The pan-African magazine of choice since 2009
New Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who took office after the death of John Pombe Magufuli in March, is the East African nation’s sixth president since it became independent in 1962, and currently the only woman running a country in Africa. Affectionately called Mama Samia, she may bring a calmer style to the office – …
South Sudan had high hopes when it became independent 10 years ago, after a long rebellion against the Sudanese government in Khartoum. But within two years, the leadership rivalries and ethnic cleavages that had divided the rebellion blew up into a bloody civil war that displaced one-third of the country’s 12 million people. Longtime foes …
Nigeria, already engaged in conflict with the Boko Haram jihadists in the northeast, is now facing widespread violence on several other fronts, from clashes between pastoralists and farmers that have displaced thousands of people to secessionist guerrillas in the Igbo-speaking southeast, who on April 5 attacked a police headquarters and a prison and freed 1,800 …
Ghana’s December 2020 general election was a big shambles. There was unprecedented political violence, as seven people were killed during the election and its aftermath. The Electoral Commission announced the result of the presidential election with several mathematical and computational errors, and changed the figures several times. The National Democratic Congress party and its candidate, …
A very colorful character, former Ghanaian president, Jerry John Rawlings, was given a four-day national funeral at the end of January 2021. In death as in life, controversy followed him: One of his close friends revealed in an emotional tribute at the funeral that Rawlings had told him only weeks before, after his mother’s death, …
More than 120 countries elected British lawyer Karim Khan on February 12 as the next prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, one of the toughest jobs in international law because the tribunal seeks justice for the world’s worst atrocities – war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. His election on the second secret ballot by …
The United Nations kicked off the selection of its next secretary-general on February 5, asking the 193 U.N. member states to submit candidates to be the world organization’s chief diplomat and operating officer. The process officially began with a joint letter signed virtually by General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir and Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward, …
UN kicks off selection of next secretary-general Read More »
Ghana’s parliament has been suspended for at least three weeks following a surge in COVID-19 cases among parliament members and staff. Speaker Alban Bagbin announced the suspension on February 9, saying that at least 17 members of parliament and 151 staffers have tested positive for the coronavirus. He has urged lawmakers and other parliament staffers …
Ghana suspends parliament amid rising COVID-19 cases Read More »
Delegates from Libya’s warring factions on February 5 selected four leaders to guide the North African country through to national elections in December in a major – if uncertain – step toward unifying a nation with two separate governments in the east and west. In what could become a landmark achievement to end one of …
February 6 marked two years since Central African Republic’s government signed a peace deal with rebel groups in an attempt to end years of fighting, but the country faces growing violence that threatens to null the agreement. “Instead of celebrating the dividends of peace, we are celebrating the second anniversary in a context of war,” …