Politics

© Nigerian ‘cults’ originated here, in Benin City, and have morphed into global organised crime groups. (A street in Benin City, capital of Edo State, southern Nigeria. (Joseph Egabor8/Photo12/Alamy)

taboo subject

Nigeria: Tracing the rise of ‘cult’ groups to an ‘African Mafia’ From Benin City, Nigeria, to Palermo, Marseille, and beyond: Nigerian criminal groups have succeeded in developing their trafficking activities in Afr...
© Granulated white sugar is seen in this picture illustration taken December 16, 2018. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot/Illustration

conspired to steal

Kenya: Unfit for consumption, government officials to blame for sale of tainted sugar to public Kenyan authorities have suspended 27 government officials, accusing them of releasing into the market around 1,000tn of brown sugar worth KSh20m ($145...
© US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita at the State Department in Washington, March 20, 2023. EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/POOL/AFP

postponed twice

Premium badgeMorocco: When will there be a Negev Forum in 2023? The Abrahamic Accords are well underway, but meetings to further its objectives have been lacking. Will there be a Negev Forum in 2023?
© File photo of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. REUTERS/Sumaya Hisham

Gold trail

Premium badgeSouth Africa probes ‘Gold Mafia’: Another wild goose chase? South Africa is set to probe allegations that the infamous ‘Gold Mafia’ in Al Jazeera’s documentary used domestic banks to launder money, but observer...

Politics top stories

© A pedestrian walks past a mural depicting Russia’s para military mercenaries ‘Wagner Group’ reading : “Wagner Group – Russian knights” on a building’s wall in Belgrade, on November 17, 2022. (Photo by OLIVER BUNIC / AFP)

Cracking down

Premium badgeUS sanctions Wagner commander in Mali in latest crackdown on Russian mercenary operations in Africa The US government slapped new sanctions on Russia’s Wagner Group on 25 May, putting African nations on notice that working with the Kremlin-linked mer...
© Liberia’s NEC civic & voter education agents informing eligible voters in their communities to register using Liberia’s 1st Biometric Voter Registration system on 18 March 2023 (photo: twitter)

checks & balances

Premium badgeLiberia ends voter registration amid cases of voter trucking and irregularities  The national elections commission ended its voter registration on 11 May for the general election scheduled for 10 October. But the process was not wi...
© Ani Kayode Somtochukwu author of ‘And Then He Sang a Lullaby’

revolutionary literature

Premium badgeNigeria: Cassava Republic presents ‘And Then He Sang a Lullaby’ Twice a month, we bring you an excerpt from a book to be published by the Nigeria-based Cassava Republic, a renowned publisher on the continent, leadi...

Politics top stories

© A pedestrian walks past a mural depicting Russia’s para military mercenaries ‘Wagner Group’ reading : “Wagner Group – Russian knights” on a building’s wall in Belgrade, on November 17, 2022. (Photo by OLIVER BUNIC / AFP)

Cracking down

Premium badgeUS sanctions Wagner commander in Mali in latest crackdown on Russian mercenary operations in Africa The US government slapped new sanctions on Russia’s Wagner Group on 25 May, putting African nations on notice that working with the Kremlin-linked mer...
© Liberia’s NEC civic & voter education agents informing eligible voters in their communities to register using Liberia’s 1st Biometric Voter Registration system on 18 March 2023 (photo: twitter)

checks & balances

Premium badgeLiberia ends voter registration amid cases of voter trucking and irregularities  The national elections commission ended its voter registration on 11 May for the general election scheduled for 10 October. But the process was not wi...
© Ani Kayode Somtochukwu author of ‘And Then He Sang a Lullaby’

revolutionary literature

Premium badgeNigeria: Cassava Republic presents ‘And Then He Sang a Lullaby’ Twice a month, we bring you an excerpt from a book to be published by the Nigeria-based Cassava Republic, a renowned publisher on the continent, leadi...

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© A Sudanese army armoured vehicle is stationed in southern Khartoum on May 21, 2023, amid ongoing fighting between two rival generals. – Residents of Sudan’s capital again awoke to heavy clashes on May 21 morning just hours after rival generals agreed to an upcoming one-week ceasefire amid ongoing talks in Saudi Arabia. (Photo by – / AFP)

power struggle

Sudan: Fighting rages in Khartoum as truce deadline nears Gunfire and explosions again rocked Sudan’s capital Monday, hours before a one-week humanitarian ceasefire was due to take effect after a series of pr...
© Members of the Ethiopian diaspora, the largest outside of Ethiopia in Washington, U.S., July 28, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Theiler

People power

America’s African diaspora: An unmatched advantage in the soft power competition for influence The soft power competition for political and business influence in Africa has never been so fierce.
© Ugandan General Muhoozi Kainerugaba (L) took tour of 6th & 7th street, Kampala, to look at potholes in the capital (Photo: Twitter/@KCCAUG)

POTHOLES CAPITAL

Premium badgeUganda: Kampala’s potholes, emblematic of its politics If there is a feature that sums up Kampala, the capital, it is the potholes. The city – the heartbeat of Uganda’s economic development – has never vot...
© Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (right). Mandel NGAN and Mikhail Metzel / various sources / AFP

foreign relations

Africa – Ukraine: Behind the scenes of an African mediation attempt South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, President of Senegal Macky Sall, Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso […] and the list goes on. ...
Félix Tshisekedi speaks with Albert Zeufack (left), World Bank country director for the DRC, at the AU compound on 17 March 2023.

changes and consequences

Premium badgeDRC: Why Félix Tshisekedi has upset the World Bank The DRC’s Social Fund has been dissolved by presidential order. Justified by a desire to “channel institutional action for greater efficiency,” the de...
© Nigeria’s Taraba governor-elect Agbu Kefas.

driving optimism

Premium badgeNigeria: Agbu Kefas, the ‘thief-catching guru,’ has his job cut out in Taraba State Agbu Kefas arrived at his position as head of the Nigeria Maritime and Safety Agency (NIMASA) 10 years ago with a reputation for catching oil thieves....