Many Kenyans will go to the polls on 4 March with a sense of trepidation.  Three of the four elections since 1992 have been accompanied by significant violence; 2002 being the exception.  On each occasion politicians used local grievances over

Read the rest of Kenya between hope and despair. Again – By Daniel Branch »

Having worked as a journalist for 33 years and having taught journalism and analysed the processes and performance of journalism for the last five, it is very revealing watching and analysing the development of major stories.  There have been two

Read the rest of Framing news in Africa – how journalists approach stories and reinforce stereotypes – By Keith Somerville »

Over the last 50 years several interconnected crises (ecological, economic, and political) have been building up in Darfur, culminating with atrocities of killing, rape, and population displacement that have occurred over the last 10 years.  This has had dramatic socio-cultural

Read the rest of Darfur before: technologies, symbolism and multiple identities »

The Council on Foreign Relations’ (CFR) recently posted on its website a Contingency Planning Memorandum on Electoral Violence in Kenya. The document seems to have gained traction as an unofficial country risk analysis, with its identification of dangerous elements; possible

Read the rest of Kenya: Revisiting Joel Barkan’s Possibility of a Requiem – By Leonerd Wanyama »

It’s often said that Kenya’s political parties lack any ideological underpinning. The recent pair of Presidential debates shows this false. The discussion of economic policy at the main debate, where it emerged that the Nairobi consensus doesn’t significantly differ from

Read the rest of Kenya transfixed by its illiberal and rightwing gang of eight – By Daniel Waweru »

Since multi-party democracy returned to Kenya in 1992, voting at election time has largely divided itself along ethnic lines. In 2007, when President Mwai Kibaki narrowly edged out Raila Odinga under a cloud of suspected vote tampering, the country descended

Read the rest of This time the Kenyan presidential election could have been about issues – By Andrew Green »

Centuries old, travel writing has been instrumental in crafting perceptions of the world we live in; journeying authors have wielded significant influence over immobile audiences who have wanted to ‘see’ beyond their own square mile of existence. For the most

Read the rest of What Space for African Eyes? Travel Writing and Africa in the 21st century – By Fatimah Kelleher »

Q1 | January 2013 | February 2013 Desné Masie This is the first edition of our Africa Business Briefing, which will be published monthly, with business and economics news on the world’s fastest changing continent. A more comprehensive version of

Read the rest of The Africa Business Briefing Feb 2013: Instability in North Africa/It’s the economy, Zuma! – By Desné Masie »

As Côte d’Ivoire takes a major step towards ensuring accountability for grave crimes by joining the International Criminal Court (ICC), Chad is once again failing to live up to its obligations as a member of the Court by hosting fugitive

Read the rest of Chad Hosts Wanted Al-Bashir as Côte d’Ivoire Joins ICC – By Stephen Lamoney »

Since independence in 1980, there appears to have been an ingrained political psyche peculiar to Zimbabwe’s Matebeleland region, where the political landscape has been painted in ethnic colours.  Historians say today’s tribal politics date back to the 1960s and 70s when nationalists

Read the rest of Ethnic politics on the Zimbabwean campaign trail: do voters really care? – By Marko Phiri »