This Week in Africa
September 20, 2024
The Global Solidarity Report is out. Here is the week in Africa:
Quote of the week
“I want people to think about the world and its issues in a more nuanced way, to show that there are commonalities in the challenges we face and so we need to get away from this tendency to exoticise non-western countries.” – Patrick Gathara
Attack in Bamako
A Jihadi attack by the group JNIM killed more than 70 people in Bamako. Charlie Werb explains what JNIM’s attack means for the future of Mali. The government is limiting its communication about the attack. What does the Al Qaeda affiliate want?
Sudan’s war
Coordinated pressure is needed to stop the war in Sudan. Nicholas Kristof reports on the humanitarian disaster in Darfur.
Floods in Nigeria
Nigeria continues to face massive flooding after a dam collapses. A prison wall break from the floods led to the escape of 200 inmates. What caused the Maiduguri floods? Watch this documentary for more. Floods are threatening the entire region.
Governing Ghana
Ghana’s economy grew at its fastest pace in the last five years. Artisanal mining is an important part of peoples’ livelihoods. Meanwhile, Ghana’s NDC party holds nationwide demonstrations to protest what it perceives as voting irregularities in the registrar. Explore Ghana’s scorecard on democracy.
Struggle for rights and freedom
Nalova Akua explains the hidden face of Cameroon’s dirty war. This is an interesting report about state-sponsored vigilantism in Somalia. Amnesty calls for the release of peaceful protesters in Angola. CEDAR teams up with the Journal of Democracy in this new podcast.
Kehinde Togun asks: What’s driving Africa’s protests?
African international relations
Washington deepens its relations with Angola as Biden plans to travel to the country. This article explains how South Africa and the shadow of Apartheid hang over MAGA. This is a must read: Elizabeth Schmidt’s “The dangers of white totalitarianism.” Here is a progressive case for American power.
What creates effectiveness and mediation in peacemaking? What are the latest trends shaping China-Africa relations? Will African leaders resist the neocolonial summons?
Africa’s rapid urbanization
More than 16 people died when a building collapsed in Kissy, Freetown. Embu County in Kenya embarks on a green infrastructure plan. This article imagines black feminist geographies of Johannesburg. This article examines Fintech frontiers and motorcycles in African cities. Lagos State government continues to evict waterfront residents from their homes. More than 3,000 people are left homeless. Nairobi’s reputation for crime is outdated. This event discusses governing the urban fringes. This is an important new article about the development of private neighborhoods on the fringes of Accra.
Read this: Urbanization, rentier capitalism, and the politics of inequality in Kenya.
Research corner
Check out Paul Nugent’s Race, Taste and the Grape: South African Wine from a Global Perspective. Learn more about the history of xenophobia in Zimbabwe. This article discusses the use of written consent forms in interviews with residents in Zambia. Patrick Mutahi, Kristine Höglund, and Emma Elfversson published “Policing and citizen trust in Kenya: How community policing shapes local trust-building and collaboration.” The CP newsletter analyzes the intersection between area studies and comparative politics. Learn more about the impacts of environmental peacebuilding. Read this: “Gender Stereotypes in Autocracies: Experimental Evidence from Morocco.”
The freedom to love, move and organize.
The week in development
What does the rising price of coffee mean for African farmers? What is the effect of a cash transfer program on memory decline and dementia in South Africa? Why does migration research have so little impact? Is Nigeria’s loan from the World Bank a lifeline or a trap door? What is the future of Uganda’s refugee model? Could a new rocket launch site fuel Africa’s space race? How can Morocco rebuild after last year’s devastating earthquake?
This is a fascinating essay about the valuation of Barclays Bank during the nationalization process in Tanzania in 1967. A gold mining town in Congo is now the center of the MPox outbreak. AI could be a game changer for Africa. This app is teaching Somalis to read and write. Zambia has a new plan for critical minerals state company. This is a really neat study on patient care in Kenya and Ghana. This is how InstaDeep became Africa’s biggest AI startup success. This policy briefing examines just and resilient infrastructures in Pakistan and Kenya.
Check out Grant & Co Partners “Grant Newsletter.”
Africa and the environment
Check out Climate Security and Climate Justice. Baobab trees are barely surviving climate change. Climate change is raising the risk of deadly snake bites in Africa. There’s still hope in fighting the climate crisis in Somalia. Deadly African floods stem from unusual atmospheric ingredients. Child malnutrition is only getting worse. Zambia faces a drought-driven energy crisis. South Sudan may see the first permanent mass displacement due to climate change. UN projects climate crisis will increase intimate partner violence rates.
Tracking elephants across Namibia.
Daily life
RIP ballerina Michaela DePrince. What does Africa need to do to host the World Cup? Go to A Night for Sudan if you’re in New York. A beauty queen is at the center of tensions between Nigeria and South Africa. Patrick Gathara discusses the politics of news language.
All the best,
Jeff and Phil