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Africa’s first coup d’état? A history of Niger’s Sawaba movement
In a new book on Niger, Dutch author Klaas van Walraven charts the history of what he calls Africa’s first coup d’état. The Sawaba movement, formed in 1954, was opposed to French colonial rule and pushed for independence. It developed into a militant social movement, aligned with Eastern bloc states, as well as Algeria and Ghana. But it was stopped in its tracks, repressed by France’s fifth republic. Can we really call this Africa’s first coup?
Interview: Watching the Last Lions with Dereck and Beverly Joubert
The Last Lions - Dereck and Beverly Joubert. Photo: Wildlife Films Botswana / Mike Meyers
More than 90 per cent of the lion population has disappeared from Africa over the past 50 years, according to some estimates. A film to be shown on the National Geographic channel in France charts the story of one family of lions. RFI spoke to the makers of The Last Lions about their journey into the world of one of the most ferocious predators known to man…
Voting chaos and pockets of violence mar DRC elections
Voters searching for their names on the voter list in Matete, Kinshasa
Missing ballot papers and problems with voter lists kicked off the Democratic Republic of Congo’s presidential elections on Monday, with scattered pockets of violence throughout the country. RFI visited polling stations in Kinshasa, where frustrations ran high.
Q&A: Dominique Struye, Belgium’s Ambassador to DRC
Q&A: John Stremlau, Election Observer, Carter Center
Beshir risks new Sudan civil war, says SPLM-N chief
Yasser Arman, March 2010. Photo: Youtube/Yasirarman.com
Sudanese President Omar Al-Beshir could start a new civil war in Sudan, says Yasser Arman, the secretary general of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement’s northern branch (SPLM-N). In an exclusive interview he told RFI that anti-Beshir groups in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile are close to forming an alliance.
Radio France Internationale
Interview: Yasser Arman, Secretary General, SPLM-N
“It’s high-time for Beshir to be removed. Beshir is worse than [former Egyptian president] Hosni Mubarak, worse than [deposed Libyan leader Moamer] Kadhafi. At least Hosni Mubarak did not divide Egypt and Beshir if he continues, he’s going to, again, divide the present north Sudan,” says Arman.
About
Photo: Agata Wolanska
Daniel Finnan is a broadcast journalist working for Radio France Internationale’s English service in Paris.
His work mainly concerns international news and politics, especially Africa and France. He also covers arts, culture, economics, the environment, music, sports and technology. He has skills in multimedia production with a high level of expertise in audio editing, graphics, video and web technologies. His work has been heard on international radio stations, including American Public Media, Radio Netherlands and Deutsche Welle.
Before working as a journalist he spent time in commercial and community radio in the United Kingdom. He developed The Hillz FM community radio station and helped it to secure a full-time FM license.
Somali TFG must end in August, says UN rep
Mogadishu, Somalia, March 1993, CC licence: rjones0856
Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government must come to an end in August, a top UN official told RFI. Augustine Mahiga, the special representative for Somalia, said there have been “ups and downs” since 2004, but it will soon be time to “broaden the political base”, ratify a new constitution and run elections.
Interview: Augustine Mahiga, the special representative for Somalia
Jostling for position at the Paris Games Week
Poster of the Lapins Crétins video game at Paris Games Week
With 28 million regular video game players in France and a market worth more than three billion euros in 2010, the inaugural Paris Games Week is attempting to woo gaming geeks with new games as well as innovations in interactivity. Ahead of the important Christmas period, major players such as Xbox, Disney and Electronic Arts are showing off their wares.
Radio Feature: Focus on France
Video games, bonobo, lemon curd and lies
Screens at MuseoGames exhibition
This week’s Sound Kitchen visits the MuseoGames exhibition at the Arts et Metiers museum in Paris to play video games and find out why it’s just been extended until December. Rachel Khoo, a food creative, and author of Pâtes à tartiner shows us how to make lemon curd. Our regular quiz taxes your ears with another mystery sound. And we have dance music from Bonobo, Alltrics and Fenech Soler.
Radio Magazine: The Sound Kitchen
Glastonbury festival 40th anniversary
Glastonbury festival 2010
Glasto 2010
Britain’s Glastonbury festival kicked off this week, arguably Europe’s most famous and most celebrated music festival. The area of farmland in Somerset, south-west England is hosting a jam-packed weekend of music, arts and culture.
The festival’s hippy ethos brings together people from all walks of life, offering what it describes as a beacon of hope and aspiration. This year it also celebrates a very special anniversary.
Radio Report
Presenter: Richard Walker
Africa-France business conference kicks off
The Column of Quinconces, in Bordeaux
The second Africa-France business conference starts in Bordeaux on Wednesday, described by some as the African Davos. It aims to bring together 100 African and 100 French firms to foster new business ties.
Coming just after the Nice summit, which saw French President Nicolas Sarkozy acknowledge the importance of African economic powerhouses such as South Africa and Nigeria, this conference sees companies from across the continent gather in what is traditionally the wine capital of France.
