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 »
October 03, 2022
Kenya: New Finance Minister Has Good Credentials but He Can't Work Miracles
President William Ruto has nominated Njuguna Ndung'u to head Kenya's National Treasury. A Central Bank of Kenya governor for eight years between 2007 and 2015, Ndung'u is also an… Read more »
September 29, 2022
Kenya: Can Kipchoge Now Run a Marathon In Under Two Hours?
Sixty-nine seconds. Read more »
October 02, 2022
East Africa: Massacre Offers Window Into the Past and Future of the DRC Conflict
For nearly three decades, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been embroiled in violence. Millions of people have been killed and an estimated 5.6 million others displaced… Read more »
September 30, 2022
Kenya: Kenya and the ICC - Law Expert Answers 4 Questions Following Death of a Key Lawyer
Kenyan lawyer Paul Gicheru, one of the people accused of interfering with witnesses in the case involving President William Ruto before the International Criminal Court (ICC), was… Read more »
September 29, 2022
East Africa: 5 Steps to Stop Ebola Spreading in East Africa - A Frontline Expert Advises
The biggest Ebola outbreak in human history happened in West Africa from 2014 to 2015. I was on the front lines in Liberia serving as the head of case detection for the National… Read more »
September 27, 2022
Africa: Abortion in Kenya and Benin - Women and Girls Need to Feel Safe Socially and Medically
Safe abortion and post abortion care are essential health services. But until the publication of the 2022 World Health Organization (WHO) abortion care guidelines there was a… Read more »
September 26, 2022
South Sudan: South Sudan Should Disarm Civilians - The Evidence Shows This Improves Security
A long-running state of insecurity has recently intensified in Unity State - one of South Sudan's 10 states - resulting in many innocent lives being lost. Read more »
September 24, 2022
Uganda: Nation Well Prepared for Ebola Outbreak
An outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus was announced by Uganda's ministry of health on 21 September 2022. Uganda has had at least six previous episodes of Ebola in 2000 (224 dead),… Read more »
September 23, 2022
Kenya: Uhuru Kenyatta Failed to Turn Kenya Into As Big an International Player As He Could - Here's Why
One of the notable achievements of Uhuru Kenyatta's nine-year tenure as president was that he invigorated Kenya's foreign policy. Read more »
September 21, 2022
Kenya: Kenya Has Breached Its Public Debt Ceiling - How It Got There and What That Means
Kenya's newly elected president, William Ruto, has earned more legal space to borrow for his grandiose economic plan after parliament recently raised the country's public debt… Read more »
September 20, 2022
Kenya: Why Has Kenya Not Abolished the Death Penalty? Habit and Inertia
In recent months two African states have announced their intentions to abolish the death penalty - Zambia and the Central African Republic. Read more »
September 19, 2022
East Africa: Tanzania and Zambia Want to Upgrade the 'Uhuru Railway' - But Can They?
Half a century ago, the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (Tazara) stood out as a crucial symbol of Africa's struggle for independence. The 1,860km-long railway connects Kapiri Mposhi in… Read more »
September 18, 2022
Kenya: William Ruto Vs Media - Democracy Is At Stake
It's a long-standing Kenyan tradition to offer congratulations in paid print and TV messages to an incoming president. The bulk of these messages are put out by government agencies… Read more »