Kate Adie, produced by Tony Grant. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33808629

Mali's superstar postman - FOOC 080815

On a visit to Timbuktu I met a team of Malian air traffic controllers, led by former RAF pilot Chris O'Neill, who were investigating how to return the control tower to civilian operation. Broadcast by Focus on Africa BBC 17 May 2017

Airtraffic170517

In Mali the generations-old tradition of telling stories through human-sized puppets is under threat. Yaya Coulibaly, the country's master puppeteer, says he fears for his life as Islamists - who consider the ancient puppets to be pagan - gain ground.
 Alex Duval Smith went to see Yaya Coulibaly in Bamako.

Puppeteer Final Focus

BBC Focus on Africa - report on the 3 month teachers' strike in Mali in 2017
Alex Duval Smith in Timbuktu

Teachers Strike Mali-Timbuktu April 2017

How the lawless Central African Republic muddles through. The World Tonight, BBC Radio 4, 28 November 2017. Reporting from Bangui and Bangassou.

Apollinaire - the farmer turned teacher 'to give the next generation a better chance than I had': http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-42279395

#CAR #Minusca #education #schools

The World Tonight

Central African Republic: here's a reason it matters

Senegalese jazz group Jamm launch their latest album, Werseg, on a scratch card - a move against piracy for BBC Focus on Africa April 2018.
Tracks featured in the story: Fly Away, Werseg, Train Samba to Gibraltar.

Jazz on a scratch card

CUE: It's been a little over a year since President Yahya Jammeh fled The Gambia. He is living in exile in Equatorial Guinea. Now human rights investigators say they have evidence that could be used to bring Jammeh to trial. 
 If they succeed, it will be largely thanks to the determination of the sole survivor one of one the worst massacres of Jammeh's 22 years in power. Alex Duval Smith travelled to central Ghana to meet him.
Text story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-44122843
TV & Pidgin: https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/media-44148131

Ghanaian migrant's battle to bring Jammeh to justice Newsday 16 05 18

I'm a journalist which means I meet amazing people. Here are some of them

alexduvalsmith

Popular tracks