IRIN News Production Humanitarian news and analysis agency IRIN News, says thirteen years after Sierra Leone’s long civil war came to an end, its broken institutions and weak development indicators continue to impact on the lives of its people. And more than any group in…
In November 2009, 50-year old Liz Warren, a popular chef in the seaside town of Hermanus, was arrested in Senegal for drug smuggling. In June 2013, Gauteng businessman Gerhard Hattingh was imprisoned in Thailand for drug smuggling. Desperate or greedy, naïve or deceived, there are…
Written and Produced by Richelle Seton-Rogers, Skeletons of Cuito Cuanavale tells the story of the biggest battle since World War II to have been fought on African soil. Today, almost 30 years after the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale in southern Angola, mechanical skeletons litter the…
In honour of Nelson Mandela Day, Special Assignment visits the impoverished community of Alexandra where Mandela stayed when he first came to Johannesburg in 1941. At just over one square mile, with a population of close to half a million people, it is one of…
Almost three decades after the biggest battle since World War II was fought on the African continent, mechanical skeletons litter the landscape of southern Angola and many deadly dangers in the form of landmines remain hidden in the soil, taking their toll on innocent civilians.…
As a follow up to the recent xenophobic attacks in Durban in April this year, Special Assignment goes in search of Vincent Chumba, a Zimbabwean national and one of the victims that we spoke to in April. 25-year old Chumba, a hawker, was attacked and…
June 16, 1976 is a day etched in South African history. A day that turned the tide in South Africa’s liberation struggle. Thousands of Sowetan students marched peacefully to protest the introduction of Afrikaans as a compulsory medium of instruction in schools. The march was…
Each winter in South Africa, thousands of people are affected by shack fires that spread seemingly unchecked from one shack to another, engulfing dozens in a matter of minutes. Burns are one of the major causes of death and injury to South African children. This…
Special Assignment brings you Atomic Africa, an internationally produced documentary by Java Films, which investigates whether nuclear energy is an appropriate response to the continent’s energy crisis, looking at Uganda, Tanzania, the DRC and Niger, as case studies. Companies like French nuclear giant, Areva, lobby…
This week Special Assignment investigates the link between drug smuggling and human trafficking. The recent execution of eight of the ‘Bali Nine’ drug smugglers in Indonesia has once again turned the world’s spotlight on the transnational drug trade and the punishment for this crime. In…