Quote of the week
“Luanda is slowly regaining its usual rhythm, but obviously, it is a different city. All over the city, you see signs of what happened these last days.” -- Julio Candero, director of human rights group Mosaiko
Helicopter crash in Ghana
Ghana’s defense and environment ministers were killed in a helicopter crash, in addition to three other passengers and the crew. The ministers were to visit an event in Obuasi to tackle illegal mining.
The Mamdanis
Howard French helps us understand NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani by analyzing his father Mahmood Mamdani’s forthcoming memoir Slow Poison: Idi Amin, Yoweri Museveni, and the Making of the Ugandan State.
Governing South Africa
Recap the state of the ANC: pay attention to next year’s local government election and the urban vote. Joburg’s mayor is asked to explain $1.4 billion of wasted funds.
Migration and displacement
Protests erupt at Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya following aid cuts. Rwanda reaches a deal with the US to take in 250 migrants. Dadaab’s youth turn to drugs and despair amidst stagnation. An attack on Sudan’s Zamzan refugee camp may have killed more than 1,500 civilians.
Struggle for rights and freedom
The ISIS-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces killed more than 40 people at a church in Ituri, DR Congo. Filip Reyntjens examines Washington’s recent DR Congo peace deal: A strange deal with many loose ends. The BBC reveal horrific exploitation of children in Kenya sex trade. This is how Kenyan politicians co-opt public resources to help them win elections.
Poverty and hunger fuel deadly protests in oil-rich Angola. Africa surpasses 150,000 deaths linked to militant Islamist groups in past decade. This briefing sets the record straight on farm attacks in South Africa. This briefing outlines Somalia’s climate roadmap as a blueprint for peace. A reflection on Muhammadu Buhari, 1942-2025.
From dictators to democrats. Yassmin Abdel-Magied on “How to write about Sudan.”
Africa’s rapid urbanization
We have a global housing mismatch. Check out Sebastian van Baalen and Thao-Nguyen Ha’s “Domains of dominance: Political territorial control and conflict-related violence in postwar Abidjan.” Tree shortages across African informal settlements. Abdoumaliq Simone analyzes broken infrastructures and urban spaciousness. Learn more about the role of social actors in building sustainable cities in the global south. This is how urban Africa challenges the coloniality of infrastructure. How extraordinary are African cities?
Tanya Zack’s The Chaos Precinct: Johannesburg as a port city looks great. And this is a must read: Noah Nathan on how democracy can (fail to) change democracy in Africa.
Research corner
These two articles offer important conceptual innovations (though are not directly about Africa): on “benevolent indignities” and “institutional recognition.” Check out the Year Book on the African Union Volume 5. Shantel George’s new book looks cool: The Yoruba are on a Rock: Recaptured Africans and the Orisas of Grenada. I’m looking forward to Chipo Dendere’s Death, Diversion, and Departure: Voter Exit and the Persistence of Authoritarianism in Zimbabwe. Augustine Gyan addresses the persistent shadow of legal pluralism in Ghana. Mariam Bjarnesen and Jesper Bjarnesen examine vigilantism and ambivalent state responses in West Africa.
Urban Politics in the Global South
We are pleased to announce a call for papers for the 2025 Urban Politics in the Global South conference on November 6-7, 2025 (12pm-3pm EST). The conference will be fully virtual. This fourth annual conference brings together the growing community of social scientists conducting research on urban politics in low- and middle-income countries in different world regions. Submit your papers and abstracts by September 5th at this link. More information is also available at the conference website.
The week in development
The West wants Africa’s resources, not its people. Read more at “The State of Commodity Dependence 2025.” CSIS tracks the reciprocal tariff rates for all African countries. Afolabi Adekaiyaoja argues that Trump is just saying the quiet part out loud in US-Africa relations.
Senegal outlines its plan to raise domestic revenue. This piece addresses whether Ghana’s oil industry can win over foreign investors. Watch this short video featuring Leonard Wantchekon and his ideas about how the slave trade undermined trust on the continent. Duncan Money explains DR Congo’s gamble with regulating cobalt prices. Shoprite plans to leave Ghana and Malawi. South Africa and the US face off on trade. Alhassan Ibn Abdallah explains the hidden danger of Lithium battery waste.
Africa and the environment
This is how climate change could spread malaria. President Duma Boko of Botswana joins Glocak Center on Adaptation Board. HIV, migration, and climate change is the triple whammy. Overfishing forces Zambia’s third Lake Tanganyika fishing ban. Flooding hits Ogbaru Community in Anambra State. Check out the Thirteenth Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa. MIT-Africa launches a new collaboration with Angola. Zimbabwe plans to turn a climate threat to food security with ambitious dam project.
Daily life
Revisiting a beach photo in South Africa. Some cool photos of country music-influenced Nairobi. It is time to celebrate Nigeria’s sportswomen. Kim Chakanetsa interviews photographers Letso Leipego and Julie Taylor. Meet the artists confronting Nigeria’s tensions.
Yum: The new evolution of Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurants in the Bay Area. And Kwame Onwuachi expands his empire to Washington DC.
All the best,
Jeff and Phil
Thank you.