The recent fall of Goma has starkly highlighted the shaky foundations of the ‘peace architecture’ that was built in the wake of the Second Congo War (1998-2002). Briefly, it once again seemed that the entire house of cards would collapse,

Read the rest of Congo: avoiding past pitfalls in a future peace deal with the M23 – By Judith Verweijen »

South African political life is currently on hold as the nation waits for the ANC’s conference to be held in Mangaung – the metropolis around Bloemfontein.  Ordinary men and women look on with a mixture of anticipation, concern and more

Read the rest of Zuma Exposed: a tale of power, corruption and lies – Reviewed by Martin Plaut »

Kinshasa, November 27th 2012 As reported last week, the DRC’s Eastern city of Goma fell on Tuesday November 20th. The next day M23 took Sake, 25 km to the west. Many people now expected this to be the first step

Read the rest of Congo: Kabila in a Catch 22 with M23 – By Kris Berwouts »

Africa is covered in epithets, like graffiti. It has been labelled dark, lost, hopeless. But generalisations about Africa are dangerous. The only certainty is its size: it could contain the United States, China and India and still have room to

Read the rest of Congo: UK and US must play more consistent hand to end world’s worst war – By Richard Dowden »

Reporting Africa is too often a game of big politics: elections, coups, terrorists, oil deals and Julius Malema. You can easily be an expert of all these things by reading everything available online, but as well-informed as this may make

Read the rest of The Last Hunger Season: a fine but flawed study of poverty in rural Kenya – Review by Magnus Taylor »

I wonder if we should perhaps think of sub-Saharan Africa as a collection not so much of jointly emerging markets, but of diverging ones. Last week I was privileged, under the umbrella of the commendable ‘Invest in Africa’ initiative, to

Read the rest of Emerging or diverging? A framework for discussing ‘Africa rising’ – by Jolyon Ford »

Africa has two major leadership problems: firstly, its leadership is fragmented. And secondly, its leaders are stagnating. We need a bold new vision that will integrate the continent and engage the new generation in building its future. “We are angry,

Read the rest of African youth: Fulfilling the potential – Jay Naidoo »

Acknowledgment of Africa’s ongoing economic revival is becoming more widespread. Hardly a week passes without a notable report or conference extolling the continent’s growth performance and structural potential, made more pronounced by the economic malaise of much of the advanced

Read the rest of Africa’s glass is both half full and half empty – By Simon Freemantle »

On Thursday November 15th ‘M23’ – the rebellion movement which was created earlier this year – launched a major attack on the city of Goma which, after a quieter day on Friday, culminated in a very stressful weekend. The question

Read the rest of Goma falls to the M23: a tale of war, rebellion and dreadful peace agreements – By Kris Berwouts »

The Somali militant group al-Shabaab is currently losing ferocious battles against Kenyan troops in Southern Somalia –  part of an African Union peacekeeping mission. However, they are winning a strategic war back in Kenya; this is the battle for hearts

Read the rest of How Shabaab is losing the battle, but maybe winning the war – By Abdi Aynte »