November 03, 2025
Africa: African Countries Need Strong Development Banks - How They Can Push Back Against Narrative to Weaken Them
A quiet but consequential contest is playing out in the global financial architecture. One that could determine Africa's ability to finance its own development. Read more »
South Africa: Boys, Bullying and Belonging - Understanding Violent Initiation At a South African School
Violence among learners in South African schools is a pressing concern. The minister of basic education told parliament in 2025 that hundreds of bullying cases had been reported in… Read more »
Africa: What Is Françafrique? the Taboo Word That Reveals the Shifting Influence of France in Africa
The term "Françafrique" describes the political, economic and military networks built to preserve French influence in Africa. It refers to a past era but many believe that… Read more »
Africa: Africa's Trade Deal With the U.S. Was Left in Limbo - What Exporters Can Do About It
The US-Africa preferential trade deal - in place for a quarter century - expired on 30 September 2025. It's far from certain if the trade deal will be renewed and, if so, how.… Read more »
November 02, 2025
Ethiopia: Starvation As a Weapon of War - How Ethiopia Created a Famine in Tigray
Famine - the extreme scarcity of food - devastated Ethiopia's Tigray region during and after a two-year war that began in November 2020. Yet, the famine's impact is one of the… Read more »
November 01, 2025
Tanzania: Tanzania - President Samia Hassan's Grip On Power Has Been Shaken By Unprecedented Protests
In Tanzania, something snapped this year. Protests followed the 29 October 2025 elections. They are unprecedented in their scale, national breadth and political content since the… Read more »
October 31, 2025
Africa: Why Are So Few Environmental Criminals On Interpol's 'Most Wanted' List?
Environmental crime is big business, often listed among the world's top five criminal activities, just behind counterfeiting and drug crime. So it would be reasonable to think it… Read more »
Mali: Bamako Under Siege - Why Mali's Army Is Struggling to Break the Jihadist Blockade of the Capital
When the military overthrew the democratically elected government in Mali in 2020, coup leader General Assimi Goita promised to root out jihadists in the north of the country. Mali… Read more »
Sudan: Peace in Sudan? 3 Reasons Why Mediation Hasn't Worked So Far
Sudan has been embroiled in a civil war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 2023, sparked by a power struggle between the two parties. The war… Read more »
Mali: Jihadists Have Blockaded Mali's Capital. What's At Stake
A coalition of jihadist groups affiliated with al-Qaida have laid siege to landlocked Mali's capital. For over a month, they have attacked convoys supplying Bamako with fuel,… Read more »
Mali: Why an Armed Group Linked to Al-Qaida Is Gaining Ground in Mali
Mali's military regime is coming under increasing pressure from Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), an armed group linked to al-Qaida that now controls large swathes of… Read more »
South Africa: The Jew in King Shaka's Court - How a 19th-Century Castaway Shaped a Zulu Leader's Legacy
Gales tore at the Mary's sails, and surf crashed across the brig's deck. Seventeen-year-old Nathaniel Isaacs tied himself to a railing to avoid being washed overboard. The Mary's… Read more »
October 30, 2025
Africa: Where Did the First People Come From? the Case for a Coastal Migration From Southern Africa
The origins and migrations of modern humans around the world are a hot topic of debate. Genetic analyses have pointed to Africa as the continent from which our ancestors dispersed… Read more »
Africa: Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others - the Dark Side of Researching Popular Species
Biologists often form deep bonds with the species they study. For some, that relationship begins early in their careers and shapes decades of research. The connection can be… Read more »
Congo-Kinshasa: Child Marriage Is Still Common in the DRC - What's Driving It and How to Encourage Change
Despite international efforts to eliminate child marriage, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continues to have high rates of this harmful practice. Read more »
Africa: Climate Crisis Is a Daily Reality for Many African Communities - How to Try and Protect Them
For many African communities, the climate crisis is not a future scenario - it is a daily emergency. Irreversible losses, destroyed homes, failed harvests, vanishing ecosystems and… Read more »
October 29, 2025
South Africa: South African Writer Zoë Wicomb Embraced Humanity in All Its Complexity
Zoë Wicomb's first book, You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town (1987), is a tour through episodes in the life of a writer-character, Frieda Shenton. She's not unlike but crucially… Read more »
Cameroon: Paul Biya's Life Presidency in Cameroon Enters a Fragile Final Phase
For the first time ever, the opposition parties in Cameroon have come "close" to unseating 92-year-old Paul Biya, who has run the country since 1982. Read more »
October 28, 2025
South Africa: South Africa's Coal Mines Are Leaking Methane - and No One Knows How Much
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas. It is released from natural sources (like wetlands) and human activities (coal mining, and oil and gas production). It is also emitted by… Read more »
Nigeria: Nigeria's Government Is Using Digital Technology to Repress Citizens. a Researcher Explains How
Digital authoritarianism is a new way governments are trying to control citizens using digital and information technology. It is a growing concern for advocacy groups and those… Read more »
Rwanda: Luxury Tourism Is a Risky Strategy for African Economies - New Study of Botswana, Mauritius, Rwanda
How successful is luxury tourism in Africa? What happens if it fails to produce higher tourism revenues: can it be reversed? And does it depend on what kind of government is in… Read more »
Africa: Ecoball - How to Turn Picking Up Litter Into a Game for Kids
Every year humanity produces nearly 300 million tonnes of plastic. Only a fraction ever gets recycled. Most ends up in rivers, oceans and soil, slowly breaking down into tiny,… Read more »
Africa: AI Reveals Which Predators Chewed Ancient Humans' Bones - Challenging Ideas On Which Homo Species Was the First Tool-Using Hunter
Almost 2 million years ago, a young ancient human died beside a spring near a lake in what is now Tanzania, in eastern Africa. After archaeologists uncovered his fossilized bones… Read more »
Africa: Why Are So Many Millennials Getting Cancer?
If you're reading this there's a good chance that you, like me, are a millennial. If so, you've probably noticed more and more cases of friends or acquaintances with diseases that… Read more »
October 27, 2025
Uganda: New Discovery Reveals Chimpanzees in Uganda Use Flying Insects to Tend Their Wounds
Animals respond to injury in many ways. So far, evidence for animals tending wounds with biologically active materials is rare. Yet, a recent study of an orangutan treating a wound… Read more »
