Reporting from Africa

Ginette Ngarbaye, 52, rises from her seat, leans forward and glares intensely at the ghost of her tormentor.

“I gave him a long, deep look - like this,” she said, recalling how she came face to face with former Chad President Hissène Habré - the man responsible for the worst moments of her life.

When Koutu Saimon’s son, Wheener, was born almost four months premature and “as small as a mouse”, friends and relatives in Chad turned to the new mother and, with sidelong glances and in hushed voices, whispered to her to get rid of the baby. Wheener, now a lively eight-year-old, squealed with delight upon seeing his teacher, Adoumkidjim Naiban, who founded Chad’s only school for children with learning disabilities, the CESER Centre, almost 20 years ago.

Tens of thousands of people who fled murderous gangs and set up their own “tent city” inside Central African Republic’s main airport are the unlikely stars of an award-winning new film. Almost half the population of Bangui was forced to shelter in informal camps as gangs armed with guns, knives and machetes went on a rampage through the city.

The multi-billion-dollar seafood industry has come under scrutiny after investigations showed widespread slavery, human trafficking and violence on fishing boats and in onshore processing facilities.