Focus on Africa Folgen

We thought you might enjoy listening to the latest season of the BBC’s global investigations podcast World of Secrets: Searching for Soldier Dad. In this first episode of the season, we meet Cathy. Cathy is 10 years old when she starts asking questions. Why don’t I have a father? The secret her mum Maggie is forced to reveal changes everything. Years later, when lawyers and a geneticist turn up in their hometown in Kenya to take DNA samples, Maggie hopes they can help her finally learn the truth. In this investigation, we follow as a team of lawyers and a leading geneticist travel to Kenya to help locate the British soldiers who fathered children then vanished. We witness the groundbreaking legal and scientific detective work used to find the missing dads.    What’s at stake is more than the reputation of the British army and the UK’s post-colonial legacy. The mixed-heritage children have in some cases been ostracised by their communities and denied a chance of British citizenship since birth – something which could transform their lives. Searching for Soldier Dad is a BBC Long Form Audio production for the BBC World Service. Listen to the full series, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Please note, the image being used is for illustrative purposes only and the child depicted is a model. Presenter: Ivana Davidovic Series Producer: Josephine Casserly Sound design: Tom Brignell Executive Producer: Matt Willis Commissioning Senior Producers: Katy Davis and Anne Dixey Commissioning Editor: Jon Manel

We speak to South African influencer and software developer Masheane Sefuthi, who has been on a journey to ‘whiten’ his skin; public health advocate Amira Adawe, who has been campaigning against these harmful products; and Kenyan media personality Kush Tracey, who has spoken about reversing skin bleaching after years of struggling with it.Presenter: Charles Gitonga Producers: Fana Negash, Basma El Atti and Layla Mahmood Technical Producer: Maxwell Onyango Senior Producer: Carolyne Kiambo Jotham Editors: Priya Sippy and Maryam Abdalla

For a while now, Sudan's military government has been accusing Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates of working with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the Sudan war that entered its fourth year in April. Both the UAE and Addis Ababa have refuted that claim. An investigation by the Reuters news agency in January showed the presence of a secret training camp in Ethiopia allegedly used to train thousands of RSF fighters. We speak to a Horn of Africa expert.Also, bicycles are fading away in many parts of urban Nigeria, but in the northeastern rural community of Mishara, they remain a symbol of love and commitment to marriage.Presenter: Nkechi Ogbonna Producers: Bella Twine and Ayuba Iliya Technical Producer: Maxwell Onyango Senior Producer: Charles Gitonga Editors: Priyanka Sippy and Maryam Abdalla