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From Our Own Correspondent

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Kate Adie introduces insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents and writers.

Kate Adie introduces insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers telling stories from around the world.

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From Our Own Correspondent: 10/03/2011

10/03/2011

BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent, 10/03/2011

Kate Adie with correspondents' despatches from around the world.

Kate Adie hosts correspondents' despatches from Benghazi in Libya, Abidjan in Ivory Coast, Havana in Cuba, Kiev in Ukraine and Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

As the battle for Libya rages on, we gauge the mood in the oldest cafe in Benghazi.

A reporter in Ivory Coast laments the turmoil in his adopted homeland.

New commercial opportunities are embraced in communist Cuba.

And from the back streets of Kinshasa to the world stage - how an extraordinary Congolese band has managed to transform its prospects.

With every passing day, the conflict in Libya feels more and more like a civil war. We hear of increasingly ferocious battles, and growing numbers of casualties. But for now at least though, the city where the revolt began, Benghazi, lies well back from the front lines. And Michael Buchanan says many in the streets of the rebel stronghold are still giddy with delight at their newfound freedom.

Other stories are being overshadowed by the disturbances in North Africa and the Middle East. And that includes the tensions in the West African state of Ivory Coast. It's being pulled apart by political violence. The trouble stems from a bitterly disputed election. President Laurent Gbagbo has refused to accept defeat in a vote that the outside world believes was won by his challenger, Alassane Ouattara. In the capital, Abidjan, John James has been watching the country's descent into chaos. 

Cuba promises tourists that they'll find a land of sun, sea and salsa. But behind the image there's a shabbier reality, with many people struggling to eke out meagre salaries. Decades of old-fashioned, Soviet-style centralised economic planning is failing. Cubans often joke, "They pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work." But now Cuba's communist government is trying to implement radical economic reform. It plans to sack up to a million state employees. It hopes they'll start working for themselves instead - and Polly Hope says many Cubans are indeed plunging into the once forbidden world of commerce with huge enthusiasm.

As a correspondent, there are many times when you have to take in the views of officials and experts. You often have to turn to them to make sure you've got the bones of the story - the views of the key players, and the thinkers who ponder the big issue. But sometimes you can talk to all the analysts and professors you like, and you still don't have the feel of the thing. And occasionally, a chat with a barber, or a waiter, or a chap selling peanuts suddenly makes helps make sense of the story. And Daniel Sandford had one of those experiences as he tuned into the tales of a local colleague in Ukraine.

There was a time when one particular stretch of the river Congo was home to no more than a few fishing villages. But Europeans chose the site for a trading post, and it gradually grew into what is today one of Africa's great cities - Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It's a huge place that's drawn in many very poor people from all over the country - and an extremely tough town to get by in. But Jonny Hogg has been spending time with a group of musicians who've managed to play their way out of Kinshasa's poverty and grab the world's attention.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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