The President’s plan to end term limits is rallying opposition parties, unions, churches and war veterans against him
The long-planned and indefinite extension of Emmerson Mnangagwa’s presidency is taking shape in the form of a Constitutional Amendment Bill pushed by the uber-loyalist Minister of Justice, Parliamentary...
Infirmity is catching up with the President – 93 on Friday the 13th – with would-be successors battling over the spoils of office
The most convincing sign that President Paul Biya’s powers are waning is his inability to restrain ministers and close aides openly feuding over lucrative contracts. This would have...
Western states have cut funding in protest at state violence during the election but gold and domestic borrowing are plugging the gap for now
The crisis in foreign relations triggered by horror at the conduct of Tanzania’s 29 October general election crisis, when hundreds were believed killed by security forces, has compelled...
Vice-President Vance and Secretary Rubio unveil critical minerals plan in Washington
Amid a flurry of initiatives in Congo-Kinshasa, Sudan, Kenya, and the Sahel, the Trump administration has named Frank Garcia, a former staffer on the Intelligence Committee in the...
Washington is withholding the funds it owes the UN to force reform but it is losing credibility and influence – even if no country wants to take over its role
António Guterres has sounded alarms before, but his 28 January warning that the United Nations faces ‘imminent financial collapse’ marked the organisation’s gravest moment since 1945. The Secretary-General’s...
Francophone African troops take on the gangs of the troubled Caribbean nation as they – and UN headquarters – try to profit from a top Trump priority
African nations are queuing up to contribute troops to the United Nations-organised Gang Suppression Force for Haiti, whose role is to build on the peacekeeping work of hundreds...
Activists are demanding urgent policy reform and UN agencies are on the brink of ending many life-saving relief operations in war zones
Against the backdrop of heightening geopolitical rivalries and a sluggish world economy, rich western economies are ending many of their long-established aid – or Official Development Assistance (ODA)...
Pro-democracy activists across the region are rallying together, but they are being met with brutal and coordinated repression by state authorities
‘Don’t try this again,’ was the message to dozens of pro-democracy activists from across East Africa as they were deported from Tanzania last year after attempting to attend...
The President envisages a two-three million margin of victory in next year’s elections as ambitious contenders flock to his party
President William Ruto is bullish. He is aiming for re-election in August 2027 ‘by a margin of between two and three million so that we unite the country...
Growth, reserves and inflation are improving but the government’s new revenue drive is politically risky
Almost a year before they seek re-election, President Bola Tinubu and his All Progressives Congress (APC) administration continue to promote the much debated benefits of their ambitious reform...
Clashes in the disputed western areas risk igniting a wider conflict across the Horn, drawing in outside sponsors
A new war in Tigray – one that could again pull in Eritrea – is looking more likely after clashes broke out on 27 January between Tigrayan forces...
A 1,000 tonne stockpile of yellowcake is the latest flashpoint in General Tiani’s pivot from Paris to Moscow
Concerns are growing for the security of a consignment of about 1,000 tonnes of uranium held at the Niger government’s military Air Base 101 next to the Diori...
Rival plans to extend Washington’s tariff relief offer – by one, three or sixteen years – are under review but South Africa looks set to be shut out
The US Senate is due to vote on the renewal of Washington’s preferential trade agreement with African economies in the next few days with South Africa facing the...
Trump’s exclusion of South Africa from the Miami summit shouldn’t deter other Africans from attending, says Washington
United States diplomats have told African governments and others planning to attend December’s G20 summit in Miami that if they want to continue to address issues such as...
Buoyed by the US President dismissing human rights policies and pausing anti-corruption laws, Harare had offered business incentives to Washington
Within hours of US President Donald J Trump’s re-election on 6 November 2024, his Zimbabwean counterpart Emmerson Mnangagwa ladled on the sycophancy in a social media posting: ‘Congratulations...
READ FOR FREE
A new split has emerged within President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s cabal, as his Presidential Investment Advisor, Paul Tungwarara, has openly clashed with ‘Queen Bee’ Kudakwashe Tagwirei. Tungwarara and Tagwirei...
On 9 January, the Tanzanian High Court threw out a request from a British court to enforce a ruling that Pan Africa Power Solutions (PAP), owned by Harbinder...
Having been swept to power on a wave of public anger over corruption and poor delivery of basic services, interim President Colonel Michael Randrianirina has filled his government...
Far from mediating peace deals in Africa, the rival Gulf monarchies are exacerbating conflict
The outbreak of controlled hostilities between the monarchies of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates in December is deepening fissures across East Africa and the Horn. There are...
A fierce crackdown and a fractured opposition decisively shifted the contest long before the votes were counted
President Yoweri Museveni was expected to retain power following the 15 January polls. But few anticipated he would win with such a margin or that the ruling party...
Oppositionists make progress on a unity deal as insurgents tighten their grip on Tigray, Amhara, and Oromia
Ethiopia is trapped in a stalemate. With military victory impossible and political consensus unreachable, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government is falling back on divide and rule. The prime...
Having claimed a global success in its hosting of Afcon, Morocco now turns from the spectacle back to the business of maintaining stability
Until its chaotic final on the evening of 18 January, Morocco had enjoyed an exceptional Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), marked by state-of-the-art stadia served by new motorways...
There are reasons for optimism on growth and inflation but concerns on the cost of Africa’s debts persist
After a year of global uncertainty during which Africa’s economies were hit by the tariff war fallout, deep cuts in official development assistance (ODA), and the impact of...
Senior commanders ignored the President’s instruction to restrict Iran’s role in China’s naval exercise off Cape Town
The confrontation over Pretoria’s security ties with Tehran – specifically its participation in South African-hosted naval exercises – underlines the erosion of civilian control over the military and...
The reshuffled ministerial team reinforces the President’s authoritarian stance after the election killings
The ministerial reshuffle announced on 8 January powerfully refutes claims by defenders of President Samia Suluhu Hassan that her authoritarian policies ahead of the 29 October election were...
Dar es Salaam’s transit reforms are stalling due to vested interests and use of opaque private companies
On 8 January, 49 buses were delivered to Dar es Salaam port – with another 50 due later this month – as part of an emergency response to...
The only unknown in Uganda’s election is the margin of the incumbent’s violent victory, as citizens look forward with alarm to the prospect of his son’s rule
Ahead of polling day on 15 January the streets of Kampala were thronged not with citizens, but with lines of armoured personnel carriers and uniformed police and soldiers...
By paying $9 million to US lobbyists through a pop-up law firm, the Abuja government has outbid Christian secessionists
Scrambling in the wake of US President Donald J Trump’s threat to ‘go into Nigeria guns ablazing’ on 1 November to end what he called a ‘Christian genocide’,...
The death of Raila Odinga last October left a void in Kenyan politics and at the heart of his Orange Democratic Movement. ODM was Raila’s fiefdom. It was...