August 11, 2022
Ethiopia: Nowhere to Run - the Plight of Eritrean Refugees in Ethiopia
Ethiopia has hosted large numbers of Eritrean refugees for years. Before the recent conflict, about 100,000 Eritrean refugees lived in camps in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region. Read more »
August 10, 2022
Kenya: Election - Institutional Safeguards Are Still a Work in Progress
Kenya has held its seventh national election since the reintroduction of multiparty competition in the early 1990s. Elections in the country are never dull affairs. They are always… Read more »
August 09, 2022
East Africa: Rwanda and DRC's Turbulent Past Continues to Fuel Their Torrid Relationship
Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) make for very unhappy neighbours. Both sides claim the other is set on bringing down their government, and violating past… Read more »
August 08, 2022
Kenya: Prosecution or Compensation? What Kenyan Choices Tell Us About International Justice
In December 2007, the Electoral Commission of Kenya announced that Mwai Kibaki had won a second five-year term as president. It was a surprising outcome, given his opponent, Raila… Read more »
August 07, 2022
Kenya: Muslims Are Divided, With Little Political Clout
Kenyan Muslims played a part in the push to repeal repressive political laws in the country in the early 1990s. But Muslims, who account for 11% of the population, have yet to… Read more »
August 05, 2022
Africa: Athletics - Kenyans Are Running for Other Countries, but That's Not Why Medals Are Fewer
The 2022 World Athletics Championships ended in relative disappointment for Kenya, which continued its decline in the overall medal standings. Since the 2005 championships in… Read more »
August 04, 2022
Kenya: Election 2022 - The Candidates, Issues and Role of Money in a Fierce Contest
Kenyans are gearing up for an important general election in August 9, 2022, which brings to an end President Uhuru Kenyatta's turbulent two terms terms. Read more »
August 03, 2022
Rwanda: The U.S. and Rwanda - How the Relationship Has Evolved Since the 1994 Genocide
One of the primary points of discussion between Antony Blinken and Rwandan president Paul Kagame in the US secretary of state's upcoming visit to Kigali will be the renewed… Read more »
August 02, 2022
Rwanda: How Annual Genocide Commemoration Fans the Flame of Ethnicity
Each year, Rwandans at home and in the diaspora remember those killed in the 1994 genocide. This is not a single-day event. Kwibuka ("to remember" in the local Kinyarwanda… Read more »
August 01, 2022
Kenya: The Role of Media in a Kenyan Election - What You Should Know
Traditionally, political debates have been shaped by mainstream media. Kenya's mainstream media, however, remain strongly wedded to factional ethnic and class interests. This has… Read more »
July 31, 2022
Kenya: Kenya's Election Red Flags in Five Essential Reads
Kenya is no stranger to highly contested elections. Several of the country's past polls have seen high levels of conflict. The violence that broke out after the 2007 elections… Read more »
August 01, 2022
Burundi: Burundi At 60 Is the Poorest Country On the Planet - A Look At What Went Wrong
Burundi, which marked 60 years of independence on 1 July 2022, ranks as the poorest country on the planet in terms of GDP per capita. This must be understood in the light of a… Read more »
July 31, 2022
East Africa: Change of Guard in Kenya - The 5 Reasons Neighbours Watch Every Step
Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta - whose final term in office ends after the 9 August polls - has been a key figure in east Africa. Over the last nine years, he has tried to create… Read more »
July 25, 2022
East Africa: Dam Dispute - Five Key Reads About How It Started and How It Could End
The US has revived diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute sparked by Ethiopia's Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) project on the Nile. Sudan and Egypt, which rely most… Read more »
July 24, 2022
Kenya: Young Voters Have a Dilemma - They Dislike Ethnic Politics but Feel Trapped
In elections and beyond, young Kenyans are an important political cohort. People between the ages of 18 and 35 make up about 30% of the population and nearly 40% of registered… Read more »
July 22, 2022
East Africa: Moving the Maasai - Tanzania Is Repeating Kenya's Colonial Past
Images of distressed members of the Maasai community being forcibly moved from their homes, beaten and harassed by police and the army in northern Tanzania in June set social media… Read more »
July 21, 2022
East Africa: Saving East Africa's Wildlife From Recurring Drought
Over the past two decades, the Horn of Africa - specifically Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya - has experienced more intense and frequent droughts. Read more »
July 20, 2022
Ethiopia: What's Driving the Violence in Oromia?
In November 2020 an outbreak of violence in Ethiopia's Tigray region captured worldwide attention. The conflict was between Tigrayan forces and the forces of the Ethiopian… Read more »
July 19, 2022
East Africa: Why Sexual and Reproductive Law for East African Countries Is Being Resisted
Six of the countries of the East African Community - Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania - recently concluded public hearings on a new sexual and reproductive… Read more »
Kenya: Inflation Is Rising - Here's Why, and How to Fix It
Inflation has hit many countries recently, from the United States to Sri Lanka. Read more »
July 15, 2022
Kenya: Kenya's Election Promises - an Economist's Perspective
Kenya has four presidential candidates in the August 2022 general election. They recently launched their manifestos and one thing ties them together: the economy. Read more »
July 11, 2022
Ethiopia: Why Factory Jobs for Women Haven't Translated Into Greater Participation in Politics
Until the war in Tigray started in November 2020, Ethiopia was a favoured investment destination. It had experienced strong economic growth for the previous decade. Read more »
July 06, 2022
East Africa: How #AfricaClimateCrisis Will Affect Conflict in the Horn of Africa - What Researchers Found
The Horn of Africa, on the eastern coast of the continent, is currently being battered by an intense and sustained drought thanks to which around 20 million people are going… Read more »
Kenya: Why U.S.-Kenya Cooperation On Wildlife and Drug Trafficking Matters
Kenya and the United States have worked very closely against terrorism since the targeting of the American embassy in Nairobi in 1998 by Al-Qaeda. But much less debated is US-Kenya… Read more »
July 05, 2022
Kenya: Fringe Presidential Candidates - What They Offer in Elections
On 9 August 2022, Kenyans will vote for their fifth president. It will be the country's seventh general election since the resumption of multiparty electoral democracy 30 years… Read more »