February 19
Nigeria: Streetlights in Lagos Can Boost Safety and Grow the Economy. Why Not Everyone Benefits
Nigeria is urbanising at a remarkable speed. Some of the world's fastest growing cities are in the west African country. Read more »
February 18
Ghana: Critical Mineral Mining Faces Risks If Local Communities Aren't Consulted Enough - the Case of Lithium in Ghana
Clean technologies depend on critical minerals such as lithium and cobalt. Over 65% of the world's cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nearly 40% of the world's… Read more »
Tanzania: Young Tanzanians Are Fed Up With Not Getting a Slice of the Economic Action - Research
When young Tanzanians poured into the streets on 29 October 2025, most observers saw an election protest. Protests in Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Mwanza and other cities were met with… Read more »
West Africa: Ecowas Without the Sahel States - How the Split Is Testing Free Movement and Regional Legitimacy
New governments in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso formally left the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) a year ago, having created the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).… Read more »
Sudan: How Warring Factions Gained Influence in the Country's Food System - and What It Means for the Current Conflict
Militaries play a major role in the politics of many countries. They determine whether elections can occur and who can compete. From Egypt to Pakistan and Myanmar to Uganda, the… Read more »
February 17
Africa: Coffee Crops Are Dying From a Fungus With Species-Jumping Genes - Researchers Are 'Resurrecting' Their Genomes to Understand How and Why
For anyone who relies on coffee to start their day, coffee wilt disease may be the most important disease you've never heard of. This fungal disease has repeatedly reshaped the… Read more »
Uganda: Kizza Besigye - the Firebrand Who Has Shaped Opposition Politics in Uganda
Uganda's Kizza Besigye has been described as possibly the most arrested man in Africa. Besigye was once President Yoweri Museveni's ally, and personal physician. He broke ranks… Read more »
Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone's Harsh New Laws to Protect Women and Girls Are Causing Harm in the Wrong Places
In the decades after Sierra Leone's civil war (1991-2002), there was pressure on the west African country to demonstrate progress on gender equality. Laws were passed to fight… Read more »
Africa: Too Little, Too Concentrated - Why AI Start-up Funding in Africa Needs Rethinking
One year after the AI Summit in Paris, the international community will meet again this week in New Delhi for the Global Summit on Artificial Intelligence, whose objective will… Read more »
South Africa: South Africa's Foreign Policy Is Rooted in Negotiation With All Nations - a Shifting Global Order Makes This Difficult
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, South Africa's foreign policy has been under sustained international scrutiny. Read more »
Africa: Snakebites - How to Avoid Them and What to Do If You're Bitten
Imagine walking into tall grass or working barefoot in a field ... and suddenly feeling sharp pain on your foot. You've just been bitten by a snake. This is more than a moment of… Read more »
February 16
Africa: Economists and Environmental Scientists See the World Differently - Here's Why That Matters
Imagine someone has chronic pain. One doctor focuses on the body part that hurts and keeps trying to fix that single symptom. Another uses a more comprehensive brain-body approach… Read more »
Burkina Faso: Burkina Faso Has Dissolved All Political Parties - Why African Coup Leaders Often Turn On the People Who Supported Them
The end of January 2026 effectively marked the end of party politics in Burkina Faso. On 29 January, Captain Ibrahim Traoré's government formally dissolved all political… Read more »
Africa: How Vaccines Give Our Immune Systems a Home Advantage
We are now approaching six years since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, yet talk of vaccines and our immune systems persists in our cultural… Read more »
Kenya: Sand Mining and Kenya's Building Boom - Better Rules Are Needed, but Not From the Top Down
The sun is rising in Kenya's Kajiado county, just outside Nairobi, and a truck is rumbling over dusty ground towards a riverbank. Young men guide the driver to a parking spot and… Read more »
South Africa: South Africa Is Moving Away From Coal - How Mines and Power Stations Could Be Used for Green Energy and Farming
Globally, nearly 7,000 coal mines, more than 2,400 coal-fired power plants and hundreds of coal rail networks, trucks and port terminals all make up the world's coal industry. When… Read more »
South Africa: Mediation Can Speed Up Justice in South Africa - Legal Scholar Makes the Case
Communities in South Africa continue to be fractured by service delivery failures, crime and gang-related violence. The impact is felt by families and communities, and in schools,… Read more »
February 15
South Africa: Ramaphosa and a Stable Electricity System in South Africa - the Devils Are in the Detail
The strategic significance of the reference to energy reform in South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's State of the Nation Address cannot be overstated. Read more »
South Africa: Does South Africa Have a Future Without Power Cuts? Ramaphosa Intervenes, but the Drama Isn't Over
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his 2026 State of the Nation address, announced that the country's electricity transmission assets would move out of state-owned Eskom.… Read more »
Africa: Climate Change Could Expose 1.1 Billion People to Hunger By 2100 (But There's Good News Too) - AI Modelling Study
More than 295 million people globally experienced hunger and starvation in 2025 because of conflict, displacement, climate change and economic disasters. Read more »
South Africa: Digital Monitoring Is Growing in South Africa's Public Service - Regulation Needs to Catch Up
Government departments across South Africa are increasingly relying on digital tools to evaluate public programmes and monitor performance. This is part of broader public-sector… Read more »
Africa: Africa's Trade Blocs Were Designed to Unite the Continent - Four Reasons They Haven't Delivered
In a rapidly fracturing world, regional integration could be a source of resilience for the African continent. Read more »
February 12
Ethiopia: How to Get Away With Mass Murder - 4 Tactics Ethiopia Used to Hide Tigray Atrocities From the World
The Tigray region in Ethiopia's north has endured one of the world's deadliest armed conflicts of the 21st century. Between 2020 and 2022, as many as 800,000 people were killed… Read more »
Africa: African Indigenous Foods That Fight Inflammation May Help People With Diabetes - Research
African indigenous food groups present an exciting area to explore when it comes to taste and nutrition. They may even offer potential as nutritional therapy for people with health… Read more »
South Africa: History With a Human Face and Voice - How Museum Theatre Gets Kids to Care About the Past
The facts of history are important, but try telling that to a classroom full of bored youngsters. One way to liven up the subject is to show that real people lived through… Read more »
