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banner to go to monday.com. The

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Global Jigsaw team, Krista behind the camera

1:22

and I have come to Kenya to

1:24

work with our colleagues in the BBC

1:26

monitoring office in Nairobi. We've

1:29

recorded a few Africa related episodes,

1:31

but we thought this operation is

1:34

a story in its own right because

1:36

this team has been monitoring events in

1:38

Africa since the late 50s. And

1:41

we thought this would do a good bonus

1:43

episode. So here we are in

1:46

our office in the current area of town

1:48

or rather outside the office. And

1:50

there's a beautiful garden which doubles

1:52

up as the outdoors working space

1:54

because who wouldn't want to work

1:57

with birdsong. Mind you, there's a

1:59

racing team. truck right next door. Next

2:02

to it here we have a vegetable

2:04

garden because that's also good for the

2:07

soul and the biggest

2:09

clue to our operation is over there

2:11

at the back of the office and

2:13

to the site and it's a constellation

2:15

of satellite dishes which pick

2:17

up about a hundred and twenty

2:20

TV and radio sources from

2:23

across the African continent. I'm

2:32

Krasi Twig and this is the Global

2:34

Jigsaw from BBC Monitoring where we look

2:36

at the world through the lens of

2:38

its media getting past the narratives, the

2:41

propaganda and the disinformation. So

3:01

here we are in the Robby office. So

3:12

that's the main bit. This is the

3:14

main operations area, our newsroom. Moses

3:17

Brono, veteran journalist and former

3:19

Africa security correspondent for the BBC,

3:22

is now overseeing the editorial site of our

3:24

Robby operation. He gave me a tour

3:26

of the place. Do you enjoy the bird

3:29

song? How

3:58

many of you behave? many

4:00

mentions, many summer connections

4:03

today, obviously the computers

4:05

and also today's satellite

4:07

system. The satellite system, all

4:09

right. Back through

4:12

the studio. And

4:14

our emergency exit. Emergency exit right

4:17

out to the dishes. And

4:20

right out here are satellite dishes

4:23

and the old shortwave

4:25

and AM receivers.

4:28

Across this field, a

4:31

few dotted, further upfield and towards

4:33

the back by the fence, a

4:37

really important infrastructure that was

4:39

used to receive shortwave

4:41

and mediumwave radio

4:44

broadcast from Metfires, Rwanda,

4:46

Angola, Mozambique, the

4:49

Horn of Africa, Ethiopia and so forth.

4:52

So they're satellite dishes. The black

4:54

ones are the satellite dishes for

4:56

receiving TV signals. And

4:58

we've got a few at the back. Some

5:01

of the new satellite dishes we installed,

5:03

the shiny white ones, are

5:06

new ones from recent years. And between

5:09

all these TV satellite dishes now, they

5:12

receive more than 100 TV and

5:15

radio signals. The aerials,

5:17

we're no longer using them really as

5:20

such. They were from another generation.

5:22

From another era. Another era, right?

5:24

Yeah. The container at

5:26

the back, Krasi, is

5:28

home to some of the

5:31

infrastructure that we used to use. There

5:34

are typewriters there. Oh,

5:37

the interesting stuff from the past. Interesting stuff.

5:39

There's a test on tape recorders. Yes.

5:41

So it's like a mini

5:44

monitoring museum at the back. Oh,

5:47

it is our local museum. We're

5:49

using cassettes up to

5:51

recent years before we moved to

5:53

digital recording. So interesting. There

5:55

was a discussion the other day. Some of the

5:57

new colleagues were wondering, you used to have... I

6:01

remember listening to music from those. I

6:08

shouldn't have missed that really. That's the story

6:10

of the Africa office. The

6:17

Nairobi Bureau has been holding a

6:19

magnifying glass to the changing geopolitics

6:21

on the continent over six decades.

6:24

This office was

6:26

set up to listen to

6:28

some of the radio-cardo broadcasts

6:31

during the Suez Canal crisis.

6:34

And in the

6:36

years after the crisis ended, monitoring

6:39

decided to set up some

6:41

operations to listen to the

6:45

media in East Africa and the

6:47

Horn of Africa. But

6:50

with time, the managers decided

6:52

to set up a

6:54

base for media monitoring in Africa. Initially,

6:57

we used to be just East Africa

6:59

operations. We used to just cover the

7:02

region from Rwanda, East Sea, Congo, Burundi,

7:04

Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia,

7:06

and Somalia, as well as Djibouti

7:08

and Eritrea. But in

7:11

recent years, we expanded into the

7:13

whole of Africa, south of Sahara. Because

7:16

of the opportunities that digital

7:18

and the internet has provided, we're able

7:20

to cover the whole of Africa intelligently.

7:24

Unlike when we used to rely on the radios,

7:27

which would be... It

7:29

would take so much time to make sense of what's

7:31

going on in Africa. We are a fairly small team

7:33

now, about 35 people,

7:36

looking after so many sources,

7:38

100-plus sources, digital, social media,

7:40

radio, TV, online. We're

7:43

not covering everything. We have to select

7:45

the theme that we want to cover.

7:48

We are very strong with security, media,

7:50

climate change, economic and political change as

7:52

well. And how agile are

7:54

we in terms of when, for example,

7:56

a new conflict developed

7:58

in Sudan? Are we

8:00

able to deploy more resources in

8:02

order to monitor it? We

8:05

have to prioritise every day. We have

8:07

the editorial meetings every day and decide

8:10

where are we covering, what are we

8:12

covering today, how much resources we need

8:14

to. When we

8:16

have a big event coming up, what

8:18

we do is we decide on what

8:22

is the value that BBC monitoring

8:24

can provide to BBC monitoring users.

8:27

We could ask engineers, find us local

8:30

radio stations, find us media

8:33

sources that can help us tell the story. If

8:35

a radio station is very important, but it's

8:38

only broadcast within a small radio, we can

8:40

decide, let's have a local freelancer, to

8:42

record the radio station and

8:44

send over the recording store. Right. It's

8:47

important to remember that, especially in

8:49

the age of the internet, not

8:51

everything is on the internet. The

8:54

question of access would be important. You'd

8:57

be very surprised that even with the

8:59

internet, radio is still king in

9:01

many parts of Africa. TV and

9:03

broadcast media is still the backbone

9:06

of the dissemination of information. Many

9:09

governments and other actors are still relying

9:11

on radio and TV in

9:14

distant places like Chad, Central

9:16

African Republic, the Hall

9:18

of Sahal, Mozambique, Angola. Radio

9:21

is still important. And

9:23

we need to have people either on the ground

9:26

or people to help us to do the

9:28

collection. I'll tell you another story. In

9:31

other parts of Africa as well, including

9:34

even in Cameroon, Nigeria,

9:36

Mali, Guinea, and all these other places,

9:39

including Eritrea and Ethiopia, we

9:43

have to literally buy

9:46

the newspapers and

9:49

to look through those newspapers. So somebody would have

9:51

to buy the newspapers and pass them on so

9:54

that our journalists could look through what is in the

9:56

newspapers. And that can be

9:58

quite a laborious process. but it

10:00

is at the heart of what we do.

10:02

To make sense of Africa, we need to

10:04

have a really good mix of sources. And

10:07

that's why even as we

10:09

look at digital, we have to look at radio

10:12

and the print. Before

10:15

we hear from some of the colleagues

10:17

who are doing the media monitoring, Moses

10:19

wanted to highlight another original feature of

10:21

this office. Oh yeah,

10:24

so this belly is from Chad.

10:26

Wonderful. It's a cowbell, if

10:29

we need to call an eating. Is

10:32

that how you call the editorial meeting? That's how

10:34

we call the editorial meeting. Wonderful. And

10:36

it's a beautiful bell. Yeah, from the

10:40

inside, one of us will

10:43

look to a cowbell. If

10:45

you hear the bell, it's time for the meeting. Back

10:49

in the garden, I met a mom

10:51

tending to the dishes, Tony Mwasegwa. Now,

10:54

these dishes require some tender loving

10:56

care. I know that from our

10:58

tech guys in London who occasionally

11:00

have to sweep the snow off

11:02

them with extra long broomsticks. Tony

11:05

was amused to hear about it and

11:07

talk me through the nairobi conditions. You

11:09

look after these dishes, don't you? Yes,

11:12

I do. Is that a tough job? Sometimes

11:15

it's fun, but sometimes we get challenges.

11:17

Where we are, the soil is clay

11:19

soil. So when it gets very rainy,

11:22

the beds of the antennas move. And

11:24

so we have to retune the dishes

11:26

to get the sources which might have

11:28

gone out of tune. We

11:30

are having a lot of sources moving

11:32

from satellites now to internet beds. That is

11:35

a big change that is happening. We are

11:37

losing a lot of all the channels that

11:39

were available on C-band or

11:41

on satellite. And they are now being

11:43

available on IP, on internet. We

11:45

are adapting to that. The

11:48

digitalization in Africa is not

11:50

very stable as opposed to satellites, which

11:52

is once it's there, it is hard

11:54

to disappear. But because of different

11:57

infrastructure in different countries, we get

11:59

some. channel on digital not

12:01

being very good or very stable. So

12:04

this is adding more kind of uncertainty to

12:06

our job. Yeah. A

12:09

world away from the charm of

12:11

the Nairobi birdsong and the cowbell

12:13

from chat summoning the monitors for

12:15

their morning gathering, back

12:17

in new broadcasting house in London

12:19

I spoke to Chris Greenway to

12:21

get the HQ perspective on monitoring's

12:23

work in the Kenyan capital. Chris

12:26

is one of the longest serving members

12:28

of the monitoring operation. He

12:31

recalled how it all began a few

12:33

years after the Suez crisis. What

12:35

we used to call our East Africa

12:37

Unit or EAU was set up in

12:39

Nairobi in 1959. At that

12:43

time there was just as

12:45

much interest in what outside

12:47

powers were saying to Africa

12:49

as much as in

12:52

broadcasts from within the continent. There

12:55

was great interest in what Radio

12:57

Cairo was saying to

12:59

Africa but also they were broadcast

13:01

to the continent from Moscow

13:04

and then from Peking. And

13:14

then of course quickly became apparent that there

13:16

was interest in monitoring

13:19

what was being said within Africa not least because

13:21

this was a time of decolonization.

13:24

There's at least one more

13:26

reason why it made sense to set

13:28

up shop on location and it's

13:30

to do with how radio waves work. To

13:33

have really reliable reception at all times

13:35

of day and to a good enough

13:37

standard of audibility for monitoring you need

13:39

to be on the spot. Shortwave signals

13:41

can and indeed do travel

13:44

right around the world. If

13:46

you want to have consistent monitoring of a

13:48

particular shortwave station you really need to

13:51

be in its target area. For

13:58

example of some of the broadest broadcast from,

14:01

say, Radio Moscow, broadcasting to Africa,

14:03

would have been audible on shortwave

14:05

here in the UK to have

14:07

much more reliable reception when needed

14:09

to be on the spot. Our

14:12

recent experience shows that being close

14:14

to the action brings its own

14:16

risks. The fact that we're doing

14:18

this in often some quite troubled parts of the

14:21

world potentially does go for

14:23

rise to problems. We used to run

14:25

an operation in Afghanistan. We

14:27

had to, like so many other international

14:29

organizations, we had to close that down

14:31

in 2021. It's been well

14:34

reported the problems that the BBC has had

14:37

in the last

14:39

two years in Russia. We no

14:41

longer have our monitoring operation in

14:43

Moscow. And over the years, offices

14:45

have opened and closed. I suppose

14:47

one should say that the Nairobi

14:49

operations are those sometimes that has

14:51

faced some difficulties. It's

14:54

never had to interrupt its work for

14:56

well over 60 years ever since the

14:58

late 1950s right up until

15:00

the present day. But despite the

15:03

risks, listening stations like

15:05

the one in Nairobi are essential

15:07

for a global operation like BBC

15:09

monitoring. It goes without

15:11

saying that having the language skills and

15:13

the local knowledge broadens the horizon. Getting

15:17

the linguistic and indeed cultural,

15:19

political, social, historical

15:21

skills and awareness again

15:24

points to doing the recruiting locally. Monitoring

15:26

is not just a matter of identifying

15:29

a media outlet and writing down what

15:31

they're saying. You need to have a

15:33

complete understanding of the background of what's

15:36

being said and then to explain that

15:38

context and insight. And

15:40

talking about the language expertise, how

15:42

many languages do we monitor on

15:44

the continent? Oh, certainly well over

15:47

a dozen. The main

15:49

European languages, French

15:51

is a really important Medium

15:53

in much of the continent, notably

15:56

West Africa. But We are monitoring

15:58

in many, many African languages. Well,

16:00

in Swahili, Somali,

16:03

Amharic, in Kenya.

16:05

cuckoo you low

16:08

Kalenjin. In the Horn of

16:10

Africa. Romo also to to

16:12

a new fan in the Great

16:14

Lakes region kidney Rwanda and Burundi

16:17

feather a field because Portuguese being

16:19

spoken in Mozambique a sign girl

16:21

and elsewhere in the region not

16:24

just hire sir of course very

16:26

important in Northern Nigeria nice ass

16:28

but others further west. You

16:35

are listening to the Glue Boutiques. Live

16:44

here now from my few colleagues in

16:46

Nairobi who speaks some of these languages.

16:48

What are the kevin stories and challenges

16:50

that keep them busy? My

16:53

name is early less perhaps if I.

16:55

Mean me monitor stories from around

16:58

sub Saharan front, the Africa, the

17:00

political and security developments of countries

17:03

where the Coors happened. My leave

17:05

looking for Sony have skinny Todd.

17:07

Many interesting things have been happening

17:10

since days democratically elected government for

17:12

us said. I'm just looking at

17:14

how the security is evolving, what

17:17

players are coming into place to

17:19

support their fight against terrorism which

17:21

has been not going on for

17:24

over at. A kid sitting through

17:26

the loop in a soon to be

17:28

nice a senior league too. Loot the

17:30

movies that is this it and also

17:33

just looking at that activities of the

17:35

hardest groups or later that islamic state

17:37

and they are tied a militant groups.

17:40

how they operate what the usually do

17:42

in this small villages in different parts

17:44

of this I am on lead to

17:47

nothing So we. Mainly money towel

17:49

local sources. undies are at

17:51

the local television. local radio

17:53

stations. analyze them and get

17:56

a sense of boss what

17:58

is happening and just. to

18:00

try to figure out what the future might

18:02

look like. Abdullah

18:05

Muhammad Abdi, known better as Guji.

18:08

Our main trend

18:10

here is watch media

18:13

outlets of almost

18:15

every African country every

18:17

day over a long period of time.

18:20

There are priority countries where we

18:22

have to watch different

18:24

vernacular sources over a long

18:27

period of time. What

18:29

that translates into is unparalleled

18:32

knowledge, expertise

18:35

on any theme in

18:38

the continent. There is a new

18:40

political or military or security person

18:42

coming up, making headlines in

18:44

the news. We have the

18:46

background. We have already been following the

18:48

situation. There is a new armed

18:51

group coming up. We know what has

18:53

been happening in that country. We know

18:55

the security situation. We can explain what

18:57

is happening. Why it is

18:59

happening, how it is happening. One

19:02

of the most challenging things

19:04

in the Somali team is

19:06

following media behavior,

19:09

media outlets of the Al-Shabaab militant

19:12

group, which is one of the

19:14

most powerful Al-Qaeda branches in Somalia.

19:17

Now, one of the

19:19

things we do is monitor their

19:21

media behavior, their propaganda,

19:24

what their activities, their daily attacks.

19:27

The government in Somalia has said

19:30

that it has closed Al-Shabaab's

19:32

media outlet. We still have

19:35

means we can follow, but

19:38

it's also a bit of a challenge. It's

19:40

also a counter that has

19:42

been unstable and recovering from civil law

19:44

since 1991. There

19:47

is a lot of

19:49

political, tribal, ideological issues

19:52

going on. We

19:54

have the expertise and the background knowledge

19:56

to follow that and then

19:58

inform our customers. How much

20:00

of that in an unbiased manner? My.

20:03

Name is Evelyn or share

20:06

this my area of coverage.

20:08

Lose of fun countries some

20:10

Muslim faith Angola some two

20:12

men clean said the gates

20:14

said this and Guinea Bissau.

20:17

I would say that the

20:19

biggest story in our region

20:21

right now he thinks urgency

20:23

in northern muslim base and

20:25

what kind of forces to

20:28

monitor will monitor newspapers tv

20:30

station. Former that of er

20:32

scribbled is for a couple guys

20:34

have. With. Try to look at

20:36

community Radio is so that we

20:39

can get a wider array of

20:41

perspectives and what is your biggest

20:43

challenge? Him doing this job I

20:46

would say finding sources that are

20:48

based guptill god the province. Sigma

20:51

was a suitable bajo. The result

20:53

is as a family that. As.

20:56

Research for both.

20:58

Look for services.

21:02

Can be a bit hard to

21:04

get the news from the ground

21:06

because it's an isolated the region

21:08

and for example, the rainy season

21:11

usually starts from November to March

21:13

and during this period of time

21:15

the area can become a d

21:18

the isolated for example there was

21:20

a road that was close to

21:22

to the heavy rainfall said can

21:25

be a bit higher success community

21:27

radius Most of their attacks have

21:29

been away from the big cities.

21:32

For the reporters who are

21:34

in the city's to reach

21:36

those areas it can be

21:39

a bit side and with

21:41

abandon them also during these

21:43

stairs and see the way

21:45

incidence of the militants destroying

21:47

communication is a success throwing

21:49

cell phone towers joining a

21:51

like three except our station

21:53

we would have times when

21:55

a hold these three with

21:57

have a black. Coat. So

22:00

we would spend one, two, three,

22:02

four days in absolute darkness, just

22:05

hearing rumors and hearsay. And only

22:07

days later, once the power was

22:10

restored, once the people who were

22:12

on the side managed to walk,

22:14

sometimes get buses and come to

22:17

know the cities, they would be

22:19

able to report what happened and

22:21

what they saw. My

22:24

name is Laura Cheragul. I

22:27

monitor Anglophone African regions. I

22:29

really enjoy this job because

22:32

of the evolution of the stories, looking

22:35

at security in northeastern

22:37

Nigeria. I joined at a time

22:40

when Boko Haram had just started its insurgency and

22:42

I've seen how they've expanded

22:45

the Islamist agenda. Nigerian

22:47

army says troops have killed a key

22:49

member of a fractional Boko Haram group,

22:52

ISWA. I've seen the divisions within the

22:54

group, which led to the formation of

22:56

the Islamic State with the Africa province. I've

22:59

seen the capture of various

23:01

towns, various provinces, regions

23:04

of northern Nigeria, and

23:06

also the groups spreading their tentacles

23:09

to the border areas, like

23:12

Cameroon, Chad and basically

23:14

the Lake Chaj, Bezin. The evolution of

23:16

media in countries like Kenya, where

23:19

we have quite a number of private media players,

23:22

although most of them are now facing a challenge of

23:24

IAI. We're seeing a lot of layoffs.

23:27

I've also monitored countries like Rwanda. You

23:29

know, Rwanda came out of genocide close

23:31

to 30 years ago. That was in 1994. And

23:35

we've seen a country really rebuild itself.

23:38

Some people have said that it's giving Kenya a

23:40

run for its money. Kenya has been considered the

23:42

economic powers of eastern central Africa for a long

23:44

time. We look at Uganda

23:47

that has to deal with the ADF

23:49

rebels operating in DR Congo.

23:52

In that regard, we have to

23:54

monitor closely the operations of the

23:56

Ugandan military in eastern

23:59

DR Congo, these rebels

24:01

who hail from Uganda operate. We

24:04

look at local news sources that

24:07

broadcast in vernacular. In Nigeria

24:09

we look at able sources as well as

24:11

Yoruba sources. These vernacular sources

24:13

enrich our understanding of the north-south

24:16

divide. It's interesting

24:18

to hear how the media reports news

24:21

and the kind of prominence some stories are given

24:24

in the north but not in the south and

24:26

the stories that are given prominence in the south

24:28

but not in the north. It helps us understand

24:31

the dynamics on the ground. Our

24:34

Nairobi bureau has quite a track

24:36

record of watching history unfold on

24:38

the continent. Here's Chris again

24:40

with the stories he remembers from his days

24:42

there. I was fortunate enough to

24:45

be based there thinking in particular perhaps

24:47

of the early 1990s which is a

24:49

time of great political change there triggered

24:52

in part by all the changes that have

24:54

happened in eastern Europe. For

24:57

example in 1991 we

24:59

saw the fall of both the

25:01

Somali leader Syed Bairi and then

25:03

the collapse of the communist

25:06

government in Ethiopia headed by

25:08

Mengistu. Both those were really

25:11

significant events for our

25:13

office. So for example in Ethiopia

25:16

both the government and the various

25:18

rebel guerrilla groups had quite extensive

25:20

shortwave radio operations. Same thing actually

25:22

was going on with the civil

25:25

war inside Sudan where both sides

25:27

were making use of radio.

25:30

From the 1960s they were

25:32

monitoring developments as many

25:34

of these countries were becoming

25:36

independent. Kenya itself became independent

25:38

in 1963. At midnight

25:40

the union act was lowered for the

25:42

last time and seniors ceased to be

25:44

a colony and became independent. It was

25:47

estimated that a quarter million people witnessed

25:49

the moving ceremony and of course you

25:51

were then seeing all these newly independent

25:53

countries develop their own broadcasting

25:55

services and of course all

25:57

the developments that took place.

26:00

subsequently, including various wars. Uganda

26:02

right next door to Kenya

26:04

was a particular source

26:06

of interest. There was the

26:09

Ediamin era in the 1970s,

26:11

which Britain was very

26:13

closely tied up with and of

26:15

course eventually saw Ediamin to overthrow

26:17

an invasion by Tanzania. Of

26:27

course numerous coups, rebellions,

26:30

insurgencies, etc. One

26:32

very interesting story that we were covering

26:35

during the apartheid era was what was

26:37

going on around South Africa. The

26:40

ANC, the African National Congress, of

26:42

course, was banned in South Africa,

26:44

but they provided radio broadcasts from

26:47

a number of different African countries,

26:50

including Zambia and Tanzania, and then

26:52

they had the use of a

26:54

powerful shortwave transmitter in Ethiopia, which

26:57

we used to monitor their radio freedom.

27:00

It was jammed by the South Africans, but we

27:02

could hear it all right, and

27:04

that actually used to have quite

27:06

detailed commentaries and position papers. Comrades

27:09

and fellow countrymen, here

27:11

is a message of DCF from the ANC

27:13

president, Comrade Oliver Tumble. In

27:15

the name of the National Executive Committee

27:17

of the ANC, I

27:20

declare the year

27:22

of the women. We

27:24

transcribed that quite extensively because it

27:26

gave over time a really quite

27:29

good idea of the lines

27:32

that they were trying to take.

27:34

So we were monitoring rebel or

27:36

insurgent groups with their own radio

27:38

stations in numerous countries,

27:41

notably Sudan, Ethiopia,

27:43

the Eritreans as well, Somalia.

27:46

As you might have noticed, Chris

27:48

has encyclopedic knowledge of all things

27:50

monitoring. He told me about

27:53

a curious episode that became one of

27:55

the highlights of his career. The

27:57

fall of the Somali president, Siyant Barre,

27:59

in in early 1991. As

28:02

the rebels approached Mogadishu, the capital,

28:05

there was only one station, Radio

28:07

Mogadishu, still on the air. And

28:10

because the fighting developed, its broadcast

28:12

became erratic and its

28:15

pattern of transmission was unpredictable. We could

28:17

only hear it during the hours of

28:19

darkness or dusk and dawn, but then

28:21

it faded out. Though it couldn't be

28:23

heard in Nairobi during the day, it

28:25

could be heard in Mombasa, the Kenyan

28:27

port on the coast. I went down

28:30

to Mombasa with a radio

28:32

and a tape recorder and

28:34

I was able to make recordings of

28:36

the station and feed them back by

28:38

telephone to our Somali team in Nairobi.

28:40

But to get the best reception, I

28:42

actually had to stand on the top

28:44

of an office building in the

28:46

centre of Mombasa. I didn't actually have a

28:49

telephone line on the roof, so

28:51

I was having to sort of be making

28:53

recordings and dash down a ladder to phone

28:55

them back to Nairobi. It all paid off

28:57

though, after Siyad Bari had been

29:00

forced to flee Mogadishu. The station came back

29:02

on the air all of a sudden and

29:04

then they started to announce over it and

29:06

it was clear that it was now

29:09

in the hands of the rebels. And we

29:11

got that, I got the audio phone back

29:13

very quickly to our Somali team and we

29:15

actually had a scoop on that. Our

29:18

very own monitoring scoop. Fast

29:21

forward to today, what are the current

29:23

stories that London would consider strategic to

29:25

watch? There are many

29:27

of course. Some of them are

29:30

environmental, the effects of climate change

29:32

on food security and as

29:34

a trigger to other developments such as migration.

29:36

One thing we are watching very closely at

29:39

the moment of course is influence

29:41

of powers outside Africa on

29:44

what's actually going on inside

29:46

the continent. For example, the

29:48

last few years have seen

29:50

considerable evidence of Russian attempts

29:52

influence there. And if

29:54

you're a long time fan of the global

29:57

jigsaw, you might recall our episodes

29:59

on the sea. TAR, Mali,

30:01

Niger, as well as our

30:03

colleagues' observations on the war in Sudan,

30:06

Turkey's foothold in Africa, and

30:08

China's media empire on the

30:10

continent. And we've seen a number of

30:12

what had been quite well-established

30:15

countries in the Sahel who had

30:18

many years of close relations with Western

30:20

powers, notably France, but also the United

30:23

States as well. A number

30:25

of them have in recent years, as it

30:27

were, switched allegiance or seen their relations

30:30

turning much more towards Moscow,

30:32

and not just in the media and the

30:34

information sphere, but actually on the ground with

30:37

paramilitary forces and becoming

30:39

involved. Of course, there's a lot of

30:41

Chinese influence. This is nothing new across

30:44

the whole continent, principally expressed

30:46

in the economic sphere. So

30:49

what sets monitoring apart from other

30:51

media watchers? We're doing

30:53

it both extensively and also

30:56

intensively in the sense that we

30:58

don't just turn on and start watching

31:00

a TV channel when there's coup happening

31:03

or some political development. In

31:05

many of these cases, we're monitoring day after

31:07

day. So we're really building

31:09

up that, we call it constant watch. It

31:11

means that we're not just piling in when

31:13

there's a crisis, that we've been able to

31:15

report when things are quieter

31:17

as well. And so build up that

31:20

background of reporting and baseline of reporting

31:22

that can be so useful. What

31:24

we call the constant watch, as you heard

31:26

from Guji and Chris, is

31:28

the opposite of the so-called parachute

31:31

journalism. We stay with the

31:33

stories, and that gives us the ability to

31:35

read the writing on the wall. In

31:37

a way, that is the holy grail

31:40

of what our users are looking for.

31:42

That would be accurate predictive analysis. We're

31:44

not, as it were, an all-source political

31:47

analysis agency. We do not

31:49

pretend to accurately

31:52

predict the future. We

31:54

would see ourselves as helping those who

31:56

do have that job, giving

31:58

them the material, the insight. site that

32:00

they might find useful in their work.

32:03

And before we go, let's hear from

32:05

another BBC monitoring veteran. I

32:08

think there's a party on this occasion. I've

32:11

got plans for you. I

32:27

gatecrash the little party celebrating the

32:29

longest serving member of our Nairobi

32:31

team on her last day in

32:33

the SS. My

32:37

name is Joan Simba, Simba means

32:39

lion. I have worked

32:41

with BBC monitoring for 28 years. When

32:45

I joined, we were still using typewriters. So

32:48

we would type our stories and

32:50

then they'd be telexed to either

32:52

Kavashim in Reading or to London

32:54

via telex. It's been a mighty

32:57

big transition, yes, from telex. So what we

32:59

have now, the internet, the challenges mainly, I

33:01

guess, for Africa is maybe electricity. So if

33:03

electricity is down and you don't have a

33:05

power pack, it means you're not able to

33:08

access the internet. Then at

33:10

times you have to be very sure

33:13

of the angles and of the ownership

33:15

of the newspapers or the blogs you're

33:17

looking at. Those are mainly the

33:19

main challenges. There's always something

33:21

happening somewhere. That's

33:29

all from the Nairobi team, among

33:31

them are speakers Moses Rono, Evelyn

33:33

Wachave, Laura Charago,

33:35

Abdulahi Abdi-Guji, Lynette Bahati,

33:38

Tony Mwasegwa and Joan

33:40

Simba. And from

33:42

all of us in London, Chris Greenway,

33:44

producer Christopher Chaturie, technical

33:46

producer Elchin Suleimanov, our

33:48

editor Judy King and me Krasitweg.

33:52

This episode wraps up Season 2, but

33:54

we will be back with more special

33:56

episodes soon. Watch out for those. time

34:00

you can get in touch

34:02

with feedback or suggestions at

34:04

the global jigsaw or one

34:07

word at bbc.co.uk we would

34:09

be very happy to hear from you. When

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finance.com. Welcome

34:58

to Sincerely Sloan presented by Uninterested.

35:01

I'm your host, professional tennis player,

35:03

wife, parent, and entrepreneur Sloan Seedom.

35:05

As an athlete

35:07

and as a person my journey has had

35:10

a lot of twists and turns for moments

35:12

of adversity and doubt to unimaginable triumph and

35:14

satisfaction. Throughout the season

35:16

I'm joined by some of the biggest names

35:18

in sports, entertainment, culture, and a few members of

35:21

my tribe. Our

35:23

conversations keep it real and push it past

35:25

skin deep. We

35:27

reveal the perspectives, routines, and products that allow each

35:29

of us to show up at our best.

35:32

Join me on my journey of self-discovery and

35:34

many many lasts along the way.

35:37

Sincerely Sloan.