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The gap between the continent’s most democratic and authoritarian regions is likely to continue to grow.
The street market at Mont-Bouët in Libreville, Gabon. The country was one of 10 on the continent downgraded this year.
Getty Images
Downgrades have a devastating effect on economies that are already strained. The decision to downgrade during a crisis like the coronavirus pandemic must be challenged.
John Liebenberg in the ransacked hospital in Cubal, Angola, in 1993.
Photographer unknown/Courtesy the Liebenberg family
No other photographer in southern Africa has documented war in the way that John Liebenberg did. He captured the life and the conflict of both sides in his body of work.
Angolan President João Lourenço addressing a meeting of the governing party.
EFE-EPA/Ampe Rogerio
The Dos Santos family and their supporters claim they are the objects of political persecution.
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The Portuguese colonisers were not the only ones who could use radio for control. A new book tells how popular radio broadcasts from Angola’s liberation fighters were used as weapons in the struggle.
Angolan President João Lourenço.
EFE-EPAAlexei Druzhinin/Sputnik
The euphoria that accompanied João Lourenço’s new presidency has ebbed away amid the stark realities of a profoundly dysfunctional political economy.
The Delta’s rich array of wildlife makes it a popular tourist destination.
Ger Metselaar/Shutterstock
It’s imperative that we understand what creates and sustains the delta for the future management of the system.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (waving) with some of the heads of state who attended the first Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi, Russia.
SEFE-EPA-Pool/Sergei Chirikov
At the Sochi summit, African states embraced Russia’s newly established relations.
Advances in DNA sequencing will help people to learn more about their ancestry.
SVShot/Shutterstock
Developments in mitochondrial DNA sequencing are returning South Africa’s slavery heritage to view.
Rosewood is coveted for its colour
Winai Tepsuttinun/Shutterstock
CITES’ decision seeks to increase levels of monitoring so that we can be more and better informed about the illegal trade of Mukula and over-harvesting.
Screen Shot of the New York Times homepage for its series, “1619.”
New York Times
A historian says that critics get the past wrong.
Nigerian soldiers clearing Boko Haram camps in Borno State. The government has contracted private security companies to help.
EPA/Stringer
Private military and security companies are increasingly being contracted in Africa. But there are big gaps in understanding their impact.
Sudan’s military is working hard to retain control of the country.
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When the establishment retains some leverage over reformers change can be slow, superficial, and short-lived. Sudan appears to be a textbook case of this scenario.
A Kenyan LGBT activist campaigning for a change to the country’s Penal Code.
EPA-EFE/Dai Kurokawa
The High Court’s ruling goes against the trend of greater liberalisation in a number of African countries.
The change in leadership is one of the factors that led to the decriminalisation of homosexual relationships in Angola.
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Angola’s new President João Lourenço has shown some willingness to engage in more inclusive politics.
South African liberation struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
EPA-EFE/Jon Hrusha
Controversy around Winnie Madikizela-Mandela continues in death as it did in life.
Pik Botha played a central role in the intricate talks that eventually led to Namibia’s independence.
Foto24/Nasief Manie
Pik Botha defended apartheid and South Africa’s occupation of Namibia, but in the end helped end both.
Both South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Zimbabwean counterpart Emmerson Mnangagwa need to reform their parties.
GCIS
Southern Africa’s liberation movements have been losing popularity and confronting a crisis of legitimacy.
A white-throated swallow, one of several intra-African migratory birds.
MartinMaritz/Shutterstock
There are hundreds of variations on the basic ‘flavour’ of bird migration.
Protesters demand Congolese President Joseph Kabila step down.
Reuters/Thomas Mukoya
Too often developments in one country are seen in isolation. In southern Africa events in one affect others in the region.