Egypt’s threats towards Ethiopia and its Grand Renaissance dam project on the Blue Nile seem to be backfiring on all sides. On 3rd June, President Morsi, beset by growing internal problems, had a clever idea. His government would drum up

Read the rest of Egypt’s threats over Nile waters backfire as promise of war is not credible – By Seifulaziz Milas »

On 15th the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) held an extraordinary summit on Zimbabwe in Maputo. The main issue discussed was the 31st July election date set under the pretext of complying with the Constitutional Court’s ruling that elections must

Read the rest of SADC respects Zimbabwe’s early election date – By Simukai Tinhu »

When I first saw that Britain had put tax, transparency and trade on the agenda of this week’s G8 meeting my reaction was surprise and celebration.  At last the government had picked up on the scandal of huge multinational companies

Read the rest of The G8′s here, Time to act on tax havens – By Richard Dowden »

The fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) has just taken place in Japan hosting an array of African Heads of State, international development agencies, the Chairperson of UN and the AU. The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) held

Read the rest of Japan raises its game in Africa – By Magnus Taylor »

When Agadez’s army barracks was hit by a suicide explosion on May 23rd the Nigerien bad dream seemed like it had finally come true. For many Nigeriens it has been a case of when rather than if the crisis in

Read the rest of Niger’s bad dream approaches as islamists set sights on Niamey – By Celeste Hicks »

By Magnus Taylor The arch miserableist returns, and he’s “happy again, back in Africa, the kingdom of light”.  A lot of people will hate this book, and I can see why. But strangely, I didn’t. Theroux is abrasive, opinionated, politically-incorrect

Read the rest of REVIEW: Last Train to Zona Verde: overland from Cape Town to Angola – By Paul Theroux »

Just over a fortnight ago, Jakaya Kikwete, President of Tanzania, kicked off a firestorm of controversy with what many in Rwanda and outside of it saw as a terrible faux pas. It started with what would have struck followers of

Read the rest of Kikwete in trouble over FDLR, but does he really understand who they are? – By Frederick Golooba-Mutebi »

For the motion: Jason K. Stearns, political analyst, director of the Rift Valley Institute’s Usalama Project and author of the book, ‘Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa’ (Public Affairs,

Read the rest of Jason Stearns, Phil Clark and Richard Dowden debate the UN Group of Experts (with a focus on the DRC) »

The comedy started last Monday when the Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi invited leading politicians to discuss the report of a tri-partite Egypt-Ethiopia-Sudan commission. The commission had recently conducted a one year study on Ethiopia’s plan to build a hydropower dam

Read the rest of Egypt/Ethiopia: There will be no water war in the Nile Basin because no one can afford it – By Seifulaziz Milas »

When I woke up on Saturday 8th June and looked at the leading stories in the news I felt a shiver.  Again, South Africans (and many in the rest of the world) are dreading the news that Nelson Mandela’s lung

Read the rest of Framing death – how will the world mark the passing of Nelson Mandela? – By Keith Somerville »