The women's 400 metres hurdles event at the 2008 African Championships in Athletics was held at the Addis Ababa Stadium on May 3–May 4.
| width=200 bgcolor=gold | Gold | width=200 bgcolor=silver | Silver | width=200 bgcolor=CC9966 | Bronze |
| Muizat Ajoke Odumosu | Lamiae Lhabze | Aïssata Soulama |
Qualification: First 3 of each heat (Q) and the next 2 fastest (q) qualified for the final.
| Rank | Heat | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 57.05 | Q | |||
| 2 | 2 | 57.20 | Q | |||
| 3 | 2 | 57.40 | Q | |||
| 4 | 2 | 57.95 | Q | |||
| 5 | 2 | 57.98 | q | |||
| 6 | 2 | 58.05 | q | |||
| 7 | 2 | |||||
| 8 | 1 | Q | ||||
| 9 | 1 | Q | ||||
| 10 | 1 | |||||
| 11 | 2 | |||||
| 1 | ||||||
| 1 | ||||||
| 1 |
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 55.92 | |||||
| 5 | 56.07 | |||||
| 4 | 56.13 | |||||
| 4 | 2 | 57.13 | ||||
| 5 | 8 | 57.47 | ||||
| 6 | 6 | 58.33 | ||||
| 7 | 1 | 58.56 | ||||
| 8 | 7 |