Patrick Smith
This week we start in Kigali, which is hosting the summit of the African Union, and stay in East Africa to hear that the region's three biggest economies are putting their trade negotiations with the European Union on hold. If the latest opinion polls in ...
Patrick Smith
This week we start with the fighting in South Sudanand then look at the prospects for more anti-government protests in Zimbabwe. In Zambia, tensions are rising ahead of what many expect to be a very close election next month while Ghanais channelling the ...
Blue Lines
A new protest movement known as #ThisFlag is gaining momentum in Zimbabwe after one of the biggest stayaways in cities for a decade on 6 July. At the head of #ThisFlag is Evan Mawarire, a 39-year-old pastor who launched a social media campaign in April to...
Patrick Smith
A Brexit-dominated blog this week as Africa's economies count the cost of the turmoil in Europe. In Zambia, President Edgar Lungu's government cracks down on the independent media and Mozambique's finance troubles escalate after the secret loan scandal. F...
Blue Lines
From the start of the year, it's been clear that South Africa's local elections on 3 August would be a critical test of President Jacob Zuma's survival skills. There have been contradictory signs: it looked increasingly likely that Zuma would be pushed to...
Patrick Smith
Over the weekend there were disturbing reports of fresh fighting in the border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia which ended with a peace treaty some 16 years ago. Ugandan security officials say they have been busy in the last few days rounding up ...
Blue Lines
If he's looking for evocative literature as well as a break from Nigerian politics during his ten-day visit to London, President Muhammadu Buhari should read 'The General in His Labyrinth' by Gabriel Garcia Márquez. One of the late Colombianwriter's most ...
Patrick Smith
This week, the political developments start in Kenya, with mounting protests for electoral reform, then to the story of why some senior Nigerians are spending the week in London and the private reactions to the appointment of the president's daughter to h...
Blue Lines
Taking over the presidency of the African Development Bank from Rwanda's Donald Kaberuka, whose combination of political savvy and straight talking on economics put the Bank back on the global map, was always going to be tough. The tenure of new President...
Patrick Smith
This week starts with talks on Libya's crisis in Vienna and negotiations in Nigeria over the fuel price increase. Kenya's government makes further moves to close down the world's biggest refugee camp and Uganda's most prominent opposition leader is held o...
