French soldiers patrol in armoured personnel carriers during the Barkhane operation in northern Burkina Faso in 2019.
Michele Cattani/AFP via Getty Images
More than 20 years after the shift from unilateralism to multilateralism, it is reasonable to wonder how multilateral France’s ‘new interventionism’ really is.
President Benjamin Mkapa at the end of his tenure in December 2005.
Mwanzo Millinga/AFP via Getty Images)
Mkapa’s presidency is particularly significant since it represents the first phase of Tanzanian multi-party democracy.
Benjamin William Mkapa speaks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in 2005.
Eric Feferberg/AFP via Getty Images)
Mkapa, who penned an autobiography, had an impressive record in building state institutions. But his reign was marked by killings and political suppression.
Children receive biscuits and other foods from the Groundbreakers community feeding programme in Ocean View, Cape Town.
EPA-EFE/Nic Bothma
South Africans have experienced significant shocks to their livelihoods, and the threat of hunger presents a major concern for health, political and social stability.
Tik Tok’s popularity has raised eyebrows in some countries.
Daniel Constante/Shutterstock
Young people continue to find new ways to connect on social media, in spaces that are increasingly hard for governments to regulate.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a 145-metre-high, 1.8-kilometre-long concrete colossus is set to become the largest hydropower plant in Africa.
(Photo by EDUARDO SOTERAS/AFP via Getty Images)
Egypt wants a guarantee that the filling and operation of the Renaissance Dam will not affect the rights it got in 1959.
Cameroon’s soldiers patrol near a tank in the Cameroonian town of Fotokol.
Stephane Yas/AFP via Getty Images
Cameroon’s anglophone crisis is not simply a dispute between two feuding groups: a range of international actors have been architects of the current situation.
President Alassane Ouattara of Ivory Coast.
Horacio Villalobos/Corbis via Getty Images
President Alassane Ouattara (78) has been blowing hot and cold on whether he’ll be seeking a third term.
A freedom march for Biafra held to mark the anniversary of the unilateral declaration of independence in 1967 that sparked a brutal 30-month civil war in Nigeria.
Stefano Montesi - Corbis/Getty Images
Fifty years after the Biafran civil war in Nigeria, the efforts of secessionist diplomats have recently come to light through the decryption of telexes sent from Portugal to Biafra during the war.
A soldier from Niger patrols near the border with Nigeria. Porous borders with Nigeria and Mali are hotbeds for Jihadists and marauding local militias.
Giles Clark/GettyImages
Leaders’ efforts to end conflict have been ineffective. Working through regional economic communities might be part of a better approach.
Former President Mwai Kibaki [centre] smiles after being handed the new constitution document by former Attorney General, Amos Wako [right] in 2010.
Tony Karumba/AFP via GettyImages
For democracy to work in Kenya the country needs good leadership. Politicians must uphold the constitution to infuse trust and confidence in state institutions.
Jean-Pierre Bemba during his trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, The Netherlands.
EPA-EFE/Michael Kooren
The court’s decision has wider implications for international criminal law.
The Mozambican military has proven to be inept at stopping atrocities by extremist insurgents in the Cabo Delgado province.
EPA-EFE/Antonio Silva
Should South Africa’s military get involved, it would be venturing into a highly violent and complex landscape, requiring a counter-terrorism type of operations.
Sudanese protesters gather to mark the first anniversary of a raid on an anti-government sit-in, in the Riyadh district in the east of the capital Khartoum on June 3, 2020.
(Photo by Ashraf Shazly/AFP via Getty Images)
Despite its dire health and economic situation, Sudan has yet to access emergency funding to combat COVID-19.
President Pierre Nkurunziza arrives to inaugurate Burundi’s Chinese-built state house on September 27, 2019.
(Photo by ONESPHORE NibigIra/AFP via Getty Images)
History will judge Nkurunziza as a man who brought unnecessary pain to a nation that had long suffered from political misrule.
A group of men protest while pulling a cart carrying the body of Vitallis Ochilo Owino in the Mathare slums of Nairobi, Kenya, on May 4, 2020. Vitallis Ochilo Owino was allegedly beaten to death by police officers while walking in the streets after curfew hours.
LUIS TATO/AFP via Getty Images
The level of accountability within police agencies in Kenya is very low. They operate with impunity, because they know they will get away with it.
Integrating African languages could help deal with some xenophobia in South Africa.
MICHELE SPATARI/AFP via Getty Images
Research has shown that African immigrants in South Africa refrain from speaking their own languages and try to speak local languages to blend in.
The date of arrest and a red cross marked on the face of Felicien Kabuga on a wanted poster at the Genocide Fugitive Tracking Unit office in Kigali, Rwanda, on May 19, 2020.
(Photo by Simon Wohlfahrt/ AFP via Getty Images)
Given the contested success of transitional justice in Rwanda, the arrest showcases the mixed record of international justice.
South African soldiers enforcing the COVID-19 lockdown in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town.
EPA/Nic Bothma
South Africa’s post-apartheid leaders have failed to properly prepare the military for secondary roles such as peacekeeping, let alone to a fight a virus.
Lesotho’s former Prime Minister Tom Thabane, left, and his successor Moeketsi Majoro, at the latter’s swearing in ceremony at the Royal Palace in Maseru.
Molise Molise/AFP-GettyImages
Moeketsi Majoro’s installation as Prime Minister is welcome. But it does not guarantee much needed political stability in an era of complex coalition politics.