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In this new episode of Spotlight on Africa, we hear from Sudanese people fleeing the atrocities in El Fasher. We also reflect on a year of South Africa’s presidency of the G20, which held its final major summit of the year this weekend in Johannesburg. And, in the final segment of the episode, we turn to the world of the arts.
In Sudan, the UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, said last week that atrocities in Darfur – where the rebellious RSF are fiercely battling the regular army and targeting civilians – have been met with indifference and “complete impunity”.
He made the remarks following a visit to the devastated Sudanese region.
Chad has consequently become a refuge for hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the conflict in Sudan – and as violence against civilians intensifies in Darfur, even more are crossing the border. The influx is placing severe pressure on already scarce resources in one of Africa’s poorest countries.
Meanwhile, Charlotte Slente, Secretary General of the Danish Refugee Council, travelled to eastern Chad recently and spoke to us while on the ground visiting refugee camps. She said that the escalating humanitarian crisis urgently requires the world’s attention and that she expects more people to flee Sudan in search of safety and basic survival.
As thousands flee, Sudan’s war spills over into humanitarian crisis in Chad
Last weekend in South Africa, the final event of the country’s G20 South African presidency – the heads of state summit – took place in Johannesburg, aiming to secure commitments on debt relief for developing countries and to address global inequalities.
World leaders signed a declaration reflecting a “renewed commitment to multilateral cooperation”, according to South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa.
We have two guests reflecting on this significant year for Africa:
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Désiré Assogbavi, Adviser for Africa at the Open Society Foundations, a lawyer and international development expert in African institutions, policy, and politics, who took part in many of this year’s meetings in South Africa, including the Heads of State Summit in Johannesburg this weekend;
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Ivor Ichikowitz, founder and director of the Ichikowitz Family Foundation, which has produced the comprehensive African Youth Survey G20 Briefing to better understand what young Africans expect from this moment of leadership.
South Africa closes G20 year framed as ‘presidency for all of Africa’
Finally, we’ll hear from my colleague Ollia Horton, who recently met in Paris with the Ghanaian artist Emmanuel Aggrey Tieku, a civil engineer by profession and an artist at heart.
A stitch in time: the Ghanaian artist sewing trash into treasure
He has found an innovative way to raise awareness of the problem of textile waste in his native Ghana.
His installations are stitched together from hundreds of pieces of used clothing, collected from cities around the world as part of a project that has spanned decades.
Episode mixed by Melissa Chemam and Erwan Rome.
Spotlight on Africa is produced by Radio France Internationale’s English language service.
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