November 09, 2022
Kenya: Kenya Violence - 5 Key Drivers of the Decades-Long Conflict in the North and What to Do About Them
Conflict and insecurity are prevalent in northern Kenya. In recent weeks, cases of bandit attacks in the region have left villages terrorised and led to several deaths. In October… Read more »
November 10, 2022
Kenya: Kenya Standard Gauge Railway Contracts - What Released Documents Say, and What They Don't
A media frenzy has erupted in Kenya over the November 5, 2022 release of three Chinese loan contracts signed between the Kenyan government and China Export Import Bank (Eximbank),… Read more »
November 07, 2022
Rwanda: Hotel Rwanda - a Film That Proved to Be a Double-Edged Sword for Kigali
Paul Rusesabagina is perhaps one of the world's best known Rwandans. His actions during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi were made famous in the 2004 Hollywood film Hotel… Read more »
November 02, 2022
Ethiopia: Ethiopia-Tigray Deal Signed - Expert Insights Into Two Years of Devastating Conflict
The main combatants in the two-year Ethiopia-Tigray war have announced a dramatic pause in hostilities. What started on November 3 2020 as a swift armed mission by Ethiopian prime… Read more »
Uganda: Ebola - Lessons From Covid Show That Heavy-Handed Lockdowns May Be a Bad Idea
Since the first case of the current Ebola outbreak in Uganda was confirmed in mid-September, the number of cases has topped 127 across seven districts, including 17 in the capital… Read more »
November 01, 2022
Africa: The Horn of Africa Has Had Years of Drought, Yet Groundwater Supplies Are Increasing - Why?
The Horn of Africa - which includes Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and some surrounding countries - has been hit by increasingly frequent and devastating droughts. Despite this, it seems… Read more »
Kenya: Digital Solutions Are Boosting Agriculture in Kenya, but It's Time to Scale Up. Here's How
Digital agricultural services have proliferated across Africa over the last decade. Most are services that work on mobile phones, although more advanced technologies are in use too… Read more »
October 31, 2022
Kenya: Police Killings Point to Systemic Rot and a Failed Justice System
Barely a month into office, President William Ruto of Kenya ordered the disbandment of a special police unit placed at the centre of a widening investigation into a wave of… Read more »
October 27, 2022
East Africa: Droughts Don't Need to Result in Famine - Ethiopia and Somalia Show What Makes the Difference
The Horn of Africa is facing its worst drought in 40 years. Scientists suspect that a multi-year La Niña cycle has been amplified by climate change to prolong dry and hot… Read more »
October 26, 2022
Kenya: Kenya Has Lifted Its Ban On Genetically Modified Crops - the Risks and Opportunities
Kenya recently lifted a ban on the cultivation and importation of genetically modified crops amid the worst drought in 40 years and soaring food prices. This includes white maize,… Read more »
Somalia: Four Lessons From Past Experience of Dealing With Famine
Since 1990 the world's famines have been classified as small - with the glaring exceptions of Somalia in 1991-92 and 2010-12. Now the UN's World Food Programme says that nearly… Read more »
Kenya: Covid and Health Workers' Strike - How Kenya's Health Services Coped in Times of Crisis
When epidemics break out and public health emergencies are declared, people shy away from seeking care for other conditions. This may seem counter-intuitive at first glance. But it… Read more »
October 25, 2022
Kenya: Kenya's Big Railway Project Makes Life Even Harder for the Poor By Ignoring Their Reality
People's responses to large infrastructure projects - railways, bridges, highways - are rarely neutral. To some, these projects represent powerful social and political promises of… Read more »
October 23, 2022
Uganda: Ebola in Uganda - Why Women Must Be Central to the Response
"No time for that" was the constant refrain heard by gender and women's health experts working in the 2014/16 Ebola response. This was an emergency and the main thing was to deal… Read more »
October 20, 2022
Kenya: Kenya's Samburu Warriors Still Practise a Rock Art Tradition That Tells Their Stories
The Samburu people in northern Kenya's Marsabit county are pastoralists. They migrate from place to place in search of pasture and water for their cattle, goats, sheep and camels.… Read more »
October 16, 2022
Somalia: Famine Should Not Exist in 2022, Yet Somalia Faces Its Worst Yet. Wealthy Countries, Pay Your Dues
More than a quarter of a million people died of hunger in Somalia in 2011 - half of them children younger than five. The situation in Somalia in the coming months could be a great… Read more »
October 18, 2022
Ethiopia: African Union Has Failed to Silence the Guns in Tigray
The African Union pledged in 2016 to "silence the guns" by the end of 2020, an ambitious agenda of ending armed conflicts on the continent. Just two months before that deadline,… Read more »
October 16, 2022
Ethiopia: Tigray Has Resisted Ethiopia's Far Greater Military Might for Two Years - Here's Why Neither Side Is Giving in
The Ethio-Tigray war started on 4 November 2020. For almost two years, the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea - along with Amhara regional forces and militia - have waged war… Read more »
October 13, 2022
Ethiopia: Tigray's Healthcare Workers Haven't Been Paid in Over a Year - and Bear the Brunt of the War
Tragic stories of suffering and death have emerged from Tigray since 2020, when civil war erupted between the central Ethiopian government and the regional Tigrayan government. Read more »
October 12, 2022
Somalia: Puntland State Port Is Getting a Revamp - This Is Key to Its Future
The port city of Bosaso, located at the north-eastern corner of Somalia, provides a striking example of the interlinkage between security and infrastructure. The city benefited… Read more »
October 11, 2022
Somalia: What Drives Al-Shabaab - Foreign Forces Out, Sharia Law in and Overthrow the Government
In response to external - and at times internal - pressure, Al-Shabaab's insurgency in Somalia has evolved over time. So have its motivations and goals. Read more »
October 10, 2022
Burundi: Exit of Nkurunziza's Men - What Evariste Ndayishimiye Should Do Next
Burundi's president, General Évariste Ndayishimiye, recently sacked the country's prime minister Guillaume Bunyoni after alleging that Bunyoni was plotting a coup against… Read more »
October 08, 2022
Uganda: Fuel Smugglers - Are the Opec Boys (Anti-)heroes of the Marginalised?
Smuggling in the Ugandan border region of West Nile has a long and chequered history. It straddles the fine line between legitimacy and legality. Governance and conflict researcher… Read more »
October 07, 2022
Uganda: Uganda's Owen Falls Dam - a Colonial Legacy That Still Stings, 67 Years Later
Uganda's Owen Falls hydropower plant has a rich history that predates the country's independence in 1962. The plant is located across the White Nile and sits between the towns of… Read more »
October 06, 2022
Uganda: Uganda - an Ancient Circumcision Ritual Is Key to Imparting Communal Knowledge
Music, dance, drama and poetry are important elements of ritual in African societies. Imbalu, the centuries-old circumcision ritual of Uganda's Bagisu people, is no different. When… Read more »