This week on African News Review, Adesoji Iginla with Aya Fubara Eneli Esq, cut through the headlines and reframe four major stories from an Afrocentric point of view.

This episode covers a wide range of global and African issues, including the historical role of the Catholic Church in slavery, the ongoing conflict over Western Sahara, US-Cuba relations, and the importance of understanding history beyond headlines.

The hosts emphasise the need for critical awareness and responsible decision-making in geopolitics and resource control.

🕊️ STORY 1 — POPE LEO XIV APOLOGISES FOR SLAVERY
Pope Leo XIV has issued the Catholic Church's most explicit apology yet for its role in legitimising the transatlantic slave trade — including the 1452 and 1455 papal bulls that gave European kings legal authority to enslave Africans. Ghana called it an "act of moral courage." But is an apology enough? We ask: where are the reparations, and why did it take 571 years?

⚖️ STORY 2 — RAÚL CASTRO INDICTED: IS CUBA NEXT?
The US Department of Justice has indicted 94-year-old former Cuban President Raúl Castro for the 1996 shooting down of two civilian planes. With the USS Nimitz in the Caribbean and Trump saying "Cuba is next," we analyse the Monroe Doctrine playbook — and ask what Africa should make of a superpower that indicts foreign leaders to justify military intervention. Plus: Cuba's forgotten role in Angola's liberation from apartheid.

🏜️ STORY 3 — WESTERN SAHARA: AFRICA'S LAST COLONY
Ryanair is selling flights to "your Moroccan adventure" in Dakhla — a city in Western Sahara, a territory the UN still classifies as a non-self-governing territory under occupation. We expose Morocco's tourism strategy as a tool of territorial normalisation, unpack the Green March of 1975, and ask why the African Union's formal recognition of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is being quietly undermined by African states opening consulates in occupied territory.

🔥 STORY 4 — SENEGAL'S REVOLUTION IN CRISIS
Ousmane Sonko — jailed, persecuted, and barred from the 2024 election — is now Speaker of the National Assembly, just days after being sacked as Prime Minister by his own former ally, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye. The split is really about one question: does Senegal submit to the IMF, or chart a sovereign economic path? We connect this to Burkina Faso, Mali, the CFA franc, and the structural ceiling on African economic sovereignty.

🎙️ African News Review is a weekly podcast reframing the narrative from an Afrocentric point of view. We go beyond the headlines to give African and diaspora audiences the context, history, and analysis that mainstream media leaves out.

Takeaways

* The Catholic Church's role in legitimising slavery
* The Western Sahara conflict and colonial legacy
* US-Cuba relations and historical indictments
* Media narratives and African liberation stories
* The impact of global policies on Africa and the Caribbean

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Greetings
01:39 Global Health Concerns: The Ebola Outbreak
05:09 Afrophobia and the Ghanaian Response
06:13 Papal Apology: The Catholic Church and Slavery
19:34 U.S.-Cuba Relations: Historical Context and Current Events
26:32 Political Manoeuvring and Cuba's Role
28:15 Media Narratives and Historical Context
32:08 Defining Terrorism and Its Implications
35:46 Impact of Sanctions on Cuba
37:35 US Intervention and Global Consequences
45:11 Tourism and Colonial Legacies
51:54 The Call for Equitable International Law
55:37 The Complex History of Western Sahara
56:36 Political Dynamics in Senegal
01:01:30 The Rise of Usman Sonko
01:06:53 The Future of Senegalese Politics
01:09:00 The Danger of Personal Rivalries in Politics
01:12:22 Reflections on History and Education

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