In this week’s edition of Spotlight on Africa, we look back at the recent elections in Tanzania. We’ll then head to London and Paris for a look at some outstanding African film festivals. You’ll also hear from South Sudan’s blind football team, who have just won a crucial match. Finally, we have an interview with Angélique Kidjo, introducing her brand-new song Chica de Favela, inspired by Brazil!
Tanzanians were called to the polls on 29 October, but instead of a free and fair election, they were met with severe repression. Demonstrations have been banned, protesters arrested, and members of the opposition detained.
Tanzania’s authorities have also charged more than 200 people with treason — an offence that carries the death penalty.
The incumbent president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, was eventually declared the winner of the election with 98 percent of the vote. However, the opposition – which had been barred from participating – condemned the results as fraudulent.
To explore the deep-rooted causes of this repression, and to consider how the situation could shape the political future not only of Tanzania but of the entire East African region, we are joined by a special guest: Prince Charles Dickson, a Nigerian peace and policy analyst with a PhD from Georgetown University and decades of experience in public policy and development practice.
Films from Africa
The cinema festival Film Africa 2025 (14–23 November 2025) opens in London, UK. To mark the event we have Stella Okuzu, interim director of the festival, with us to explain what’s happening.
Meanwhile in France, the Festival du Cinéma Franco-Arabe de Noisy-le-Sec is coming to an end just outside Paris (7–13 November). The festival has placed a special focus on Tunisian cinema. Mathilde Rouxel, its cultural director and programmer, tells us more.
Sudan’s blind football team success
Also this week we take a look at South Sudan’s blind football team which recently played its first major match in Kampala, Uganda, thanks to the help and support of the charity Light For The World. And they won!
We have their coach and players on the line to tell us how football changed their life and why it is so important for people with visual impairment.
Angélique Kidjo and La Chica de Favela
Finally, “La Chica de Favela” is an initiative from ‘Beyond Music’, a song featuring a Congolese man, a Latin American, a Swiss citizen, and a Beninese woman, Angélique Kidjo.
“The African continent is predominant on this song”, Angélique told Spotlight on Africa, “and it tells a story through this song.”
It tells the story of a young girl in a favela “who doesn’t want to be defined by her gender”. She is free and independent. “In a patriarchal world that doesn’t necessarily give women much space,” Angélique told us. “And that’s what made the subject interesting to me.”
Episode mixed by Melissa Chemam and Erwan Rome.
Spotlight on Africa is produced by Radio France Internationale’s English language service.
