Africa: Mali. the Missing Structural Factor

On 25 April 2026, Mali faced its most severe test in fourteen years. Coordinated JNIM and FLA attacks struck seven major population centres including Kati, Mopti, Gao, and Kidal,… Read more »

Africa: African Security and a Financial Architecture in Retreat

African security is conventionally analysed in terms of armed groups, peacekeeping, and counterterrorism. However, what increasingly shapes the political order African states can… Read more »

Libya: Libya's Electoral Mirage - the Illusion of American Optimism

As international diplomatic efforts intensify in attempts to overcome Libya's prolonged political deadlock, a renewed US approach has emerged, marked by a noticeable tone of… Read more »

South Sudan: Rethinking South Sudan's Unfinished Transition

South Sudan is approaching another decisive moment, but the country is still far from ready for credible elections in December 2026. Nearly two decades after the end of Sudan's… Read more »

Africa: The Machine Cannot Hold

The old YARID offices, before the move to the current premises, were on the second floor above a hardware stall. By eight in the morning, the room smelled of the first rain, the… Read more »

Africa: Bamako Under Siege - How Coordinated Attacks Exposed the Mali Government's Fragility - and Tested the Aes

The coordinated attacks that shook Mali on 25-27 April 2026 are not an anomaly. They are the culmination of a long, deteriorating security trajectory--one that has steadily eroded… Read more »

Sudan: Sudan's War Was Not a Breakdown. It Was the System Working

In April 2023, the immediate trigger for Sudan's war was not an ideology, not an election, and not a border dispute. It was an airport. Read more »

Africa: Ethiopia's Smaller Wars - Destitution, Conflict Escalation, and Military Abuses in Lower Omo

With war looming in the north of the country, Ethiopia threatens to make headlines again, as it has in recent years due to the wars, insurgencies and intercommunal violence that… Read more »

Africa: The Ides of Congo - Willy Ngoma's Death and a Republic At Risk

The death of Willy Ngoma -- affectionately known within the AFC/M23 coalition as "Mr Quickly, Quickly" -- marks more than the loss of a field commander. To understand why his death… Read more »

Nigeria: A Mirage of Extraversion - The Political Cost of Nigeria's Lobbying Deal

The Nigerian government has recently engaged the services of a Washington-based lobbying firm to promote its efforts at protecting the lives of Nigerians against terrorists,… Read more »

South Sudan: Will Elections Bring Peace to South Sudan?

South Sudan, the world's youngest nation, has not had an election since its independence from Sudan in 2011. Per the 2018 power-sharing agreement, the election is set to happen… Read more »

Africa: Israel's Somaliland Gamble Is Repeating the Bloody History That Created Al-Shabaab

The Boxing Day recognition will not bring stability but will ignite a conflict that empowers extremists and spills into Ethiopia's troubled east. Read more »

Africa: Museveni's Militarised Elections - A Gen Z Reckoning

The 15 January elections in Uganda are almost a foregone conclusion, preceded, as has become customary, by a violent crackdown against the opposition. As the results begin to… Read more »

Africa: Côte d'Ivoire, Mali and Burkina Faso - a Shared History Collides With Political Fractures

For many decades, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Mali constituted one of the most integrated spaces of human and economic circulation in West Africa. Beyond simple… Read more »

Africa: Africa's Share of the Nobel Prizes

The curtain has fallen in Oslo and Stockholm. The Nobel Prize laureates have been announced. The award ceremony has taken place; however, it has invariably generated less… Read more »

Africa: Will the Gaza Peace Deal Have Ripple Effects On the Quad-Led Peace Process in Sudan?

Debating Ideas reflects the values and editorial ethos of the African Arguments book series, publishing engaged, often radical, scholarship, original and activist writing from… Read more »

Sudan: Gold and Mercenaries - the Price of the Massacre in Sudan

On October 26, 2025, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia took the city of El Fasher after an 18-month siege. The capital of North Darfur State and the economic heart of Darfur,… Read more »

Sudan: Out of the Shadow of War - Prospects and Challenges for Peace and Justice in Sudan

Debating Ideas reflects the values and editorial ethos of the African Arguments book series, publishing engaged, often radical, scholarship, original and activist writing from… Read more »

Africa: Crisis in Eastern DR Congo - the Congolese Govt and M23 Rebels in a Standoff Over Migration

The authorities of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the M23 rebels, who control large swathes of Congolese territory, are locked in a new standoff over the delivery of… Read more »