Debt peaks as Treasury pushes for growth and credibility

The Budget, which will become law only after parliamentary revision, further Treasury scrutiny, public comment and presidential assent, seeks to boost health and education spending. The cessation of...

An African bank and one of the ‘big three’ ratings agencies have fired their latest salvoes in a broader struggle over how the global financial system treats the...

Having been the most vocal critic of Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen, who in February announced his plans to vacate the leadership, Helen Zille looks set to entrench...

A claim by a United States Congressional committee that Nigeria is the deadliest place in the world to practice Christianity has reignited tensions between Washington and Abuja as...

For the juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, the first anniversary of their breakaway from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) was marked by an...

General Abdourahamane Tiani, Niger’s military ruler, is reluctantly climbing down from the junta’s bitter dispute with the French nuclear group Orano, even as he launched a fresh barrage...

After months of wrangling over constitutional review and the electoral process, February was expected to mark a breakthrough – a moment to settle proposed constitutional changes, agree on...

South African mining billionaire Patrice Motsepe is emerging as a reluctant challenger for the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) at the party’s elective conference at the...

Political fault lines are widening ahead of national elections due by July 2028. The ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) and the opposition All People’s Congress (APC) are...

Somaliland Minister of the Presidency Khadar Hussein Abdi repeated on 21 February an oft-made promise: Hargeisa will grant the United States access to its mineral resources, including lithium...

Senegal’s government is sliding toward a financial reckoning. Now Africa's most indebted country – its debts are estimated at 132% of GDP after a post-election audit exposed US$7...

The numbers look like a win for the European Union’s border policy – on its own terms, at least. Irregular crossings into the EU fell 26% in 2025...

The East African Community is not short on popularity; Somalia, South Sudan and Congo-Kinshasa have all joined the bloc in the past decade. But it is still hard...

President Félix Tshisekedi’s government is pressing its diplomatic advantage after the US State Department sanctioned the Rwandan Defence Force (RDF) and four of its senior commanders for their...

As a measure of the dysfunction of the international system, the African Union has a special role, according to the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. ‘In a world...

The arrival of United States President Donald Trump’s new ambassador, Leo Brent Bozell III, a veteran critic of the African National Congress, in South Africa sets up bilateral...

On the back foot since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu made France the centrepiece of his foreign policy, Britain is trying to restore its waning relationship with Nigeria. To...

Seven months after signing a crucial memorandum of understanding (MoU) with bilateral creditors, Ethiopia’s hopes that recent progress in negotiations with bondholders would hasten a comprehensive debt-restructuring agreement...

With Ethiopia heading to the polls in June, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his ruling Prosperity Party radiate optimism on the economy. Not only has annual inflation returned...

Mahamudu Bawumia has been re-elected as the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) presidential candidate for the 2028 general elections, securing 56% of the vote in the party primaries. This...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Who would be in the new government? The buzz began after Côte d’Ivoire’s 27 December legislative elections, won by the ruling Rassemblement des houphoëtistes pour la démocatie et...

A report by the All Eyes on Wagner (AEOW) investigative group, published on 11 February, lists 1,417 fighters from 35 African countries who joined the Russian army between...

The sacking of Edwin Sifuna as Secretary-General of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) is a desperate attempt by party leader Oburu Odinga to contain divisions but risks breaking...