The plan will transform two of the world’s largest refugee camps into open cities and allow the country’s more than 800,000 refugees to get jobs, health care and other services. LIMURU, Kenya — Already an outsider, Ugandan refugee Constance fears a plan to integrate hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers into Kenyan society will instead further alienate him and other LGBTQ refugees at a time of rising hostility. The Shirika Plan, launched by President William Ruto last month, will transform two of the world’s largest refugee camps into open cities and allow the country’s more than 800,000 refugees to finally get jobs, health care and other services. Under Shirika, which means “coming together” in Swahili, the nearly half-million refugees at the Kakuma camp in the north and the Dadaab camp near the Somali border can choose to leave the settlements to live alongside other Kenyans. “The idea of integration is good, because it will guarantee refugees a free life and all rights, like any other Kenyan,” said Constance, who runs a safe house for Ugandan LGBTQ refugees. He did not give his last name for safety reasons. But Constance said groups representing LGBTQ people have not been invited to public forums held in major cities to debate the plan, which was first floated in 2023. “Unlike other refugees, we have serious concerns about security, health and housing that should be incorporated ... But how will we voice these issues when we are not part of the process?” he said. Kenya’s refugee commissioner John Burugu said all those affected by the Shirika Plan had been invited to comment. “We have not locked any one or group out of the process,” Burugu told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone. “You don’t have to physically attend the public participation forums. We have people, groups and organizations who submitted written memoranda, and we captured their views.” But organizations defending the rights of LGBTQ refugees fear this vulnerable group is being ignored. Chance for inclusion The multi-year Shirika Plan has been lauded by the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR as an opportunity to improve the lives of refugees and create economic opportunities for Kenya. For decades, Kenya has hosted refugees, mostly from Somalia, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, many of whom have built lives in the sprawling expanses of Kakuma and Dadaab and whose children are now adults, having known no other home. Yet people in these camps live in limbo, unable to legally open bank accounts, start businesses or work. State schools do not accept refugee pupils, and asylum seekers need permits to move around the country. Kenya’s 2021 Refugees Act was supposed to address these gaps, but bureaucratic hurdles and a lack of resources have prevented its full implementation. At the Shirika Plan’s formal launch in Nairobi, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said it “recognizes that solutions, which shift away from refugee dependency on humanitarian aid towards greater self-reliance, are possible.” Ruto described Shirika as “our bold, homegrown solution” that would be centered on human rights. The plan will be implemented through 2036 and is expected to cost about $943 million. Funding will come from the World Bank, UNHCR and private institutions, and the Kenyan government is due to allocate resources in its budget in June. However, the plan has faced opposition from some community leaders. Daniel Epuyo, a member of parliament for the Turkana West constituency where Kakuma is situated, said community leaders were not adequately consulted. The leaders are calling for repatriation instead of integration. Anti-LGBTQ sentiment Activists fear the Shirika Plan could worsen anti-LGBTQ sentiment in Kenya and other parts of Africa that has increased in recent years. Kenya was once considered a haven for LGBTQ refugees, and the U.N. said 1,000 Ugandans sheltered here in 2021 — a figure that has likely grown since neighboring Uganda passed a law in 2023 that includes the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.” Kenya has statutes criminalizing same-sex relations, though they are rarely enforced. Yet cases of homophobic abuse and discrimination occur, and activists fear LGBTQ people, including refugees, are being politically targeted. Last year, Burugu said being persecuted as an LGBTQ person is not grounds for protection in Kenya. Homophobic attacks in the camps, particularly Kakuma, mean the government must take precautions under the Shirika Plan, said Craig Paris, executive director of the Refugee Coalition of East Africa. “If it is happening in controlled and secured camps, it might as well get worse in open communities unless the government takes deliberate steps to address it,” Paris said. Kamya Chrisestom, a refugee in Kakuma who was attacked, said refugees were worried about their safety. “Will my security as a transgender be assured when we mix with the host community?” she asked. LGBTQ groups had petitioned donor agencies to pressure the Kenyan government to incorporate gay rights into the Shirika Plan, said Ibrahim Kazibwe, founder of the Community Empowerment and Self-Support Organization. “President Ruto said that the implementation of the plan will be centered on human rights, and we hope that those rights will as well include LGBTQ rights,” Kazibwe said. The UNHCR has worked closely with the government to ensure that “no group is left behind,” said Njoki Mwangi, a spokesperson for the agency in Nairobi. “Key among the guiding principles was inclusivity and non-discrimination on the bases of race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, gender or any other grounds,” Mwangi told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. But many gay refugees point to years-long delays in the government’s processing of their asylum bids as a major obstacle to securing their rights. Constance, 32, lives in the town of Limuru northwest of Nairobi with 15 other Ugandans, who are all waiting for a decision on their asylum applications. He does not know why his bid has not been approved since he first applied eight years ago, and the delay has worn him down. “I underwent the last vetting process in 2023, but I am yet to receive feedback,” he said. “I lost hope along the way.”

Fresh warthog carcass in tow, a poacher speeds away from Zimbabwe’s Imire Rhino and Wildlife Conservancy. Blood spatters, footprints and tire marks are the only traces of the crime he has just committed, but a trace is all it takes for the hunter to become the hunted. His arrest comes a short while later, courtesy of Shinga, a Belgian Malinois that perfectly retraced the poacher’s 2.8-mile (4.5-kilometer) route home, leading an anti-poaching team to his door. It’s run by professional dog trainers Darren Priddle and Jacqui Law, who decided to blend their career experiences of developing working dogs for police, security, and military operations with their love of wildlife, after seeing photos of a poached African rhino on social media in 2015. Puppy love The duo has since sent 15 dogs to five sub-Saharan African countries, including Mozambique and Tanzania, each one bred by them in southwest Wales. They usually breed one or two litters each year. Dutch shepherds and Belgian Malinois are two of the most common breeds for tracking, while labradors and spaniels are typically the detection (sniffer) dogs of choice. Training begins from as early as two days old. Priddle acknowledges that sounds young, but he believes early imprinting programs can provide a strong foundation for the formal training that commences around six weeks later. “There’s a lot of scientific study out there that’s been documented on exposing puppies to touch, different temperatures, different surfaces and textures, as well as different odors that we put into the whelping box when they’re very young,” he explained “It just helps their brain and (helps) their synapses to fire. We see a lot of advancement in those puppies.” The curriculum closely follows that of the typical police or security dog, focusing on obedience, tracking, and scent detection – a skill used to sniff out rhino horn, elephant ivory and bushmeat. The only key difference to the training process is acclimating dogs to the sights, sounds and smells of lions, giraffes and the myriad other species they will help protect. With rhino and elephant numbers severely lacking in the wetlands of Carmarthenshire, trips to local zoos are organized to desensitize the puppies to African wildlife. Typically, after 16 to 18 months, dogs are ready for assignment. Even though Priddle accompanies each one on the long flight to their new home, spending the first month with the anti-poaching unit to provide field and animal welfare training to rangers, goodbyes never get easier. “The transition from spending every waking moment with that dog, having a very strong relationship, to then letting that go is challenging and difficult,” Law said. “But as much as it breaks my heart when they go, I know they’re going for the greater good.” Biting back Easing the pain are WhatsApp group chats set up for Priddle and Law to keep in touch with and advise APUs across the various reserves and conservancies. They are particularly active forums, especially given that the organization also provides training and consultancy to teams with existing dog units, such as the Akashinga Rangers, Africa’s first armed all-female anti-poaching squad, who watch over Zimbabwe’s vast Phundundu Wildlife Area. Naturally, updates of success are a source of immense personal pride for the pair back in Wales. Shinga’s tracking triumph in October followed the achievements of fellow Belgian Malinois Dan, which in 2013 alerted his team to a rhino calf that had been caught in a snare trap in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Such victories demonstrate the “game-changing” value such dogs can have when incorporated into conservation efforts, argue the duo, even through their mere presence. “When these reserves bring a specialist dog onto a wildlife reserve … the word spreads very quickly that the APUs now have the capability to actually catch these poachers on a more efficient and successful basis,” Priddle said. “Some of the smaller wildlife reserves almost eradicate poaching in all types completely, just because of the deterrent value that dog brings to the party.” As park manager and head of anti-poaching operations at Zimbabwe’s 10,000-acre Imire conservancy, Reilly Travers has had a front row seat for the last seven years to the impact of Shinga and also Murwi, a Dutch shepherd whose training was paid for by the fundraising efforts of pupils of the local Harare International school. Capable of covering as much as 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) an hour when tracking, even in darkness, dogs allow rangers to “own the night,” Travers explained, adding an invaluable level of versatility and unpredictability to their arsenal. And on numerous occasions Shinga and Murwi have alerted units to potentially mortal threats – be it from poachers or predators – through body language alone. “They’ve saved our guys on the ground on several occasions and they’ve been responsible for apprehending quite a few poachers,” Travers told CNN. “It’s had a massive impact on security for Imire. We’ve had a drastic reduction in poaching and the K9 unit has a massive role to play in that … It’s not the silver bullet but it’s a tool that will make a significant difference.” ‘We learn in nature’ Zimbabwe once boasted thousands of rhinos, yet numbers nosedived to less than 450 by 1992 because of poaching networks, according to conservation charity Save the Rhino. The efforts of Imire, which saw the birth of its 23rd rhino in 2023, helped the country’s rhino population climb back over the 1,000-mark in 2022, but statistics continue to make for grim reading across the wider continent. Though the numbers of African rhinos poached annually has dropped steadily since a peak of over 1,300 in 2015, almost 600 kills were still recorded last year, according to Save the Rhino. It contributed to an overall decline in the total African black rhino population in 2023, though white rhino numbers are on the rise. And the impact of each loss extends far beyond statistics, Priddle and Law explain, especially at the smaller reserves that Dogs4Wildlife focuses on, which have markedly less anti-poaching resources than the continent’s most renowned parks.

Zimbabwe, meaning “House of Stone,” has long used stone sculpture as a form of storytelling to immortalize history. The exhibition will grapple with the religious deception, forced labor and sexual abuse of the colonial era. CHITUNGWIZA, Zimbabwe — A pair of white hands blinding a Black face. A smiling colonizer with a Bible, crushing the skull of a screaming native with his boot. Chained men in gold mines, and a pregnant woman. These stone sculptures from Zimbabwe will take center stage at an upcoming exhibition at Oxford University in Britain, aiming to “contextualize” the legacy of British imperialist Cecil John Rhodes with depictions of religious deception, forced labor and sexual abuse. Rhodes conquered large parts of southern Africa in the late 19th century. He made a fortune in gold and diamond mining and grabbed land from the local population. His grave lies under a slab of stone atop a hill in Zimbabwe. Oxford’s Oriel College, where the exhibition will be held in September, is a symbolic setting. A statue of Rhodes stands there despite protests against it since 2015. Rhodes, who died in 1902, was an Oriel student who left 100,000 pounds (now valued at about 10.5 million pounds, or $13.5 million) to the school. His influence endures through a scholarship for students from southern African countries. For Zimbabwean stone carvers at Chitungwiza Arts Center near the capital, Harare, the exhibition is more than an opportunity for Western audiences to glimpse a dark history. It is also a chance to revive an ancient but struggling art form.Stone sculpture, once a thriving local industry, has suffered due to vast economic challenges and declining tourism. “This will boost business. Buyers abroad will now see our work and buy directly from the artists,” said sculptor Wallace Mkanka. His piece, depicting the blinded Black face, was selected as the best of 110 entries and will be one of four winning sculptures on display at Oxford. Zimbabwe, meaning “House of Stone,” derives its identity from the Great Zimbabwe ruins, a 1,800-acre Iron Age city built with precision-cut stones delicately stacked without mortar. It is a UNESCO World heritage site. The southern African country has long used stone sculpture as a form of storytelling to immortalize history. The craft survived close to a century of colonial rule that sought to erase local traditions, religion and art forms. It thrived internationally instead. Thousands of pieces were plundered from Africa. Some later became subjects of repatriation campaigns. Others became prized by tourists and collectors. A permanent collection of 20 Zimbabwean stone sculptures is displayed in a pedestrian tunnel at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, one of the world’s busiest. At its peak following independence, Zimbabwe’s stone sculpture industry thrived, with local white farmers purchasing pieces for their homes and facilitating international sales.“Customers were everywhere. They would pay up front, and I always had a queue of clients,” recalled Tafadzwa Tandi, a 45-year-old sculptor whose work will feature in the Oxford exhibition. However, the industry has struggled over the past two decades. Zimbabwe’s global image suffered after controversial land reforms more than two decades ago displaced over 4,000 white farmers to redistribute land to about 300,000 Black families, according to government figures. Late ruler Robert Mugabe defended the reforms as necessary to address colonial-era inequities, but they had unintended economic consequences. “Many of our customers were friends of the farmers. That is where the problem originated from,” said Tendai Gwaravaza, chairman of Chitungwiza Arts Center. At the center, the sound of grinders filled the air as sculptors carved. Hundreds of finished pieces, ranging from small carvings to life-sized sculptures, waited for buyers. “The only solution now is to get out there to the markets ourselves. If we don’t, no one will,” Gwaravaza said. The Oxford exhibition represents such an opportunity for exposure, he said. It is the brainchild of the Oxford Zimbabwe Arts Partnership, formed in response to the “Rhodes Must Fall” campaign during the Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S. The group, consisting of Zimbabwean artists, an Oxford alumnus and a professor of African history, initially envisioned a larger project titled “Oxford and Rhodes: Past, Present, and Future.” It included enclosing Rhodes’ statue in glass, installing 100 life-size bronze statues of African liberation fighters and creating a collaborative sculpture using recycled materials to represent the future. However, the project required an estimated 200,000 pounds, far beyond available resources. Eventually, Oriel College provided 10,000 pounds for a scaled-down exhibition. “It’s still my hope that one day it could happen, but for now we have just accepted something very small to make a start and to do something,” said Richard Pantlin, the Oxford alumnus and OZAP co-founder.

The incident began while a woman was cooking on board. Several passengers, including women and children, died after jumping into the water without being able to swim. A boat has capsized after catching fire in the northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo, leaving at least 50 people dead and hundreds missing, a local official said on Wednesday. Dozens were saved following the accident on the Congo River late on Tuesday night, many of them with bad burns. The search for the missing was underway Wednesday with rescue teams supported by the Red Cross and provincial authorities. The motorized wooden boat with about 400 passengers caught fire near the town of Mbandaka, Compétent Loyoko, the river commissioner, told The Associated Press. The boat, HB Kongolo, had left the port of Matankumu for the Bolomba territory. About 100 survivors were taken to an improvised shelter at the Mbandaka town hall. Those with burn injuries were taken to local hospitals.The incident began while a woman was cooking on board, Loyoko said. Several passengers, including women and children, died after jumping into the water without being able to swim. Deadly boat accidents are common in the central African country, where late-night travels and overcrowded vessels are often blamed. Authorities have struggled to enforce maritime regulations. Congo’s rivers are a major means of transport for its more than 100 million people, especially in remote areas where infrastructure is poor or nonexistent. Hundreds have been killed in boat accidents in recent years as more people abandon the few available roads for wooden vessels packed with passengers and their goods.

An American pastor kidnapped at gunpoint last week in South Africa was rescued late Tuesday in a “high-intensity” shootout that left three people dead, local authorities said. Josh Sullivan, 35, was abducted by a group of armed men who raided his small congregation, a branch of Fellowship Baptist Church in the southern town of Motherwell, as he was leading a prayer service, according to The Associated Press. The pastor has been living in South Africa with his wife, Meagan, and their children since 2018. He was successfully rescued near a safe house where he had been held around 14 miles away from Motherwell in the city of Gqeberha. Hawks — the branch of the South African Police Service that investigates organized crime — carried out the recovery operation with various other police teams after they received verified intelligence, South African police said in a statement Wednesday. Police said they opened fire on three suspects attempting to flee the safe house in a vehicle, responding “with tactical precision, leading to a high-intensity shootout in which three unidentified suspects were fatally wounded.” Sullivan, who was inside the vehicle, was found “miraculously unharmed,” police added, saying that he was immediately assessed by medical personnel and is currently in “an excellent condition.” Sullivan's mother, Tonya Morton Rinker, said in a Facebook post Tuesday that the pastor had returned home to his wife and children. “A sad situation but I’m so thankful my son is home alive and safe. Thank you Lord!” Rinker said in the post. In an earlier statement Monday, Rinker told NBC News that Sullivan is “an exceptional father, husband, and son, embodying kindness, strength and generosity” and added that his “humor and wit are a blessing.” Last week, Sullivan's church, the Fellowship Baptist Church, urged its followers to “please pray for Josh Sullivan” in a statement on Facebook. The church, which is based in Tennessee, said Saturday that in the days since Sullivan’s kidnapping, it had faced growing questions, including what it described as “malicious and hateful” messages about why it deploys missionaries. South African police said it would continue to investigate Sullivan’s abduction and asked anyone with information about the case to come forward. “We extend sincere appreciation to all role players that includes our law enforcement members, the public, international partners, both local and international media whose support and vigilance were instrumental in this success,” it added.

Nearly 25 million people — half of Sudan’s population — face extreme hunger, says the World Food Program, with 14 million displaced by the conflict. Diplomats and aid officials from around the world are meeting Tuesday in London to try to ease the suffering from the 2-year-old war in Sudan, a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 14 million and pushed large parts of the country into famine. The one-day conference, hosted by Britain, France, Germany, the European Union and the African Union, has modest ambitions. It is not an attempt to negotiate peace, but an effort to relieve what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Attendees include officials from Western nations, international institutions and neighboring countries — but no one from Sudan. Neither the Sudanese military nor the rival paramilitary it is fighting has been invited. “The brutal war in Sudan has devastated the lives of millions — and yet much of the world continues to look away,” said British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who visited Chad’s border with Sudan in January. “We need to act now to stop the crisis from becoming an all-out catastrophe, ensuring aid gets to those who need it the most.” Sudan plunged into war on April 15, 2023, after simmering tensions between the Sudanese military and a paramilitary organization known as the Rapid Support Forces. Fighting broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread across the country, killing at least 20,000 people — though the number is likely far higher. Last month the Sudanese military regained control over Khartoum, a major symbolic victory in the war. But the RSF still controls most of the western region of Darfur and some other areas. More than 300 civilians were killed in a burst of intense fighting in Darfur on Friday and Saturday, according to the U.N. The war has driven parts of the country into famine and pushed more than 14 million people from their homes, with more than 3 million fleeing the country, to neighboring countries including Chad and Egypt. Both sides in the war have been accused of committing war crimes. The World Food Program says nearly 25 million people — half of Sudan’s population — face extreme hunger. Aid agency Oxfam said the humanitarian catastrophe risks becoming a regional crisis, with fighting spilling into neighboring countries. It said that in South Sudan, itself wracked by recent war, “the arrival of people fleeing Sudan’s conflict has put more pressure on already scarce resources, which is deepening local tensions and threatening the fragile peace.” Lammy said that “instability must not spread.” “It drives migration from Sudan and the wider region, and a safe and stable Sudan is vital for our national security,” he said. Lammy said the conference would try to “agree a pathway to end the suffering,” but the U.K. and other Western countries have limited power to stop the fighting. Sudan’s government has criticized conference organizers for excluding it from the meeting while inviting the United Arab Emirates, which has been repeatedly accused of arming the RSF. The UAE has strenuously denied that, despite evidence to the contrary. The U.S., which recently cut almost all its foreign aid, also is expected to be represented at the London conference. Ahead of the meeting, Lammy announced 120 million pounds ($158 million) in funding for the coming year to deliver food for 650,000 people in Sudan, from Britain’s increasingly limited foreign aid budget. In February the U.K. cut its aid budget from 0.5% of Gross Domestic Product to 0.3% to fund an increase in military spending. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said Sudan, along with Ukraine and Gaza, will remain a priority for British aid.

Josh Sullivan’s “humor and wit are a blessing,” Tonya Morton Rinker told NBC News, adding that he was “always ready with a joke, and forever seeking to make people laugh.” An American pastor who was kidnapped at gunpoint in South Africa last week is “an exceptional father, husband, and son, embodying kindness, strength and generosity,” his mother told NBC News on Tuesday. Josh Sullivan’s “humor and wit are a blessing,” Tonya Morton Rinker said in a statement, adding that he was “always ready with a joke, and forever seeking to make people laugh.” Sullivan, 35, has been living in South Africa with his wife, Meagan, and their children since 2018, The Associated Press reported, citing the Fellowship Baptist Church blog. Thursday evening, a group of armed men raided his small congregation, a branch of Fellowship Baptist Church in the southern town of Motherwell, as he was leading a prayer service, South African local police told the AP. It said it wanted to assure the public that its “top priority at this stage is safe return of the victim” and asked anyone with information about the case to come forward. The State Department said Friday in a statement that it was aware of reports of the kidnapping of a U.S. citizen in South Africa.As of Tuesday, Sullivan’s whereabouts remained unknown, with his family calling for prayers for his safe return. Rinker, who has asked people to pray for him and his family on her Facebook page, said in the statement that her son “has a servants heart, a kind compassionate spirit and is filled with selflessness.” "He’s an exceptional father, husband, and son, embodying kindness, strength and generosity," she added. In a statement posted to Facebook on Thursday, Fellowship Baptist Church, which is based in Tennessee, urged its followers to “please pray for Josh Sullivan,” saying he had been “kidnapped at gunpoint” by a group of men. The church said in a separate post Saturday that the days since his kidnapping, it had faced growing questions, including what it described as “malicious and hateful” messages, about why it deploys missionaries. “It is this — because God did and He told us to,” the church said.

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have killed at least 100 people, including 20 children and nine aid workers, after launching an assault on two famine-stricken camps in the Darfur region, the latest escalation in a bitter civil war about to enter its third year. The RSF targeted the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps, where more than 700,000 people are sheltering from the relentless violence that has killed tens of thousands, forcibly displaced 12.7 million people and left 24.6 million people facing acute hunger, according to the United Nations. U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator Clementine Nkweta-Salami said Saturday that the latest attacks marked “yet another deadly and unaccepted escalation” in the conflict, and that attacks on civilians and aid workers marked “grave violations of international humanitarian law.” “The colleagues from an international non-governmental organization were killed while operating one of the very few remaining health posts still operational in the camp,” she said. The war pits Sudan’s armed forces, led by the country’s de facto ruler Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, against the RSF militia commanded by his former deputy, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.The two were once allies within the military junta that seized control after the spectacular collapse of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s government in 2021. But their power-sharing arrangement rapidly fell apart, sparking war in April 2023. While both sides have been accused of extensive human rights violations, a U.N. fact-finding mission in October found that the RSF was responsible for committing sexual violence on a large scale in areas under its control, including gang rapes, abductions and sexual slavery. In January, the United States determined that the RSF had committed genocide in areas under its control. A March report from UNICEF said children as young as 1 year old had been raped and sexually assaulted by armed forces, in the first comprehensive account illustrating how mass sexual violence is being wielded as a weapon of war against children in Sudan. The agency documented over 200 cases of child rape since early 2023, although the authors stressed that this was only a small fraction of the total number of cases. The latest attacks comes as aid groups grapple with a funding crisis after President Donald Trump enacted a 90-day freeze on all foreign aid in February. One network of communal kitchens has had to immediately stop most of its operations due to a lack of funding, about 75% of which came from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), according to their organizers. Abuzar Osman Suliman, the coordinator of the Emergency Response Rooms in Sudan’s western Darfur region, told NBC News in February that all 40 of ERRs’ community kitchens had to close in the Zamzam camp. U.N. agencies have been unable to get substantial amounts of food relief to the Zamzam camp and a famine was already declared in the camps in August, according to an analysis by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), an international system that sets a scale used by the United Nations and governments. Famine has since spread to four other areas of Sudan, according to the IPC, and is expected to deepen and spread in coming months due to the war and impeded access to humanitarian assistance.

Alma Asinobi’s mission to break the world record for the fastest time to visit every continent came to an unsuccessful conclusion at the end of March. But she succeeded in calling attention to the issue she aimed to highlight through the trip: just how hard it is to travel with certain passports. The 26-year-old Nigerian travel content creator was attempting to beat the current record of 64 hours, held by an American traveler who broke the record in February 2025. When she was initially planning her attempt, the time to beat was 73 hours. She completed the trip in 71 hours and 26 minutes, after flight delays and visa issues derailed her journey. Asinobi says she wanted to spotlight the issue of “passport privilege.” The Nigerian passport is 92nd on a list of 102 on the Henley Passport Index, a ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa. During the journey, she says there were “access and options” denied her, and extra checks she was subjected to because of her “low-mobility” passport. And so despite traveling from Antarctica to South America, to North America then Europe, Africa and Asia within the space of a few days, bureaucracy was one headwind she could not overcome. How the other half travel The vlogger took her first international trip to Benin, West Africa, in early 2020, a trip she said made her curious “to see what else was out there.” Since then, she has visited about 35 countries, including her recent record attempt. While documenting her travels, Asinobi says she noticed that influencers focused more on the destinations, and not their efforts to get there. She experienced lengthy, expensive and difficult visa processes and decided to create social media content catering to fellow low-mobility passport holders. In 2024, after applying for a visa to a European country three times before getting approved, she decided it was an issue worth taking to the global stage. “This is something that … more than half of the world population actually experience,” she said. “They don’t have passport privilege. But we don’t talk about this enough. I just thought … what better way to talk about it than to show the world how tough it is to travel with a passport like mine?” But, she added, it goes beyond traveling for pleasure. “There’s so much at stake,” she said. “People have missed opportunities to go abroad for meetings, for conferences … I know of someone who lost his mom because they couldn’t get her visa to a (different) country in time for her to get surgery done. That is a life-changing event.” Before beginning the journey, Asinobi drew up contingency plans in case of delays or missed connections, but days before setting out, she says one country on her route didn’t give her a visa, which meant fewer options if anything went wrong along the way. She began her record attempt from Antarctica on March 19, and then flew to Chile, and on to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, where her flight to Paris was cancelled due to the closure of the UK’s Heathrow Airport after a fire at a nearby substation. That led to a two-hour delay and reroute to Spain, where she missed her connecting flight and instead flew to Egypt. She the flew on to Dubai, where she says she wasn’t allowed to board for Perth, Australia, after being told at the gate that the authorities needed to re-confirm her visa. “This is the issue that we’re trying to highlight” she told CNN at her homecoming event in Lagos, Nigeria. “I stood there and watched everyone board that flight … I was there until I saw them shut the flight and I saw the flight actually take off. It was very heartbreaking.” Despite knowing she couldn’t break the record, after receiving confirmation that her visa was valid, Asinobi took the next available flight to Australia — choosing Sydney to complete the trip, saying the most important thing is that she chose to finish. She says the process taught her the importance of “Surrendering to faith and … to the unpredictability of things and just embracing the uncertainties.” Raising awareness around passport privilege was her primary goal, but Asinobi was also attempting to gain another world record: most signatures on a single piece of travel memorabilia — the Nigerian flag she took with her on the journey. Asinobi says she got over 600 signatures on the flag, and once certified, she will be an official Guinness World Record holder. She says she intends to continue having conversations about passport privilege and inequality “with the people who are the biggest stakeholders in this issue: the government,” citing a need for better diplomatic relations so people from developing countries don’t miss out on career and educational opportunities.

Nigeria is going to Cannes. In what is understood to be a first in the film festival’s near-80 year history, a movie from Africa’s most populous nation has been chosen as part of the Cannes Film Festival’s Official Selection. “My Father’s Shadow,” directed by Akinola Davies Jr. and co-written with his brother, writer Wale Davies, stars Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù (“Slow Horses,” “Gangs of London”). The film is set in Lagos in the aftermath of the 1993 presidential election and follows Dìrísù’s father and two sons Remi and Akin, as they attempt an odyssey across the city amid the election’s turbulent fallout. Davies Jr.’s semi-autobiographical debut feature, produced by Element Pictures in association with Fatherland Productions and Crybaby, already has strong support in the form of distributor MUBI, which snatched up the rights to the film in North America and other territories long before the news of its Cannes debut was announced – lending additional hype to an already buzzy title. The movie will screen in the Un Certain Regard strand – a competition for debut and ascendant filmmakers. Fatherland says it will be the first Nigerian film to do so. Reacting to the announcement, Davies Jr.’ told CNN in a statement, “This is a testament to everyone dedicated to telling authentic Nigerian stories: from crews, to the countless technicians who power our film industry. “It honors all those – past, present, and future – who laid the foundation for Nigerian cinema. I’m excited to be an ambassador for arthouse film in Nigeria, and even more excited for our cast and crew, whose talent and hard work truly deserve this spotlight.” “My Father’s Shadow” is produced by Rachel Dargavel for Element Pictures and Funmbi Ogunbanwo for Fatherland Productions. Fatherland’s CEO Ogunbanwo told CNN, “It’s an incredible feeling to see our fully Nigerian story – rooted in Wale and Akin’s experience of losing their father at a young age – come to life on a world stage. “We wove in Yoruba, Pidgin, familiar street names from Lagos and Ibadan, capturing the essence of our home. I feel both excitement and a weight of responsibility, representing independent Nigerian filmmakers who create against the odds. We hope people who watch this film will discover who we are as a people, understand where we come from, and see that this is only the start of how far our stories can go.” Africa at Cannes 2025 The Cannes Film Festival announced it had screened 2,909 feature films to curate its 2025 lineup. Of those selected, “My Father’s Shadow” won’t be the sole representative from Africa this year. Also in Un Certain Regard is “Aisha Can’t Fly Away” by Egyptian filmmaker Morad Mostafa, about a Somali woman working in Cairo, and “Promised Sky” by French Tunisian Erige Sehiri. Meanwhile, Swedish director Tarik Saleh, who has Egyptian heritage, is in competition for the Palme d’Or with “Eagles of the Republic” telling the story of an adored Egyptian actor who falls into disgrace. The US-set “The History of Sound,” starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor, is directed by South African Oliver Hermanus. African cinema, particularly from Francophone nations, has a long history at Cannes, the world’s most prestigious film festival. Directing giants including the late Djibril Diop Mambéty of Senegal, the late Souleymane Cissé of Mali and Chadian Mahamat-Saleh Haroun all made the festival a home from home. Recently, a new guard of young filmmakers has emerged – notably, with more women – including Welsh Zambian Rungano Nyoni, French Senegalese Mati Diop (niece of Djibril), Senegalese director Ramata-Toulaye Sy and Tunisian Kaouther Ben Hania. But despite having the continent’s largest and most prolific filmmaking industry, Nigeria has had little representation at the festival. Nigerian productions have appeared in festival sidebars like the International Critics Week (where “Ezra” by Newton I. Aduaka screened in 2007). But a search of the festival’s online archives shows no evidence a Nigerian movie has ever been a part of Cannes’ Official Selection – comprising the competition for the Palme d’Or, Un Certain Regard, Cannes Premieres, Special Screenings, Midnight Screenings and Cannes Classics. Thierry Frémaux, general delegate of the festival, said at the press conference announcing the 2025 lineup on April 10 that the festival would be checking to confirm if indeed “My Father’s Shadow” marks a historic first Nigerian feature. Nigeria’s big moves Nigeria will have a big presence at Cannes this year. At the festival’s international village, Nigeria is back with its own national pavilion. There, the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy will launch Screen Nigeria as part of the “Destination 2030; Nigeria Everywhere” campaign – a broad plan to create 2 million jobs in creative and tourism industries, and contribute $100 billion to Nigeria’s GDP by 2030. The goal is to showcase the nation’s talent and promote international collaboration and attract foreign investment. With the likes of “My Father’s Shadow” and other recent festival titles like “Mami Wata,” the first Nigerian film to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2023, there are signs that Nigeria’s film industry is diversifying. The 78th Cannes Film Festival runs from May 13-24. The premiere date for “My Father’s Shadow,” and its theatrical release date, are yet to be announced.