How South Sudan’s peace deal between President Kiir and his deputy Machar sparked conflict in town spared by civil war
The remote county of Tambura, in the breadbasket state of Western Equatoria, went largely unscathed during five years of devastating conflict in South Sudan that killed almost 400,000 people. But the county that survived a civil war has fared less well in a time of peace, as a fragile 2018...
Coming to America II: Tales of broken dreams, despair and attempted suicide in US refugee centres
Between 2017 and 2020, however, the Trump administration slashed refugee admissions to historic lows and starved resettlement agencies of funding. Around 130 resettlement agency offices – or nearly 40 per cent of the total in communities across the US – closed their doors, and many others had to lay off...
Coming to America: The shattered dreams of Afghan refugees running away from despotic Taliban regime at home
As the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan late last summer, Qassim Rahimi packed the odds and ends of his life into bags and joined the crowds forming at the gates of Hamid Karzai International Airport in the capital, Kabul. Forty-eight hours later, the 33-year-old left his lifelong home behind in...
Voices from Africa: Sall says ‘Black Panther’ inspired integration of culture and indigenous knowledge in science
In this article of this eight-part series about the career experiences of African women scientists, Khady Sall explains how seeing the 2018 superhero film Black Panther contributed to her decision to return to her native Senegal and develop her career there. The film depicts an African nation, posing as a...
Analysis: Successes and apparent popularity of recent coups in Africa have set a precedent that may inspire copycats
On the evening of February 15, 2022, reports emerged that key police and military officials in Djibouti were put under house arrest, reportedly amid fears of a coup d’état. This was the latest in the string of successful and attempted coups in Africa – from Mali to Madagascar and Guinea...
Africa’s leading jailer and suppressor of journalists travels to Brussels for EU-Africa summit
Africa’s biggest jailer of journalists, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, will visit Brussels to attend the European Union – Africa summit from February 17-18, 2022. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has appealed to the European Union leaders and the Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo to speak out against...
Voices from Africa: Moruping tells fellow women to ask mentors specific questions, not use them as sounding boards
Pontsho Maruping, deputy managing director of operations and business processes at the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) in Cape Town, describes a career transition from mining to space, and how she juggles the expectations of male and female colleagues. I call myself a career nomad. I started out in...
Earth-like third planet spotted orbiting Sun’s closest neighbour that’s likely to ‘have oceans of liquid water’
Astronomers have discovered a third planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the star closest to the Sun. Called Proxima Centauri d, the newly spotted world is probably smaller than Earth, and could have oceans of liquid water. “It’s showing that the nearest star probably has a very rich planetary system,” says Guillem...
New milestone in medical research as scientists in the US use umbilical cord blood to treat HIV and leukemia
A woman of mixed race appears to be the third person ever to be cured of HIV, using a new transplant method involving umbilical cord blood that opens up the possibility of curing more people of diverse racial backgrounds than was previously possible, scientists announced on Tuesday. Cord blood is...
Survey points to new trends in Africa where political power is inherited, ‘winner’ answers to powerful overlords
West Africa’s latest successful coup, in Burkina Faso on January 24 2022, has renewed unease about coups “returning” and democracies “dying” in Africa. The recent attempt in Guinea-Bissau, too, recalled the first decades after independence, when coups were rampant. By 2012, there had been over 200 coups and attempted coups...
