Ethiopia conflict: Experts want AU, regional bodies and Kenya to capitalise on ‘humanitarian truce’ to strike peace deal
After almost two years of conflict between the federal government and Tigrayan forces, Ethiopia seems to have decided to resolve its most devastating militarised conflict peacefully. On March 24, the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali declared a humanitarian truce “to facilitate a free flow of emergency humanitarian aid...
America accuses Russia of planning to vend contraband Ukrainian wheat to 14 African countries
American diplomats have alerted 14 countries, most in Africa, that Russian ships filled with stolen Ukrainian grain could be headed their way, posing a dilemma to countries facing dire food shortages. Russia has bombed, blockaded and plundered the grain production capacity of Ukraine, which accounts for one-tenth of global wheat...
Parcelling TV content: Like any business plan, ‘sachetisation’ doesn’t guarantee success, survival or growth
What do we learn from football viewing centres? It is a perfect example of sachetisation, a business concept that has taken Africa by storm and making access to information easier and cheaper. For a Nigerian football fan to diligently watch their team play every week, they need to be able...
How African media giants are adopting ‘sachetisation’ to survive in brutally competitive market
How do you price media products in a market where food is the biggest competitor for every dollar? In Nigeria, for instance, food expenditure accounts for nearly 60 cents out of every dollar spent. In Kenya, it’s a little over 52 cents. In Cameroon, it’s almost 46 cents. These three...
Big interview: Ukraine President Zelensky says sanctions against Russia will be effective if applied uniformly
In this wide-ranging interview, which has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Big Tech to do more to pull out of Russia, praised Elon Musk’s Starlink and explained why modern leaders have to appeal to the distracted social media generation. “We just live...
Embattled President Zelensky of Ukraine devolves into war chaos and creation of ‘IT Army’ to repulse Russia
Ever since Russian forces started their all-out invasion in February, Ukraine has been hailed as an exemplar of how to defend against violent tyranny on the 21st-century battlefield. The country spun up an “IT Army” of volunteer hackers to take down Russian websites, used the Starlink satellite internet system to...
‘Great resignation’ hits academia following wave of departures by mid-career scientists at leading universities
On March 4, Christopher Jackson tweeted that he was leaving the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom to work at Jacobs, a scientific-consulting firm with headquarters in Dallas, Texas, USA. Jackson, a prominent geoscientist, is part of a growing wave of researchers using the #leavingacademia hashtag when announcing their...
Standard gauge railways: How theft of Kenya Railways prime land began, then fuelled by senior government officials
An attempt by two influential cabinet ministers in former President Mwai Kibaki and their sisters to acquire and sell houses belonging to the Kenya Railways Corporation in Nairobi’s Kileleshwa upmarket neighbourhood highlights the manner in which the struggling state corporation was bled dry by ruthless government functionaries and the relatives....
Trump’s anarchic White House: Former president said something to the effect ‘maybe VP Pence should be hanged’
Shortly after hundreds of rioters at the Capitol started chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” on January 6, 2021, the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, left the dining room off the Oval Office, walked into his own office and told colleagues that President Donald J. Trump was complaining that the...
Fears of violence in DR Congo rise as Kabila announces intention take back power from President Tshisekedi
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) presidential election is over a year away, but political tensions are escalating in the vast and volatile country as candidates line up and fears grow the vote will be fraudulent. The fears have been fed further by recent announcement that immediate former President Joseph...
