While all eyes are on the ongoing political stalemate in Bamako, and the growing radicalism of groups such as Ansar Dine, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and MUJAO (Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa) in the north of

Read the rest of Northern Mali’s silent crisis as food shortages are worsened by political stalemate – By Celeste Hicks »

On 24 April 2012, a Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) protest turned violent when police (AP) riot and the paramilitary General Service Unit (GSU) used excessive force to disperse a 100-strong crowd, leaving one protester dead. Businesses in central Mombasa closed

Read the rest of Kenya: MRC pre-election rallies likely to turn violent – By Exclusive Analysis Ltd. »

For nearly two decades, a small United Nations body has managed Somalia’s airspace without Somali involvement and international oversight. Sources close to that office reveal that an internal report documented its 19 years of mismanagement, financial opacity and failure in

Read the rest of Somalia airspace and waters’ control must be reclaimed: UN may owe millions in unaccounted for air navigation charges – By Abdisalam Warsame Hassan and Awet T. Weldemichael »

The death of George Saitoti in a helicopter crash on June 10th removes one of the most important players in Kenya’s piranha pool politics. Saitoti served as a senior minister in the presidencies of Daniel arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki

Read the rest of Kenya: Saitoti’s death and the coming battle – By Richard Dowden »

The 2008 Financial crisis and the attendant Eurozone crisis are reshaping the future of global finance. But what are the implications of this for Africans? Why have financial institutions rushed to the aid of Greece, yet African countries such as

Read the rest of Africa and the Financial Crisis: insulated no longer – By Desné Masie »

  The Britain Zimbabwe Society’s annual research day will be held on the 16th June at St. Antony’s College, Oxford (corner of Woodstock/Bevington Road, North Oxford, OX2 6JF). This year participants will explore the historical and contemporary connections between Zimbabwe

Read the rest of ‘Zimbabwe and the Region’ – The Britain Zimbabwe Society’s Annual Research Day 2012 »

The impending expiry of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has occasioned an unseemly rush to establish a ‘permanent’, and therefore ‘legitimate’, administration in the country.  This forms a severe test for the Somalia Policy of the Western Powers. That is,

Read the rest of Somalia needs nation building’s sterile and corrupt mould to be broken – By Ahmed M.I. Egal »

Joyce Banda became President of Malawi by accident. Bingu wa Mutharika, her predecessor, died suddenly of a heart attack in April, an event which prompted 48 hours of confusion as senior political figures, including the President’s brother, tried to engender

Read the rest of DIARY: Malawi: Joyce Banda wills the IMF for a loan – By Magnus Taylor »

The 2012 crisis in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo became headline news in April as Bosco Ntaganda, an International Criminal Court indictee, staged a mutiny from the Congolese national army (FARDC). Between March and April, Bosco

Read the rest of Crisis in Eastern DRC: ethnic massacres take back seat to speculation on Rwandan role – By Jessica Hatcher »

It is now all but official, Libya’s elections will be delayed. But by how long nobody knows. The Libyan Election Commission has repeatedly leaked news about a delay but made it clear that they are still not ready to announce

Read the rest of Libya: Uncertainty around Elections and Federalism – By Jason Pack and Ronald Bruce St John »