African Hip Pop Music

Hip hop started as a music and culture trend in New York in the 1970s. It's a product of inner city life and has historically been the voice of black inner city youth. But it has deep Jamaican and African roots, apparent in the rawness of its beats and the rhythm of its lyrics. VOA's Paul Ndiho has more.

Mali's Bozo Fishing Village

We take you to Mali where ancient fishing traditions of Mali's Bozo people are under threat from overfishing in the inner Niger Delta. VOA's Paul Ndiho has the story

Man Eaters of Tsavo

A Conversation with Gibson Shiraku - Man Eaters of Tsavo Foundation


A Conversation With Gibson Shiraku- Man Eaters Of Tsavo Foundation from Paul on Vimeo.

Burundi Deporting Foreign Nationals

Rights activists in Burundi have criticised the government for deporting hundreds of foreign nationals rounded up in the suburbs of Bujumbura, but the authorities say the police are only trying to curb crime.For two weeks now, the police have been checking the IDs of people in different suburbs of Bujumbura. Those found without ID cards are sent to a stadium in Bujumbura where their countries of origin are determined through questioning.
Burundians found without ID cards are fined 2,000 francs (US$1.6) and sent back home, but foreign nationals are immediately escorted to the border. Paul Ndiho Has more.

Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart"

It's been over 50 years since Nigeria's Chinua Achebe, hailed as the father of modern African writing, penned the legendary novel 'Things Fall Apart' in 1958. The novel was Achebe's first and sold over 10 million copies. Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe is a fine stylish and an astute social critic, is one of the best-known African writers in the world and his novels are often assigned in university courses. His works explore the impact of European culture on African society. Paul Ndiho has more

President Obama's Relatives in Kenya

President Obama's Kenyan relatives are busy managing a kind of international stardom conferred upon them by their famous, if distant, relative.
In a short span of time, the routines of their lives have been replaced by the trappings and oddities of global fame: crowds, bodyguards, tabloid stories and the varied, at times mystical, expectations of an awe-struck public. I interacted with the Obama's briefly and here is what they make of President Obama.

Barack Hussein Obama Becomes 44th U.S President

Barack Obama has become the 44th President of the United States, taking the oath of office on the steps of the U.S. Capitol before a crowd of more than one million people who had gathered in frigid temperatures to see the first African American become president. Immediately after President Obama took the oath of office, a military color guard fired off a 21-gun salute as an enormous and diverse crowd cheered, waved American flags and chanted the new president's name.

Obama's Inauguration Jan 20, 2009

The inauguration of Barack Obama has a special significance for Africans. They expect the joy they will feel in celebrating Obama’s swearing-in ceremony to exceed even the elation they felt in celebrating his Election Night victory in November. I spent some time today at the Washington Mall and here is more...

Women are Born or Sold into Slavery in Niger

Born or sold into slavery. It's a brutal reality for hundreds of thousands of African women. But in Niger, one woman's groundbreaking legal battle has triumphed, and a West African court recently found Niger's government guilty of failing to protect a woman from slavery. Paul Ndiho has more

DR Congo rebels 'oust Gen Nkunda'

Officers in the main rebel group in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo say they have ousted their leader, Gen Laurent Nkunda - a claim he denies.

CNDP officers told Paul Ndiho they had removed Gen Nkunda because of what they described as "bad governance and corruption".

But Gen Nkunda speaking to Vipi Africa by telephone from Eastern Congo denied the media reports saying that it was not true.

The CNDP launched a major offensive in August, which displaced more than a quarter of a million people and raised fears of a wider regional war. Paul Ndiho has more

Guinea's Junta leader Warns Mining Sector

Guinea's coup leader has frozen the country's numerous mining contracts and gold extractions as part of what he called an anti-corruption drive. The West African country sits on one-third of the world's reserves of bauxite reserves, the raw material used to make aluminum, and also has important reserves of gold, diamonds, and other minerals.

But because of corruption and mismanagement, Guinea ranks 160 out of 177 in the United Nation's development scale. Paul Ndiho has more.

Opposition Wins Ghana's Presidential Election

Opposition leader John Atta Mills was declared Ghana's next president Saturday in a peaceful ballot that secured the West African nation's place as a beacon of democracy on a volatile continent.

The country is one of the few in Africa to successfully transfer power twice from one legitimately elected leader to another, proof that Ghana's democracy has truly matured after an era of coups and dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s.

But tensions still ran high in what became the closest vote in Ghana's history, and some feared violence could erupt as it did earlier this year in Kenya — an East African nation that also was a model of stability until a similarly tight 2007 ballot unleashed weeks of tribal bloodshed.

Ghana's ruling party candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, had threatened to reject the results, but withdrew his court challenges and conceded peacefully. President John Kufuor appealed on both sides to accept the outcome and his call appeared aimed at his own governing party. Paul Ndiho Has more.

Ghana elections Winner to be decided Friday

By Paul Ndiho in Washington DC
The outcome of Ghana's presidential run-off is too close to call and will be decided by voting on Friday in a single constituency where balloting has yet to take place, the electoral commission said on Tuesday.

In a twist to what was already a tense and closely fought race, the commission said the outstanding vote in the Tain constituency would determine the final result of the election in the West African state, the world's No. 2 producer of cocoa.

With votes counted from 229 of the 230 constituencies, John Atta Mills of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) held a slender lead with 50.13 per cent of the votes, while Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had 49.87 percent.
Only 23,050 votes separated the two.

Ghana opposition claims poll win

Tensions are high in Ghana as official results from the knife-edge run-off presidential poll are to be released.

Opposition candidate John Atta Mills claims he has won, but the governing NPP party insisted the result remained too close to call. Paul Ndiho has been monitoring the results as they come in very closely and files this report.

Tanzania offers Burundian Refugess Citizenship

In a historic move, the Tanzanian government is offering citizenship to Burundian refugees and their families who fled their homeland in 1972. Burundi has been plagued by civil strife since it achieved independence from Belgium in 1962. Paul Ndiho has more.

Rich and Poor Nigerian Kids in a Photo Exhibition

Hundreds of Nigerian children from the richest and poorest homes in Lagos are beginning to document their lives in a photo exhibition meant to help educate the world about the extremes between the Rich and the poor in Africa's most populous nation. Paul Ndiho has the story

Vipi Africa: Banyakigezi Convention Banqet DVD

Vipi Africa: Banyakigezi Convention Banqet DVD

LRA Leader refuses to sign a peace deal

A look at how Somali pirates operate

As piracy explodes off Somalia's lawless coast, the questions become ever more stark: How can ragtag bands of Somali pirates stand up to international warships? And why not just shoot the bandits when they try to clamber aboard?

First, the pirates are not as ragtag as one might expect. And second, it's a big ocean.

In Somalia, pirates are well-funded, well-organized and have easy access to heavy weapons in a country that has been in tatters for nearly two decades. Pirates travel in open skiffs with outboard engines, working with larger ships that tow them far out to sea. They use satellite navigational and communications equipment and have an intimate knowledge of local waters, clambering aboard commercial vessels with ladders and grappling hooks.

Any blip on an unwary ship's radar screens, alerting the crew to nearby vessels, is likely to be mistaken for fishing trawlers or any number of smaller, non-threatening ships that take to the seas every day. Here is more...

Congo refugees flee over Ugandan border as ceasefire crumbles

Thousands of civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo fled into neighbouring Uganda after fresh fighting broke out between rebels and pro-government militia as the latest ceasefire collapsed.
Aid agencies estimated that at least 13,000 people had crossed the border since rebel commander Laurent Nkunda launched what his spokesman called "police operations" two days ago, almost doubling the number of recent Congolese refugees there.

"The stream of new arrivals continues. More and more people are arriving and we need to transport them away from the border to a safe place immediately," said Yumiko Takashima, from the United Nations refugee agency, which is working to relocate the refugees to a settlement at Nakivale, 220 miles east of the frontier. Paul Ndiho Has More on the story