April 07
Africa: South Africa As G20 Leader Can Take Action On Africa's Food Supply - 4 Ways to Make a Difference
South Africa, the only African country that is a member of the G20, holds the presidency of the grouping until the end of November 2025. During this time, it could help drive the… Read more »
West Africa: Amadou Bagayoko - the Blind Malian Musician Whose Joyful Songs Changed West African Music
Amadou Bagayoko (1954-2025), Malian guitarist, singer and composer of the famed duo Amadou & Mariam - known as "the blind couple of Mali" - passed away on 4 April in Bamako. He… Read more »
Somalia: How the Small Autonomous Region of Puntland Found Success in Battling Islamic State in Somalia
On Feb. 24, 2025, members of the Puntland Defense Forces posed next to a sign in Arabic that proclaimed the mountain town of Sheebaab as a "province" of the Islamic State group.… Read more »
April 06
Africa: Do African MPs Reflect the People Who Vote for Them? We Studied 17 Countries to Find Out
By the end of 2025, 42 African countries will have held national elections in the previous 24 months. But do these elections produce parliaments that accurately reflect the… Read more »
Africa: We Studied Smallholder Farming in Three African Countries for 10 Years - Why Profitable Irrigation Is Key
The world has to feed a growing population with the same area of land and less water. Irrigation is key to managing this problem. A 10-year project called Transforming Irrigation… Read more »
Africa: Woman-to-Woman Marriage in West Africa - a Vanishing Tradition of Power and Agency
Marriage in west Africa has played a central role in shaping aspects of society, and has evolved over time. While traditional heterosexual unions dominate discussions, a… Read more »
April 04
Africa: Why Was South Africa's Ambassador to the U.S. Expelled? a View of the Ebrahim Rasool Affair
In a rare move, the Trump administration expelled Ebrahim Rasool, South Africa's ambassador to Washington, in mid-March 2025. In a post on X, US secretary of state Marco Rubio… Read more »
April 03
Zimbabwe: Kirsty Coventry and Whiteness in Zimbabwe - How Sport Can Rewrite the Political Rules
Kirsty Coventry's story is one of apparent contradictions. She's a white woman celebrated as a national hero in a Black-majority Zimbabwe and an Olympic swimmer turned politician.… Read more »
Tunisia: Tunisia's Rap Revolution - 5 Women Who Are Redefining Hip-Hop
Women rappers were not really a feature of Tunisia's typically masculine and chauvinist hip-hop scene until the revolution that overthrew Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. Read more »
Uganda: Uganda's Speedy Motorbike Taxis Will Slow Down for Cash - If Incentives Are Cleverly Designed
Every day, 10 people die on the roads of Kampala, Uganda's capital. Read more »
April 02
Ethiopia: Ethiopia's Civil War - What's Behind the Amhara Rebellion?
Ethiopia is in the grip of a civil war between federal government forces and the Fano, a loose alliance of ethnic-based militia in the Amhara region. Read more »
Cameroon: Fake Online Shops Rely On Tech Skills - What Drives Cameroon's Web Developers to Assist Online Fraudsters
When people discuss online fraud, the focus is often on those who directly deceive victims. Little attention is given to those who enable these crimes by providing the digital… Read more »
Uganda: Uganda's Electricity Distribution Is Changing Hands - What's At Stake
Uganda's electricity sector is at a turning point, as Umeme Limited's 20-year concession draws to a close. Umeme was the first private distribution operator in anglophone Africa.… Read more »
South Africa: South Africa's Civil Servants Are Missing Skills, Especially When It Comes to Technology - Report
South Africa's goal since 2012 has been to build a capable and developmental state to address the twin challenges of poverty and inequality. The country's National Development Plan… Read more »
South Africa: South Africa Needs a Fresh Start, Says New Book - but Does the Argument Hold Up?
Eddy Maloka, the South African historian, diplomat and academic, argues in his latest book the case for South Africa to forge a "second republic". What is meant by this is left… Read more »
April 01
Africa: A New Covid Variant Is On the Rise. Here's What to Know About LP.8.1
More than five years since COVID was declared a pandemic, we're still facing the regular emergence of new variants of the virus, SARS-CoV-2. Read more »
Nigeria: Nigeria's Illegal Gold Trade - Elites and Bandits Are Working Together
Illegal mining activities in Nigeria are devastating the country's economy, as well as fuelling violence. Read more »
Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe's Economy Crashed - So How Do Citizens Still Cling to Myths of Urban and Economic Success?
It is common for nations to have myths, or narratives, that form the basis of their nationalism, or their ideas of themselves as a political community. Such popular narratives are… Read more »
Africa: How Do Coconuts Get Their Water?
Coconut trees are iconic plants found across the world's tropical regions. They're called "nature's supermarket" or the "tree of life" in several cultures because every part of the… Read more »
South Africa: South Africans Flush Toilets With Drinkable Water - Study in Cape Town Looked At Using Seawater Instead
As the planet gets hotter and freshwater sources dry up, cities and towns will not be able to continue the global norm of using millions of litres of clean, drinkable water to… Read more »
South Africa: Inside an Urban Terror Network - Book Reveals How Police Finally Cracked Pagad Gang Violence in Cape Town
A campaign against gangsterism in Cape Town, South Africa led by the People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) turned violent in the mid-1990s when a group known as Pagad… Read more »
March 31
Africa: Nuclear War Threat - Why Africa's Pushing for a Complete Ban
At a time of heightened geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine, intensified by strategic dynamics involving the US, Nato and Russia over Europe's security, nuclear… Read more »
South Africa: 23% of South Africa's Children Suffer From Severe Hunger - We Tested Some Solutions - Experts
A 2024 Unicef report found that 23% of South African children experience severe food poverty, eating less than two of the recommended five food groups per day. Unemployment, food… Read more »
Congo-Kinshasa: Rwanda and Belgium Are At Odds Over the DRC - What's Led to the Latest Low Point
Rwanda's foreign affairs ministry suspended all diplomatic relations with Belgium in March 2025. Soon afterwards, Belgium expelled Rwandan diplomats. This came weeks after Belgium… Read more »
Africa: How Viruses Blur the the Boundaries of Life
When people talk about the coronavirus, they sometimes describe this invisible entity as if it has a personality and even a conscience. If you ask a biology or medical student what… Read more »
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