A Focus on the Middle Class in Luanda
Angola has changed tremendously since the end of its civil war in 2002. The war lasted almost four decades and decimated a country that had received little development support under Portuguese colonisation. In her new book, “From Water to Wine: Becoming Middle Class in Angola”, anthropologist Jess Auerbach focuses on everyday success rather than systematic […]
The Somali Women Who Have Defied Societal Norms
“We cannot openly say we are going to play. We put our playing clothes and shoes in school bags and carry them that way to the field and we pretend we are going to school or university,” said Fardawsa Omar Ahmed, a university graduate who also plays volleyball and football. Her family used to discourage […]
Nigeria Wins Major Oil Deal Battle
Nigeria won a long-running arbitration battle over an oil field, avoiding the award of $1.5 billion in damages. A tribunal at the Washington D.C.-based International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes dismissed claims filed by the family of a deceased Italian businessman, Vittorio Fabbri, which alleged that Nigeria‘s government helped their father’s employee illegally seize […]
Tension a Recurring Theme for South Sudan
Leaders of a group of protesters in Sudan’s Red Sea state that had blocked the main road linking Khartoum to oil facilities in Port Sudan town for two straight days called off the protest on Wednesday. The protest leaders released a statement Tuesday saying all roads, oil facilities and ports would be reopened after Sudan’s […]
Applying Tech has Turned Africa’s Motor Industry
African startups that modernise the very traditional automotive industry on the continent can be game changers and have the potential to be among the continent’s best-performing companies. That is according to Etop Ikpe, the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Cars45 and the founder of Autochek, a newly-founded Nigerian startup aiming to build digital solutions […]
DeShuna Spencer’s Frustration at the Lack of Black Content On-screen Spurred her to Create
So she created a streaming video app for Black films and television from around the world. KweliTV now has nearly 36,000 users and aims to distribute stories centered on Black characters and experiences not typically portrayed in mainstream media. The streaming app is available on platforms including Amazon Fire, Roku and Apple TV. Viewers can […]
Child Labour a Major Hurdle in the Cocoa Industry
Police have rescued 11 children and two teenagers working on cocoa plantations in southwestern Ivory Coast and arrested three farmers on suspicion of people trafficking. Child labor increased in the world’s top cocoa producer during the coronavirus lockdown, according to a report in June by the Swiss-based International Cocoa Initiative (ICI). The children were shelling cocoa […]
Tragic Teen Murder Raises Alarm in Algeria
Protests have been held in several cities in Algeria to demand more action to stop violence against women following the rape and murder of a teenager. In Algiers and Oran, demonstrators staged sit-ins and brandished pictures of 19-year-old Chaima, whose burnt body was found at a deserted petrol station last week. Investigators said her body […]
How to Prevent Economic Catastrophes in Times of Crisis
Most governments around the world have been failing for decades to implement the health, tax and labour policies that would reduce the gap between the rich and the poor and make economies more resilient to shocks such as COVID-19, a new Oxfam report has found. Analysis from Oxfam and Development Finance International (DFI) published on […]
Hard Lessons as Schools in Africa Struggle to Return to Learning
Only one in three countries in west and central Africa have reopened their schools, leaving children at risk of child marriage, early pregnancy and recruitment by local armed groups, Unicef has warned. Six months after schools across the region closed under lockdown measures, just seven out of 24 countries – Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, […]
