EXPLAINED
In The Shadow Of The ‘Great Helsman’: 20 Years After His Death, Mobutu Sese Seko Lives On In Joseph Kabila
The senior Kabila followed the path of “Mobutism without Mobutu.” His son, Joseph Kabila, has perfected it.
Journey To Extremism In Africa: Why People Join Groups Like Boko Haram And Al-Shabaab
Religious education can actually inoculate against extremism. Employment was the single most frequently cited reason for joining an extremist groups.
In An Africa First, Kenya’s Top Court Overturns A Presidential Election: Here Are 6 Reasons That Was Possible
To argue that Kenya’s Supreme Court ruled against a presidential election because it is “independent” is the same as saying eggs come from the supermarket. The story is more complex.
HACKING A CONTINENT
Power-Poor Sub-Sahara Africa Has 229Kms Of Transmissions Lines Per Million People – Brazil Has 610Km!
The annual investment needed between 2015 and 2040 in all sectors of power production in Africa ranges between $33.4 billion to $63 billion per year.In An Africa First, Kenya’s Top Court Overturns A Presidential Election: Here Are 6 Reasons That Was Possible
To argue that Kenya’s Supreme Court ruled against a presidential election because it is “independent” is the same as saying eggs come from the supermarket. The story is more complex.
Kagame’s Next 7 Years, And The Path To Glory – Or Slippery Road To Heartbreak (Part II)
The potential quandary for Kagame is that Rwanda could become his “Hotel California” of which The Eagles famously sung: he can check out, but he can never leave.
As Kenya Votes, It Feels Like A Beautiful Face And Mind That Are Trapped In An Ugly Body
Even if the political rhetoric in this Kenya election was angry and divisive, it still did not fall to the ethnic-filled bile of 2007 and 2013.
Nigeria To Add 212 Million City Dwellers By 2050 – Equivalent To Present Population Of Germany, France And UK
In Benin's capital Cotonou, Togo's Lomé and Burkina Faso's Ouagadougou the informal sector accounts for over 80% of non-agricultural employment.
NEXT FRONTIERS
From The Frying Pan Into The Fire: Long-Suffering Central African Republic Risks Return To Civil War
More than 1.1 million people have been displaced in the central African nation, the “highest level ever”, as UN peacekeeping force hit by new controversy over sex abuses cases.
The Horrors Continue In Burundi, As UN Security Council Discusses Damning Rights Report
“Extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, sexual violence, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and enforced disappearances” continue in Burundi, says UN Commission of Enquiry.
Joao Lourenco Will Be Angola’s First New President In 38 Years, But Can He Escape ‘The Family’?
Although not known for personally having sticky fingers, Lourenco is part of the system
MYTH AND REALITY
Journey To Extremism In Africa: Why People Join Groups Like Boko Haram And Al-Shabaab
Religious education can actually inoculate against extremism. Employment was the single most frequently cited reason for joining an extremist groups.
Africa Urbanising Fast, But We Might Be Wrong About Why It’s Happening. Here’s What We’ve Neglected
In 23 sub-Saharan African countries, urbanisation would have happened without a single person moving from a rural area to an urban one.
Africa’s Return Migrants: Myth And Reality About Their Contributions To The Continent
One insinuation was that the state of politics in Africa is so dismal that even the Gambia’s Adama Barrow, a former Argos security guard, can become a president.
FROM AFRICAPEDIA
Africapedia
This Foreign Invader Has Robbed African Farmers Of $3 Billion, And There’s No Silver Bullet To Kill It
As a moth, they are good flyers averaging about 100 kilometres a night. If left untreated, the armyworm can cause crop losses of up to 50%, munching its way through a hectare within 72 hours.
Angola’s Ruling Rarty Retains Power, But Faces Legitimacy Test As It Also Lost Support Across The Country
Vote tallying was a fiasco. The landslide by long-ruling MPLA was potentially a total fabrication.
South Africa Sees Startling Rise In Poverty: In Last 5 Years 3 Million More People Have Fallen Through The Cracks
The decline in living standards has occurred despite the extension of social grants to two million more recipients in the past five years.
DISSENTING VOICES
Africa Has Seen Big Democratic Progress, But Level Of Civil Liberties Has Fallen Every Year For A Decade Now
In Gambia an entrenched autocrat was forced from power. In Ghana, a sitting president lost an election for the first time, but...
Opening The ‘Black Box’: The Aid Industry And Authoritarian Politics In Africa
It would be misleading to see Rwanda as a “donor darling” only during Kagame’s time – it was even before the genocide. Kagame himself has little interest in what donors say or do.
Whose Record Is It Anyway? Digging Up And Reissuing Old African Music Is ‘New Colonialism’
A podcast has suggested that the latest urge to buy up African vinyl and to compile generically and geographically determined compilations is yet one more (white) western scramble for Africa.
ANANSI
Power-Poor Sub-Sahara Africa Has 229Kms Of Transmissions Lines Per Million People – Brazil Has 610Km!
The annual investment needed between 2015 and 2040 in all sectors of power production in Africa ranges between $33.4 billion to $63 billion per year.
WHAT ARE YOU READING MOST
BOOK CORNER
Opening The ‘Black Box’: The Aid Industry And Authoritarian Politics In Africa
It would be misleading to see Rwanda as a “donor darling” only during Kagame’s time – it was even before the genocide. Kagame himself has little interest in what donors say or do.
A Brilliant But Depressing Book To Read: The Real Politics Of The Horn Of Africa
Politics in the Horn is best understood as a marketplace, where the currency is money and violence.
Africa’s Return Migrants: Myth And Reality About Their Contributions To The Continent
One insinuation was that the state of politics in Africa is so dismal that even the Gambia’s Adama Barrow, a former Argos security guard, can become a president.
South Sudan: A New History For A New Nation, Starting From 11,000 Years Ago
Along the way, we are introduced to figures of significance in the history of the country that go beyond the usual list of coup leaders and heads of factions in the Sudan People’s Liberation Army.
Chicken And Egg In Africa – Clothing Poverty: The Hidden World Of Fast Fashion And Second-Hand Clothes
An exposition of the entwined economies of clothes’ production in Asia, over-consumption and clothing waste in Europe and the US, and clothes’ afterlife in Africa’s second-hand markets.
