Ukraine war: Tale of two atrocities – international relations and barbarity of racism aimed at Africans
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a tale of two atrocities: One engages the attention of the world as an international relations priority, the other, the barbarity of racism, receives little official acknowledgement. This unaddressed crime involves African students in Ukraine, and the anti-Black hate they have faced trying to flee...
Second coming: New Somalia president Mohamud returns to power, but has to grapple with terrorism
Last Sunday, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud made history as the first person to be elected president twice in Somalia’s nascent democracy after a landslide victory against the incumbent Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, aka Farmaajo. In a contest of more than 36 candidates, both men made it to the third round of what...
Letter from Zimbabwe: Political change in a country where the military is so embedded in the state is no easy matter
I went home to Zimbabwe in December 2021 after over a year as a senior aid worker in Afghanistan, a period of intense turmoil and uncertainty, probably one of the most challenging assignments of my career. Yet Zimbabwe, my country, is also stuck in a political and economic crisis, and...
Ties that bind us: After Russia attacked Ukraine, weak links in finance and supply chains were easily weaponised
When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, nobody expected that the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada and other nations would isolate Russia from the global economy in retaliation. Instead of limited and largely symbolic sanctions, which were all Russia faced when it annexed Crimea and...
Public fetes for Uganda President Museveni’s son send clearest signal he’s preparing to succeed his father
Public fetes celebrating the son of Uganda’s leader are raising concern that he is aiming for the presidency after years of apparently being groomed to succeed his father, President Yoweri Museveni, who has held power since 1986. Three events marking Lt-Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s 48th birthday have been held in recent...
East African Community intervention in DRC raises fears over ‘legitimate and illicit’ interests of Congo’s neighbours to the east
Will the East African Community’s (EAC) gambit to try to bring peace to the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s chronically turbulent east succeed where others have failed? After a false start the week before, last week representatives of some 23 of the eastern DRC’s countless armed rebel groups concluded five...
Doubts persist about Somali MPs’ readiness to elect new government despite picking a presidential election office
Somalia is expected to have a new president on May 15 – ten days after 34 members of the upper and lower houses of Parliament met in the capital Mogadishu to set the date for the process that has been delayed for almost two years. The unorthodox method of choosing...
Muzzling the messenger: Why suppression of freedom of expression persists in Sub-Saharan Africa
Mancho Bibixy was pulled from his hideout in Bamenda, Cameroon, in the dead of night on January 17, 2017. In the years since the elite commandos of the Cameroon army dragged the Abakwa FM anchor away, his fiancée and son have said they lost all hope of seeing him regain...
After decades in the grip of dictatorship, The Gambia is now at the deep end of insecurity and violent crime
After two decades of dictatorship, The Gambia embraced democracy with President Adama Barrow’s 2016 election victory. But as is often the case in transitions from autocracy to democracy, stability remains elusive and economic growth insufficient to alleviate structural problems like high unemployment. Barrow was re-elected in December 2021, and a...
Richard Branson Musings: How can parents help dyslexic children thrive, and schools better support dyslexic students?
It has been nothing short of amazing to see the response from our campaign with Made By Dyslexia and LinkedIn to add ‘Dyslexic Thinking’ as a recognised skill on the platform. For my newsletter this month, I invited people to ask me any questions they have about dyslexia, and to...
