{"podcast":{"title":"Focus on Africa","slug":"focus-on-africa-160336","podcast_index_feed_id":160336,"rss_url":"https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p00gbjvb.rss","website_url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gbjvb","image_url":"http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/3000x3000/p0fsb9dq.jpg","author":"BBC","episode_count":996,"summary":"Two essential stories to round off your working day. Explaining the news from Africa. Hosted by Nkechi Ogbonna.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-24T04:18:30.182171+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/focus-on-africa-160336"},"episode":{"title":"Russia's security influence in the Central African Republic","slug":"russia-s-security-influence-in-the-central-african-republic","published_at":"2026-06-17T15:30:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/focus-on-africa-160336/russia-s-security-influence-in-the-central-african-republic","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/focus-on-africa-160336","url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0nsj781","audio_url":"http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss/proto/http/vpid/p0nsj682.mp3","summary":"Russia’s security presence in Africa may be entering a new chapter, with the Central African Republic at the heart of the story. Reports suggest Moscow is looking to replace private military operatives,Wagner Group with Africa Corps, a force overseen by Russia’s Defence Ministry. But the handover appears far from straightforward, raising questions about Russia’s influence across the continent, the future of its security partnerships, and what it all means for the Central African Republic. And in China, an online trend involving dark-skinned dolls known as Natasha Dolls, fuels discussion about racism and discrimination. Presenter: Nkechi Ogbonna Producers: Chiamaka Dike and Ayuba Iliya Technical Producer: Davis Mwasaru Senior Producer: Keikantse Shumba Editors: Charles Gitonga and Maryam Abdalla","meta_description":"Russia’s security presence in Africa may be entering a new chapter, with the Central African Republic at the heart of the story. Reports suggest Moscow is…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1379,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/focus-on-africa-160336/episodes/russia-s-security-influence-in-the-central-african-republic/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/focus-on-africa-160336/russia-s-security-influence-in-the-central-african-republic.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}