This Week in Africa

March 6, 2026

Happy birthday, Ghana! Tune in today to this great virtual event: “Ghana in Uncertain Times: Independence, Crisis, and Possibility.” Here is the week in Africa:

Quote of the week

“I just thought that he is so uninformed, truly uninformed. I realized that he is looking at South Africa through a completely, sort of, foggy lens, without realizing the real, real harm that apartheid did. In my view, he was just dismissive.” -- Cyril Ramaphosa on President Trump

Impact of Iran crisis

How will the Iran crisis affect Africa? The Middle East crisis risks upending Gulf-Africa ties. The oil shock is risking Kenya’s economic revival. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is already affecting African states.

Escalating tension in Ethiopia

Ethiopia wants access to the Red Sea, and it might lead them to war. Killings in Oromia and elsewhere lead to escalating tension across Ethiopia. The country’s “smaller wars” are also devastating local communities. Ethiopia’s media is in crisis mode. This is what is behind the growing risk of war. The Red Sea and the Horn of Africa is at the center of global security.

Yet Ken Opalo is right: Conflict in the Horn is not inevitable.

Insecurity in the Sahel

West African nations have agreed to activate a regional standby force to combat cross-border violence by armed groups. The Sahel’s most acute crisis is unfolding in Burkina Faso. Analysts worry that the deaths of Ghanaian truck drivers in Burkina Faso is a threat to the country that violence might be spreading south. Nigeria’s military has failed to prevent attacks and abductions within its own borders. Ornella Moderan examines virility politics in the Sahel. And Alex Thurston provides these helpful links to better understand the situation.

Struggle for rights and freedom

Kristof Titeca explains how Joseph Kony has evaded capture for years. Learn more about the diaspora and polarization in Sudan’s war. This is why Senegal’s democracy survived. Archaeology offers a deeper view of colonialism in Africa. It is a long road to a Western Sahara resolution.

This is a must read: homosexuality and the law in Senegal.

Africa’s rapid urbanization

Cities have moved to the center of migration governance. Khartoum seeks normalcy as fighting goes on around it. A take on the World Urbanization Prospects 2025. South Africa’s minibus taxi industry runs on social bonds. Sustainable green spaces matter for African cities. Diana Mitlin argues that reform coalitions can bridge the gap between community and academia. Learn more about the matatu economy. Can Kampala modernize without leaving the poor behind? Is urban fragility the missing link in donor policies and practices?

Make sure to read Hakeem Bishi’s article on crony planning and the limits of the public-private partnership model in market redevelopment in Lagos, Nigeria. Smith Ouma and Malachi Odongo examine the political economy of land data assemblages in informal settlements. The Atlas of Uncertainty remaps migration in urban Africa. This is a cool special issue on infrastructuring and infrastructural labor. This is fascinating: South Africans are building urban settlements on traditional authority land. Peter Lockwood’s book examines the shadow of Nairobi’s urban expansion. This article examines homemaking and homelessness in Lagos. This article examines Addis Ababa’s mass housing program on the urban periphery. Two sides of a Zimbabwean border town. On desirous Pentecostalism in African cities.

Read this: Judd Devermont’s honest account of trying to spur an urbanization agenda.

Research corner

Emmanuel Akyeampong examines emotions in the life and political career of Kwame Nkrumah. Jason Stearns and Filip Reyntjens examine subnational ethnic conflict in the Great Lakes Region. Soeren Henn and James Robinson argue that political decentralization in pre-colonial Africa was by design, and is a sign of success. This reminds me of one of my favorite pieces by Michael Schatzberg: “Transformation and Struggle: Space in Africa.”

Moussa Koné, Thomas Bassett, and William Munro outline distributive governance and persistent inequalities in the cashew value chain of Cote d’Ivoire. Ivor Chipkin and Jelena Vidojević examine the making and unmaking of South Africa’s power elite under Zuma. Check out Yusra Abdullahi’s chapter on Nkrumah, Somalia, and the ebb and flow of Pan-Africanism between 1960-66 (and the whole book on global regionalism). I love Cristiano Lanzano’s work: “‘With gold it’s never over’: Remainders and the moral economy of artisanal mining in Burkina Faso.” Wars over checkpoints?

John Aerni-Flessner’s White Gold and Thirsty Communities: The Cold War, Apartheid, and the Lesotho Highlands Water Project looks great. Make sure to check out Sarah Lockwood’s Making Protest: The Role of Protest Brokers in South Africa’s Urban Landscape.

On ethnography and ethnographic sensibility in political science.

The week in development

Learn more about the CDC funding of a troubling Hepatitis B vaccine study in Guinea-Bissau. This article measures global human accessibility to essential daily necessities and services. More on How Africa Works in Rwanda. Sudan’s industry has lost an estimated $58 billion because of the war. Lesley Anne Warner argues that congress should codify Trump’s commercial diplomacy in Africa. Fatoumatah Bah argues that progress is exhausting in Guinea-Bissau.

Africa and the environment

Heavy rains in northern Zambia wash away a bridge on an important copper trade route. Africa’s record solar buildout includes tiny rural rooftops. Johannesburg’s water crisis clouds Africa’s bold new water vision. Climate shocks threaten malaria control efforts. How to build carbon removal ecosystems in the global south. 3D printed weather station initiative enhances local monitoring in southern Africa. Green Rising Challenge amplifies youth-led climate action in South Africa. Investing in Somalia’s climate resilience now will create jobs and resilient livelihoods in the future. Science and policy experts unite to accelerate climate and health solutions. South Africa’s HEX battery energy storage system is delivering energy solutions that Africa can scale. Towards climate-resilient shea communities in Togo and Burkina Faso.

Daily life

Aliko Dangote wants to rescue Nigeria. Feyi Fawehinmi disagrees. I would love to go to the Pan-African Biennale. Eru stew: Transforming the bitter into sweet.

In the name of Africa.

All the best,

Jeff and Phil