This Week in Africa
Discover more from This Week in Africa
Happy Thanksgiving. Here is the week in Africa:
Quote of the week
“The people of Ghana are enduring hardships. I feel the pain personally, professionally and in my soul.” —Ghana’s finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta
Resurgence of violence in DR Congo
Eastern DR Congo is experiencing some of its worst fighting in several years. Why is peace so elusive? Paul Kagame is transforming the continent’s security landscape.
African international relations
Africa is a key diplomatic battlefield for Ukraine. Four nations are banned from attending Biden’s Africa summit. Does Britain have a new relationship with Africa?
Struggle for rights and freedom
A South Africa Court finds that Jacob Zuma was unlawfully released from jail. President Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea staged a vote to extend his 43-year-rule. Uganda at 60. Sierra Leone politicians brawl in Parliament. Watch the upcoming discussion between Patience Mususa and Cristiano Lanzano about rights, citizenship and good governance in African states.
What does it have to do with Marikana? Five years after Robert Mugabe—what has changed? What is the state of the African state? Will insecurity undermine Nigeria’s 2023 general elections?
Africa’s rapid urbanization
Check out the Lusaka Urban Lab. First stop, Cairo Road. African cities receive new funding to tackle water crisis. This is why formalizing addresses in Ghana failed. The world’s population growth through the lens of Tanzania. Another building collapses in Kenya. This is an interesting piece on informal security providers in Maiduguri. The IGC has a nice series on sustainable urbanization in developing countries: Cities as places to live and cities as places to innovate and work. Check out Just Urban Design: The Struggle for a Public City.
Nairobi: The River & the City.
Research corner
Belinda Archibong and Francis Annan’s paper is a must read: “Climate Change, Epidemics, and Inequality.” This is how to study the state. Jacob Lewis explains what drives support for separatism in Nigeria. Paul Friesen analyzes support for the ruling party in Zimbabwe.
This looks cool: African Activists in a Decolonising World: The Making of an Anticolonial Culture, 1952-1966. Get your copy of Ellen Lust’s Everyday Choices: The Role of Competing Authorities and Social Institutions in Politics and Development. Holly Ashford’s Development and Women’s Reproductive Health in Ghana, 1920-1982 is out soon.
Ghana’s economic challenges
Ghana’s finance minister apologizes for economic hardship, but fends off criticism. The country awaits an agreement with the IMF.
The week in development
Twitter employees in Ghana reject Elon Musk’s severance package, and the company will negotiate. Uganda is grappling with its largest Ebola outbreak in more than a decade. The importance of electricity. This is why we need to better understand the politics of internally displaced people. Sudan is facing a severe dengue fever outbreak. Somalis brace for famine. The passenger rail between eSwatini and Mozambique is restored. Who was the better colonizer?
Africa and the environment
The death of masses of fishes in Kenya’s Lake Victoria threaten thousands of livelihoods. West Africa’s oceans are at risk because lack of monitoring. COP 27 closes with a deal on damage and loss. Cotton exporter Benin tries local processing to curb emissions. Africa could prevent thousands of deaths by taking action on air pollution. You’ll rarely find a climate denier in Africa. Climate change made deadly floods in West Africa 80 times more likely. South Africa faces challenges in transition away from coal. Extreme heat will change us. Go inside the Saudi strategy to keep the world hooked on oil. The Red Sea’s coral reefs defy the climate change odds.
Daily life
My beautiful home. Nice artwork in the new international terminal at Lagos airport. Go slow, Lagos. Ghana sends 2000 supporters to Qatar to cheer on the Black Stars. The African roots of the banjo. A day at the beach in Mogadishu. A visit to Garowe, Somalia.
All the best,
Jeff and Phil