As the AU is marking the 50th anniversary of the OAU under the theme ‘Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance’, it is necessary to subject the 50 years journey of the OAU/AU with respect to the question of unity to critical scrutiny.

Read the rest of African unity after 50 years of OAU/AU: A dream deferred? – By Solomon Ayele Dersso »

  The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that have driven the global development agenda, since September 2000, when Kofi Annan, then Secretary-General of the United Nations, and 191 member states surprised the world by unanimously agreeing and making, the Millennium Declaration. The

Read the rest of The curious case of Africa’s Progress and the missing Millennium Development Goals – By Susana Edjang »

A little over a year ago, a few friends met to hang out online and talk about the political crisis in Mali (the text was published here and entitled ‘Mali: How Bad Can it Get?’). We thought of this as

Read the rest of Mali: Which way forward? A chat with Bruce Hall, Baz Lecocq, Gregory Mann and Bruce Whitehouse »

Bono’s much-tweeted TED talk spotlighted Ghana, a West African country usually regarded as one of the continent’s better managed and more successful ‘lions’. Ghana’s journey towards ending extreme poverty – and zeroing out aid –has much to teach all African

Read the rest of The rise and rise of the African factivists – By Bright Simons and Jamie Drummond »

Angola has come a long way since gaining independence from Portugal in 1975. The country has transformed from an agriculture-based economy to one of sub-Saharan Africa’s major oil and mineral producers, thanks to the onset of stability in 2002 after

Read the rest of Angola economic briefing: high oil prices compensate for tough business environment – By Gaimin Nonyane »

International actors have dealt with the crisis in Mali in many ways. In a recent brief, Lori-Anne Théroux-Bénoni (Institute of Security Studies Dakar) listed its four phases. The first responses were regional (with the ECOWAS mediation) and African (AU after

Read the rest of Waiting for Blue Helmets? Prospects for a UN Mission to Mali – By Isaline Bergamaschi »

In his first book, Mark Weston has given himself the challenge of observing the daily life of people in three of the world’s poorest countries: Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso. I was fascinated by the journey that Weston and

Read the rest of The Ringtone and the Drum: travels in the world’s poorest countries – By Francesca Washtell »

Last week marked the anniversary of the coup in Mali, when a group of soldiers, headed by Captain Amadou Sanogo, moved against President Amadou Toumani Touré. Much, to put it mildly, has happened since. Touré remains in exile and there

Read the rest of Mali: one year on… could they see the coup coming? – Andrew Lebovich »

A conversation with Chinua Achebe was a deep, slow and gracious matter. He was exceedingly courteous and always listened and reflected before answering. In his later years he talked even more slowly and softly, savouring the paradoxes of life and

Read the rest of Achebe – The Passing of A Great Man, A Great Writer and a Passionate Human Being – By Richard Dowden »

Bamako, March 2013 “If he returns to Gao, people will make kebabs out of him,” a friend told me with a laugh over lunch in his home. He was referring to a prominent businessman who left the northern Malian city

Read the rest of Mali’s Bad Trip: Field notes from the West African drug trade – By Andrew Lebovich »