Focus on Africa
Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast's rocky relationship
Burkina Faso has allegedly withdrawn all its diplomats from Ivory Coast, worsening ties between the neighbours. The relationship has been rocky of late and earlier this year their ministers of defence held a meeting on the border, in a bid to bring about a "new start" in relations - but that meeting didn't seem to help. What's going on?
Also how important is it for African countries to have a permanant seat on the UN Security Council - and how will they be chosen?
And a story of hope in Malawi, after the country gets access to cancer treatment!
Presenter: Charles Gitinga Producers: Rob Wilson, Nour Abida and Victor Sylver in London. Technical Producer: Chris Kouzaris Senior Journalist: Karnie Sharp Editors: Andre Lombard and Alice Muthengi
- Broadcast on:
- 09 Oct 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
Hello and welcome to this podcast from the BBC World Service. Please let us know what you think and tell other people about us on social media. Podcasts from the BBC World Service are supported by advertising. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. With the price of just about everything going up during inflation, we thought we'd bring our prices down. So to help us, we brought in a reverse auctioneer, which is apparently a thing. Mint Mobile unlimited, premium wireless. I'm ready to get 30, 30, ready to get 30, ready to get 20, 20, ready to get 20, 20, ready to get 15, 15, 15, just 15 bucks a month. So give it a try at mintmobile.com/switch. $45 up from payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only. Taxes and fees extra, speeds lower above 40 gigabytes of detail. Expressing your love can look many different ways. And with the right jewelry gift from Blue Nile, it can truly sparkle. 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We look at why it took so long and they impact its heart on cancer patients. It's Wednesday, October 9th. First, we go to West Africa. Ties between Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast are codivore are worsening. The two countries have been at loggerheads since 2022 when the military took over in Burkina Faso. Both of them have accused each other of harboring dissidents and now Burkina Faso has withdrawn all its diplomats from Ivory Coast. The TIF is exposing deeper rifts, not just between these two countries, but also a number of others who have seen military takeovers in the last few years, as well as the West African region of grouping, acquires. So what's really going on and how is this part impacting on ordinary people? Regional analyst Paul Ejime has been bringing me up to speed. It has to do with the change of government in Burkina Faso. And then of course, you know Mali, Mijeft and Jimmy from what we call the grandswell of anti-friend sentiments. You know, these are all from our French colonies. But the military wanted in these four countries to feel that what they call continuation of colonialism or imperialism. But here, what is happening is that the government in Cote d'Ivoire has seen itself continuously fronting for French. I think that is the role that President Alaskan Watara has continued to play. Very close to France and France using it and other countries to penetrate the rest of Africa. But these countries, I say, know that enough is enough. They want to sack their independence because it is believed that they are only independent in name, but not economically because France still concludes their economy and was almost having a very big influence in their politics. But you go to the immediate causes. There have been insecurity in the region in the Sahara. And there have been accusations and counter-accusations that each is trying to destabilize the order. Now, before the coup in the booking of Faso in 2022, what was the relationship between that country and Cote d'Ivoire? These are countries that are supposed to be very friendly or broadly, if you would like. But they have also had issues in the past. You remember some accused the formal regime in Cote d'Ivoire of involvement in so many couches, including the one that killed Thomas and Cara in 1987. So they have a long history. In fact, they consider themselves to be very closely meets with the same people. Even Alaskan Watara was accused of having a Docanabe nationality. In fact, the formal Bocanabe heads of state company is said to be maybe living in Cote d'Ivoire. That's part of the problem that if you now have people who are not for us, who are against us, then you are an enemy. That tells you how closely meets these two countries. But they have also been occasional, you know, raptures like we have it now. So both sides accuse each other of harboring people who want to come back and cause instability. And actually, that's a very specific claim that has been made by booking a fossil against Cote d'Ivoire. But as we speak, is this a conversation just happening among the political leaders? Or does it have any tangible impact on ordinary people? No, what happened is that these three countries announced that they called themselves the Alliance of Sahela States. There are three of them. They announced in January that they are living in Cote d'Ivoire, they said they were living immediately. But the ECOWAS protocols are announced for 12 months. Tell you survey notice before you can live. So it is expected that these notice will take effect in January. And they are now the one pushing that they are no longer members of ECOWAS. And if that happens, it means that the citizens will require a visit to visit ECOWAS countries. And the same vice-versa, ECOWAS member states will also require is going to be a very messy situation. And chaotic, you will find free movement and trade. It will impact trade, it will impact movement of people, it will impact a lot of things. The three countries are landlocked, they don't have any sea around them, there are no pods. So they are going to feel the impact is going to be severe. Just expound for us, Paul, how trade will be affected and specifically between Cote d'Ivoire and booking a fossil. Yes Charles, what happens is that you have informal trade. That is what is very pronounced in this region. And because it involves trade, I just cross in from one border to the other because they are continuous and very close to each other. It will have been going to affect them because even now that they have a free movement, they complain that immigration officers still harass them. There is a discussion, there are too many roadblocks. Imagine when now they now have formal visa regime, it is going to be chaotic. Yeah, Paul, I mean when you look at what is happening in Sahel, in general, and now this was sending out relations and diplomatic relations between Pecan d'Ivoire and Cote d'Ivoire, there is what one might see as sort of the Hünta-led countries sort of isolating themselves and trying to re-establish a system that they feel works for them. But what do you think they say is about the geopolitics of the whole of West Africa, specifically when we look at the relationship with the former colonial power of France? If you remember, Captain Trawi, Brian Trawi, who is now the head of his own time, Burkina Faso, says he is a Pan-African. He is really trying to let Africa start his independence, that I, Burkinaabes, will not show that they are independent, that there is no colonial power. So, anything that has to do with France means why they also have in romance with countries like Russia and China. So, that is where the political game comes in, where they are trying to replace one colonial power with another one. They leave France, but they are now having different parts with countries like Russia, or having collaboration with China. There is nothing wrong in order, don't get me wrong, but at the same time, you cannot be replacing one for their power with another one and then be complaining. Because it probably will boil down, no country will give you anything for free. It is about their own national interests. So, it depends on how committed these zone-top regimes are in fighting for the African-ness that they are asking for. Because otherwise, it will probably end up the same way. Okay, thank you very much, Paul, for coming to the program. You're welcome, thank you, Tess. That's Paul Ejime. Calls for more African representation on the United Nations Security Council are getting louder. There has been a suggestion around for quite a while that the African continent should be allocated to new permanent seats on the body. But just recently at the UN General Assembly, it was one of the main calls by a number of African countries, including Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. African nations were encouraged by the backing. We'll get to why this is important in a moment, but first, to bring you up to speed. Here is what you need to know about the UN Security Council with my colleague, Connie Sharp. The Security Council is one of the most important branches of the United Nations. It's responsible for trying to maintain international peace and security when peace is threatened. Security Council members debate issues relating to conflicts around the world, and then vote on resolutions which compels member states to act. States can bring complaints about conflicts to the council to be debated. The Security Council can also impose sanctions, authorize peacekeeping missions, or authorize the use of force. The council is made up of 15 members. Five of these are permanent members. They are China, Russia, France, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The other 10 members are made up of countries that join the council for two years at a time. Africa is currently allocated three non-permanent seats. The key difference is that permanent members have veto power. A veto is a no-vote that blocks a decision or resolution. So, a permanent member has a role as one of the deciders. Critics argue that the distinction between permanent and non-permanent members is based on an outdated view of global politics, and the balance of power on the Security Council needs to be reformed. Thank you to my colleague, Connie Sharp. So, what might it mean for Africa to have permanent seats on the UN Security Council? Someone who's been working four years in the field of peacekeeping and justice in Africa is Comfort Arrow, the president and CEO of the International Crisis Group. It will be an acknowledgement that Africa is underrepresented, that Africa's vote 54 member states that somehow needs to be reflected in the makeup of the Security Council, that the Security Council too has come of age in terms of the new realities, the new dynamics in the international arena as well. And that also, it's very clear that a number of the conflicts that the Security Council is addressing are largely on the continent and that you have to now, in the 21st century, we now have to address that imbalance between the time dedicated by the Security Council to African affairs and the lack of African countries around the table. And then there's a general sense today that the Cold War order that dictated that these are the permanent five, that logic no longer holds, partly also because the so-called global South countries also thought that they don't no longer have to tow the line of the permanent five, or they also argue that it's not just a matter of inviting us to the table. We ought to be on the table in today's geopolitical landscape. Right. And if this agenda of getting those two permanent seats for African countries was to go ahead, what do you think will change? Well, I think it will lend more legitimacy to a body that looks very much of a different era. There's broken trust in the role of the Security Council. There's broken trust overall of the United Nations. There's a lack of legitimacy. I think the number of these countries see when they look at the Security Council. Comfort, could you elaborate a bit more what you mean when you say it's more of a Cold War era sort of outfit the UN Security Council at the moment? Well, as you recall, it was born at the end of the Second World War, the five countries that were critical to shaping geopolitics at that time that were critical to shaping the Cold War order or the order that materialized. They've held the helm largely at the Security Council as part of the P5. And when you look at the geopolitical landscape, the US is still a relevant major power alongside China and Russia. And of course, you've got the UK and France middle powers in different ways. And when you look at that constellation, there is an argument to be made that in the last few years, there is a greater role, there's a greater ascendancy of mid-sized powers on the world stage who are also vital to diplomacy, who have been fighting and shaping the current landscape that we are seeing. And it's a very multiple world. Right. So there's been a big question around the issue of veto power. There are five prominent members that you mentioned do have veto power. But there is some thinking that the new African members, if they do get those seats, they wouldn't have this power. Talk to us about that and why this is so important. There's a good question about the veto. I think one of the questions that a number of people are asking is, what happens with the veto powers? Do you abolish them? Do you give the veto to new members? Or do you create a tier of countries who have a permanency but no veto? But I suspect that the P5 themselves would jealously guard their right to hold the veto. And there'll be question marks about what happens to others that come into the council and how the veto continues to play out. So in terms of the two permanent seats, then, if Africa does get them, which countries do you think are in contention and why? And what kind of merit would go into determining who they go to? Who? That's a good question. I mean, that is the big question for the African countries and for the African Union as well. There was a time when we talked about the continent, own big fives, South African, Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria. You know, and oftentimes it's always been sometimes a contest between Nigeria and South Africa. So it's going to be hard. There will be a tussle for who becomes Africa's permanent representative or elected members to the Security Council. The Africa Union or the African countries themselves have come up with their own discussion around deciding or at least coming up with a consensus about how many countries should be represented. There's what you call the Izuluini consensus position where you have two new permanent African seats with veto. And then five new elected African seats. The Africa Union will have a final decision over which African countries serve on the Security Council. But there is no agreement about which two African countries would take up the permanent seat. But nonetheless, it would transform the nature of Africa's own representation. And it's also true many of the continents, sort of influential countries, now have thrown their own hat into the ring. But there's no clear consensus yet, as you can imagine. Give in the country and turn to your politics. So looking at then the Security Council as an institution, how effective would you say it is? That's a bit into a little question. There is a lot of misgiving right now today, especially when you look at it within the lens of Israel Gaza, within the lens of Ukraine, and particularly within the lens of Sudan as well. But the Security Council oftentimes either refuses to use its political will have its political will, refuses to use the key instruments before it that could help change the dynamics on the ground. Increasingly, we have noticed ourselves that overall mortal absolism is in decline. And that diplomacy itself continues to lose its currency. And generally speaking that there is a sort of a cloud, a gloomy view about the state of the Security Council, a platform that should be used for diplomacy that has a mandate for addressing peace and security. I think most people that we talk to have said that the UN's peace and security work has often lacked common vision, hasn't performed at par, is a dispiriting today. So it's really not a good look and quite frankly also, as we ourselves, International Crisis Group said a month ago, a number of crises, particularly a Hamas Israel conflict, has reshaped diplomacy and the Security Council, has put the Security Council, some of its members, at a back vote, has undercut the power of the Security Council. But at the same time, it is working, you know, there are a number of important files that are placed before the Security Council, so it's not all a state of practices. It's dealing with Haiti, for example, and significant work being taken place to help get through the Kenyan-led police force in Haiti, for example. So big picture, yes, at one level it's not working, yes, it looks as though it's in the paralysis, but nonetheless, still an important chamber to mount a serious response to a number of crises. All right, thank you, Comfort. Thank you very much. Comfort Arrow, Head of the International Crisis Group. This is Fokas on Africa from the BBC World Service. Balancing a wellness routine and busy travel plans? Try ALO Moves, the health and wellness app you need to stay consistent. Join alomoves.com with code ACAST for a 30-day free trial and 20% off an annual membership. From yoga and pilates to strength workouts, ALO Moves has it all. From five to 60 minutes, ALO Moves has classes or flow that fit your schedule. Plus, ALO Moves offers meditations, sound baths, nutrition tips, and self-care tutorials. Find your perfect wellness routine anytime and anywhere with ALO Moves. Ryan Reynolds here for, I guess, my 100th mint commercial. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Honestly, when I started this, I thought I'd only have to do like four of these. I mean, it's unlimited to premium wireless for $15 a month. How are there still people paying two or three times that much? I'm sorry, I shouldn't be victim-blaming here. Give it a try at midmobile.com/switch or whatever you're ready. $45 up from payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speed slower above 40 gigabytes of CDTails. [Music] Until now, cancer patients in Malawi have had to travel to Kenya or India for radiotherapy treatment when other interventions such as chemotherapy or surgery have not survived. As you know, travel can add financial and emotional burden to already strained patients, and for many, the option of going abroad is simply out of reach. Many aspects held Malawi back with regard to cancer treatment, one being access to radiotherapy via the International Atomic Energy Agency or the IAEA, which helps countries access safe and effective use of radiation medicine. Now, in 2022, the IAEA Raise of Hope initiative was launched, benefiting seven African countries, which included Malawi, thus giving the country access to radiotherapy or medical imaging. So earlier this year, Malawi installed its first radiotherapy machine in a private hospital in Blantaya, and more machines are currently being installed at a public clinic in the capital, bringing hope to the 17,000 people who are diagnosed with cancer in the country each year. This is a story about access, survival, and hope, particularly for women and young families like one person's journey, Dorothy, who faced an unimaginable dilemma during Savico Cancer diagnosis while pregnant. When I was diagnosed with Savico Cancer, that was like the end of my happy moments. I had my baby, and they removed my uterus. I had my fears about traveling, especially leaving my three-month-old baby behind to go to Kenya. But because I was going for crucial treatment, I had to encourage myself. I've been speaking to the BBC's Ashley Limé, who's been following this story for us. Let me just start by telling Dorothy's story, which is nothing short of America. She first discovered she had Savico Cancer and she was about 13 weeks pregnant. But before then, she used to go to hospital because she was feeling crumbs in her lower abdomen, and abdominal discharges that were actually smelling so bad. And doctors used to tell her that it was a sexually transmitted infection. So it took a number of hospital visits and also intuition by a doctor to find out that this was actually Savico Cancer. I am so happy that the radio therapy machine we had to travel to Kenya for is now here in Malawi. Many with no options and hope have died because they could not afford to travel to Kenya for treatment. So one of the challenges that we get to learn from Dorothy's story is that Malawi has poor access to screening. And this screening is important because it looks for signs of the human papilloma virus, HPV, that causes most Savico Cancer. So this screening is basically not easily available and we may have to travel for long distances for screening. And also we know that Malawi is actually one of the poorest countries in the world. Another challenge she faced was stigma. She would say that people would actually tell her that she was promiscuous. You know, that's why she has Savico Cancer and therefore it was actually a dead sentence. People think you are very promiscuous and therefore that's why you have got Savico Cancer. So women tend to keep off screening and treatment. And also a lot of misconceptions about the HPV vaccination that you would actually get Savico Cancer if you were vaccinated, which is not the case. Ashley, tell me how was Dorothy doing when you visited her? To take you back to February when the BBC visited her at an aerobic hospital. She was very frail. She looked tired. She had lost weight and also she had lost hair. And she was talking about the side effects of the treatment and that every time she was just feeling sick and the women she had come with here to Kenya were the ones who were encouraging her. But now months later in mid-August when we went to Malawi, the BBC visited her at her home. She was very happy. She had regained her body and even her hair. And she was smiling. And this child who she was told could actually be disabled as a result of the Kimu she had in Malawi before coming to Kenya was actually very healthy. So we actually saw a woman who had gone some sort of transformation from being very sick and frail to being very healthy. Could you then describe how the installation of this first radiotherapy machine in Malawi came about and why it took so long for an entire country not to have this? The story behind it is the facility is privately owned. Actually it's a state of the arts kind of facility and was funded by a businessman and also together with other partners the facility costs about nine million US dollars. The facility was actually opened by President Lazaras Chakra. And the reason why this has taken too long is because there have been efforts by Malawi like the past 15 years to develop radiotherapy capacity. So you know it involves joining the International Atomic Energy Agency that is IAEA and actually getting membership there. And therefore there are a lot of legal issues to regulate nuclear and radiation sciences activities in the country. And they also established an independent body to regulate the use of atomic energy. But then it did not materialize. So what happened is now the private facility in Blantia was constructed. Then months later in June this year Malawi actually received another radiotherapy machine at the National Cancer Center in Lillongue, the capital. And it will be complete by the end of this year. So there's a lot of stuff that was happening to do with regulation and stuff. And then also it's not really clear why it took this long apart from the legal issues that happened along the way. So what is the extent of cancer burden then in the country especially on young people and what type of cancers are prevalent? So the disease burden in Malawi in terms of mobility is about 70.9 per 100,000 people. This is edge standardized and for mortality this is about 54.1. Like in males the most common cancer is cancer of the esophagus, this is the caposi, sarcoma and prostate well for women. It's the cervical cancer breast cancer and esophagus. So for Malawi cervical cancer is the first most frequent cancer among women. And Malawi has the second highest mortality rate for cervical cancer in the world after a swatting. We have data showing that over 4,000 cervical cancer cases are reported and 2,900 deaths every single year. So that is what Malawi is actually facing right now. Now we have the treatment machine here at home so the cost of travelling abroad will be minimized. It was a tough experience. There were days I spent all the money I had on medication. Now people will not have to go through the face of worry like I did. But despite Dorothy's story being one of hope challenges still remain in Malawi as Dr Sam major from the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Blanteria told the BBC. Investment in radio therapy has always been in the plan but its implementation has taken some time. We might say it might be sufficient but it would not be only for cervical cancer patients. There are other cancers, breast cancer, skin cancers which all require radio therapy. So if we look at the scale of Malawi and the burden of cancer there is two need for investing in radio therapy. And how has the lack of radio therapy you described sort of the journey, the long journey that Malawi has had to having its first radio therapy machines in the country. How has the lack of this really affected people and especially women of child bearing age like Dorothy? The fact that there was no radio therapy in the country made the treatment of cervical cancer very challenging because people would be diagnosed with cervical cancer but the options available were just surgery and chemotherapy and we know that radio therapy actually kills the cervical cancer cells because it does a kind of targeted treatment where the laser rays target the particular area that has cancer therefore other organs of the body are not affected. So we had people spending thousands of Malawi and Quatcha on treatment and they drained their family's resources so treating cervical cancer has been difficult for so many people. There's also stigma that once you have cervical cancer you're going to die and this was made worse by the fact that there was no radio therapy to treat these women and even of child bearing age like Dorothy. In fact Dorothy's case was an emergency because she was found to have cervical cancer when she was 13 weeks pregnant and she was either supposed to terminate the pregnancy in order to have surgery or undergo chemotherapy and risk having a baby who was disabled because of the effects of chemotherapy. Is there awareness then about cancer especially among young people in the country? Awareness is growing because there are different organizations like the Medsas and Frontier and others that are partnering with the government to create awareness through mobile clinics which they take to villages and they come there. They also use local nasses and community health workers to reach out to the people. The people who speak their local language who go out to actually talk to people to talk even to young girls and tell them that they actually need the HPV vaccination in order to prevent themselves from getting cervical cancer and then also conversations about cervical cancer have been taking place and its causes and in treatments like for example at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital we actually saw a bit of that when we spoke to one doctor who explained that they're actually trying to go out and create awareness and encourage women to actually be screened so that even if somebody is found with the cervical cancer this can be treated or rather caught early before they become fully blown cervical cancer patients. Ashley what then have you learned from speaking to patients like Dorothy who previously had to travel to countries abroad for treatment because if you look at the interventions that have happened one radiotherapy machine is is not enough is plans for another one to be on their way so there's a lot more that needs to be done. We have learned from patients like Dorothy that cervical cancer is such a draining kind of disease physically and even mentally because you have to deal with a stigma that is around that you might actually die you know people tell you you will die you know there's no treatment and therefore families are drained even financially they have to spend money they have to take long trips to hospitals to be treated like the hospital that we actually saw the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital is actually a government facility that patients have to go there a majority of them to at least try to look for treatment so we've learned that having radiotherapy machines in country makes it much easier for cancer patients and therefore there's hope for a cure but living in a country where there's no single radiotherapy machines and we know that surgery and chemo yes they help to lessen the burden but at least radiotherapy gives the targeted kind of treatment that at the end of the day we are assured somebody can even be cured of the disease it's very draining from what we learned about her it is very draining and having to leave her children behind Dorothy has three children and the last one she had to leave her at three months to come to Kenya as strange land she had never been here she'd never been on a plane so for her it was very difficult but with the help of the women who were surrounding her they were able to overcome the challenges and the effects of the treatment that they went through and therefore one radiotherapy machine is not enough and health officials in Malawi were saying that there were plans in place to get more machines and there are also some machines that were brought in June in a long way to actually go to the national cancer center that is currently under construction all right Ashley thank you for your time you're welcome chance thanks very much to the BBC's Ashley Limé, Dr. Sam Meja obstetrician and gynecologist are the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Bluntaya and especially to Dorothy for sharing her incredibly brave journey with us making it possible for us to tell this story and that's Focus on Africa today it was produced by Rob Wilson and Victor Silva in London. Connie Sharpe was a senior journalist in charge and Chris Cuzaris was a technical producer. Our editors are Andrew Lombard and Alice Moudangi. I'm Charles Gitonga who'll speak again soon. Listen up corporate types it's me Billie Eichl. You might use Workday's responsible AI to future proof your business that doesn't make you rock stars. When have rock stars ever been responsible? Be a finance and HR rock star with Workday. Hey I hear you think podcasts are all about true crime huh? Well wise guy the iHeartRadio app's got all kinds of podcasts. We got stuff you should know and stuff they don't want you to know. We got Bobby Bones big boy and Lou Lader. We got SpongeBob binge pants and exotic erotic story time. We got dole boys two dudes in the kitchen green eggs and Dan. Hey we got elf quest. We got podcasts for everything on the iHeartRadio app for free. If you don't download that well that's not just a true crime my friend that's criminal. Thank you. you [BLANK_AUDIO]