Africa StreaM

Mali's military junta is facing one of its most serious security challenges in months. A wave of coordinated attacks by the jihadist group JNIM and its Tuareg ally, the FLA, has targeted army positions across the north of the country, raising fresh questions about the government's ability to contain the insurgency.

Sudan Affairs Analyst Jan Pospisil says the siege of El-Obeid has been ongoing for almost a year, with paramilitary group The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) appearing determined to seize the city. While he argues that Sudan's civil war is not a proxy war in the strict sense, he also makes clear that "without international support, the war would not go on like this”. However, none of the external actors involved – whether the UAE, which supplies arms to the RSF, or the US and Saudi Arabia – has the leverage to bring the warring parties to a ceasefire, let alone a negotiated settlement.

François Picard is pleased to welcome Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. In this wide-ranging interview, Türk presents a coherent vision of human rights as the essential framework through which to understand some of the defining global challenges of the 21st century. Rather than treating migration, climate change, nationality, international law and institutional governance as separate policy questions, Türk argues that they are deeply interconnected manifestations of a broader crisis of solidarity, legality and political responsibility.

François Picard is pleased to welcome Juliette Bour, historian and author of a forthcoming book in French entitled "Like Men: Women Politicians Complicit in the Rwandan Genocide". More than three decades after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, France continues to confront difficult questions about its political, military and diplomatic role during one of the most horrific atrocities of the 20th century. The inauguration of a memorial and monument in Paris, attended by President Emmanuel Macron, marks another step in a long and contentious process of historical reckoning.

As Ethiopians head to the polls, François Picard is pleased to welcome Jervin Naidoo, Political Analyst at Oxford Economics Africa. While official narratives emphasise stability and democratic progress, significant portions of the country remain excluded from voting, raising concerns about representation, legitimacy and the consolidation of power. Naidoo argues that while voting has proceeded in much of the country, the exclusion of Tigray and dozens of constituencies elsewhere constitutes "a big problem" that "hurts the government's legitimacy."

François Picard is pleased to welcome Anne Moore, Professor of Biochemistry at University College Cork. She is warning about the seriousness of the latest Ebola outbreak linked to the rare Bundibugyo strain. While tests and vaccines exist for the Zaire strain, Professor Moore says “we don’t yet have proof that vaccines work against the current strain” and that tests have not yet been designed to detect Bundibugyo. Moore stressed that shrinking international funding is weakening the global response. “We’re plugging gaps instead of deploying the full countermeasures we could.” Moore broadens her analysis beyond virology, arguing for international solidarity and institutional resilience.

On the sidelines of the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, François Picard is pleased to welcome celebrated historian and political theorist Achille Mbembe. He offers deep insight into a continent in the midst of profound psychological, sociopolitical and economic transformation. Author of "The Earthly Community" and one of Africa's leading voices on post-colonial sovereignty, Mbembe argues that while institutional change is slow-moving, a seismic change is underway: "What has ended is the rule of gerontocracy. It has ended in the minds of the people. That is what matters."

In the run-up to the Africa Forward summit in Nairobi, Mark Owen is pleased to welcome Éléonore Caroit, France's deputy minister for Francophonie, International Partnerships and French Citizens Abroad. France is seeking to expand and transform its relationship with the entire African continent, Caroit explains. Africa Forward, France's first summit in English-speaking Africa, is reflective of a series of new initiatives that are "not limited to former colonies” but rather "a forward-looking relationship that is based on youth, and based on growth".

As Mali's military struggles to maintain control amid a growing jihadist insurgency, a number of its own soldiers have been arrested, accused of collaborating with al Qaeda-linked militants in coordinating widespread attacks. The Islamist group JNIM, alongside separatist Tuareg rebels, has reportedly seized two northern cities, killed the defence minister and is now attempting to impose a blockade on the capital, Bamako.

As Mali's junta mourns the death of Defence Minister Sadio Camara, with thousands coming out to pay tribute, FRANCE 24's François Picard welcomes Paul Melly, Consulting Fellow for the Africa Programme at Chatham House and an expert on the Sahel region. He offers a sobering assessment of Mali’s deepening crisis, framing current events within both historical precedent and a radically altered geopolitical landscape.

François Picard is pleased to welcome Dr. Folahanmi Aina, Political Scientist and Lecturer in the Political Economy of Violence, Conflict and Development at SOAS London. As a researcher of global security and political dynamics, his analysis of Mali's evolving crisis focuses on the interplay between militarised governance, external partnerships and the persistence of insurgent violence in the Sahel. According to Dr. Aina, the current trajectory under Colonel Assimi Goïta reflects a strategic overreliance on military solutions to what is fundamentally a multidimensional conflict.

François Picard is pleased to welcome Tutu Alicante, an international human rights lawyer and anti-corruption activist. According to Alicante, the pope's visit to Equatorial Guinea presents a paradox: it offers a rare opportunity to spotlight injustice, yet risks being appropriated by the regime for its own validation. Could the "global moral authority" inadvertently lend credence to the authoritarian regime? Equatorial Guinea's resources have failed to lift up society and translate into human dignity. Governance remains defined by exclusion, repression and the erosion of accountability.

François Picard welcomes Dallia Abdelmoniem, Political/Media Analyst and Commentator on African and Middle Eastern affairs. Sudan is a war-torn nation unravelling in real time, warns Abdelmoniem. She says that we are not just witnessing a conflict between rival armed factions; it is a systematic war on civilians, where survival itself has become an act of chance.

As Pope Leo XIV makes a historic visit to Algeria, in the spirit of interfaith dialogue, François Picard is pleased to welcome Father Fred Wekesa, Rector of the Basilica of Saint Augustine in Annaba. From his experience of living for over a decade in Algeria, he challenges inherited narratives shaped by the violence of the 1990s, highlighting the present reality of coexistence and tolerance. He argues that interreligious dialogue must extend beyond institutions into families and daily life.