April 17, 2014
Mozambique: A New Hub in the Global Drugs Trade?
Not a lot is known about the drugs trade in Mozambique, but the evidence suggests it is becoming a popular transit point for traffickers. Read more »
April 16, 2014
Libya: Govt Takes On Major French Bank
Libya's sovereign wealth fund has filed a bribery case against French bank Société Générale, adding to its $1 billion lawsuit against Goldman Sachs. Read more »
April 15, 2014
Guinea Bissau: Out With the Old, in With the New?
For the first time in two decades, the divisive figure Kumba Yalá is not watching over Guinea-Bissau's elections. But his legacy of corruption and unrest remains. Read more »
April 14, 2014
Africa: Not a Moment Too Soon - UN's Peacekeeping Mission for CAR
A 12,000-strong UN force is a positive step, but there are still five months before it's deployed and questions remain over where the troops and funding will come from. Read more »
Africa: Review - Dust By Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor
Owuor's debut novel is not short of flair as it deals with life, death, truth and love. But sometimes the poeticism goes so far as to break its own spell. Read more »
Africa: Weekly Newsletter 14 April 2014
Dear Reader, Read more »
April 11, 2014
Egypt: Military Controls Economic Levers
Egypt's military doesn't only control the political levers of power, but also the economic ones. And its involvement is getting even deeper. Read more »
Eritrea: What We (Don't) Know About Eritrea's Economy
Eritrea perfectly illustrates the amount of guesswork involved in economic analysis of Africa. Read more »
April 09, 2014
Kenya: The Samaritans - Good, but How Good?
This crowd-funded comedy lampoons a target ripe for satire, but it would be a shame if the programme ends up kissing the hand it set out to bite. Read more »
Ethiopia: Who Audits the Auditors - Scandal At the Heart of the African Peer Review Mechanism
It is 5:20am on 30 January, 2014, and most of the residents of Ethiopia's capital are asleep. On the streets, a few vehicles prowl as night-time revellers - mostly girls in short… Read more »
April 08, 2014
Africa: When 'Development' Drives Inequality and Poverty
The World Bank's Doing Business rankings reward countries who service the needs of large-scale international business, to the detriment of the majority, and punish those that… Read more »
Nigeria: What Does the Tactic of Foreign Kidnappings Tell Us About Boko Haram?
If the abduction of two Italian priests and a Canadian nun is confirmed to have been conducted by Boko Haram, it will be the Islamist militants' third kidnapping in northern… Read more »
April 07, 2014
Rwanda: Rwanda's 20 Year Miracle - 'We Had Nowhere to Go but Up'
Once warring communities now live side by side and the pace of development has been awe-inspiring, argues former UK Secretary of State for International Development Andrew… Read more »
April 04, 2014
Africa: It's Time for Africa's Stolen Artefacts to Come Home
Africa's history has for too long laid scattered across Western museums and private collections, out of the reach of their true owners' hearts, minds and memories. Read more »
April 03, 2014
Africa: When Public-Private Partnerships Become Corporate Takeovers
The G8's New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition pushes African countries to change their policies in exchange for aid money. This will help agribusiness but will it help the… Read more »
Africa: Illicit Financial Flows - the Elephant in the Room at EU-Africa Meet
European tax havens allow billions of dollars to leave Africa each year through hidden and corrupt means. This week's summit is an opportunity to address this problem head on. Read more »
April 01, 2014
Africa: Homophobia Is a Legacy of Colonialism
Africans have to reclaim their forgotten pasts as peoples who refused to hate but stood side-by-side and embraced their differences. Read more »
Nigeria: Federalism Works
The federal system has not been free of controversy or acrimony, but it is Nigeria's best option. Read more »
March 31, 2014
Africa: World Bank to Chart Minerals in 'Billion Dollar Map'
Africa loses vast sums of money by underpricing its resources. Can a map help change that? Read more »
March 28, 2014
Africa: Terrabyte Incognito - Africa Might Not Look Like You Think It Does
There is no such this as an objective map. This was true of cave paintings, Roman tapestries, and colonialists' charts of Africa. It is also true of Google Maps. Read more »
Congo-Kinshasa: Extraordinary Tales of Everyday Lives in the Congo
David Van Reybrouck's epic history of the Congo brings to life and honours the heroic lives of ordinary people as well as the extraordinary lives of the country's heroes. Read more »
March 27, 2014
Africa: Generative Justice - From Fractals to the Rise of Maker Movements
Contemporary African design trends based on fractals tap into a venerable tradition of self-organisation and open new spaces for local creativity and civic participation. Read more »
Kenya: Allegations of Corruption Knock Railway Project Off-Track
The growing controversy around Kenya's multi-billion dollar railway project has delayed construction, but could it fully derail it? Read more »
March 26, 2014
Central African Republic: One Year On From the Coup
In a year, the CAR's crisis has deepened as the conflict has spread and taken on old and new dimensions. Read more »
March 25, 2014
Mali: Tuareg Fractures Widen As Talks Continue to Stall
Divisions within northern Mali's various Tuareg groups have slowed down negotiations with the government and reawakened old regional rivalries. Read more »