As the world went into unprecedented lockdown in February last year, scientists scrambled to determine what the impact of the vastly reduced traffic volumes, industrial activity, and electricity consumption would be on greenhouse gas emissions. But although COVID-19 drove down the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of Africa’s worst polluter – South African power utility Eskom […]
Africa’s opportunity to transform itself into a “cyber-continent”, bypassing capital-intensive legacy infrastructure and leaping straight into the fourth industrial revolution, has been boosted by the unusual digitalisation demands of the global pandemic – but this new world requires its own unique infrastructure, skills, services, investors and entrepreneurs.Digitalisation’s strongest suit is, as noted by Dr […]
Africa’s ‘lawless third’: duty of care Swathes of the continent are home to people whose efforts at self-rule or traditional ways of life have challenged state attempts to deal with COVID-19 The lack of access to healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic experienced by millions of Africans as a result of living in ungoverned, under-serviced, rebel-controlled, […]
The media: no place to hide Journalism is a high-risk job for African reporters, who are often not only undertrained and underpaid but also face jail, injury, even death A promising young journalist told me of covering a recent riot and tweeting an update on the action on his cell phone when he fortunately looked […]
Africa: an artificial patchwork? Understanding the dynamics of ethnic conflicts in Africa means appreciating the role of ethnic identity In 2011 Peter S. Larson, a professor at the University of Nagasaki, Japan, published an attempt to chart the interplay between ethnicity and African conflict. Larson used the 1959 map of 835 “ethnic regions” of Africa […]
Africa: the scourge of ethnicity Understanding ethnicity—inherited or imposed—can go a long way to ensure accurate coverage of conflict in Africa As a journalist I have covered a range of conflicts, some of which had a clearly ethnic dimension. But ethnicity is a multidimensional concept that blends race, colour, creed, class, clan, language, lifestyle, identity […]
The Rift: A New Africa Breaks Free by Alex Perry, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2017.
While new metropoles sprouting across China remain empty, those they’ve built in Angola are housing the African nation’s growing middle class China’s construction boom has seen spanking new “ghost cities” sprout up across China in an effort to boost GDP. And fears that it would also leave similar Chinese metropoles littered across Africa have been […]
Understanding the dynamics of ethnic conflicts in Africa means appreciating the role of ethnic identity In 2011 Peter S. Larson, a professor at the University of Nagasaki, Japan, published an attempt to chart the interplay between ethnicity and African conflict....
Accurate, accessible, and intelligible data is critical to inclusive development and governance in Africa, but the continent has long been riddled with “data deserts” where no sound, evidence-based policies can take root.
As the world went into unprecedented lockdown in February last year, scientists scrambled to determine what the impact of the vastly reduced traffic volumes, industrial activity, and electricity consumption would be on greenhouse gas emissions. But although COVID-19...
Africa's opportunity to transform itself into a "cyber-continent", bypassing capital-intensive legacy infrastructure and leaping straight into the fourth industrial revolution, has been boosted by the unusual digitalisation demands of the global pandemic – but...
Africa’s ‘lawless third’: duty of care Swathes of the continent are home to people whose efforts at self-rule or traditional ways of life have challenged state attempts to deal with COVID-19 The lack of access to healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic experienced by...
The media: no place to hide Journalism is a high-risk job for African reporters, who are often not only undertrained and underpaid but also face jail, injury, even death A promising young journalist told me of covering a recent riot and tweeting an update on the...
Africa: an artificial patchwork? Understanding the dynamics of ethnic conflicts in Africa means appreciating the role of ethnic identity In 2011 Peter S. Larson, a professor at the University of Nagasaki, Japan, published an attempt to chart the interplay between...
Africa: the scourge of ethnicity Understanding ethnicity—inherited or imposed—can go a long way to ensure accurate coverage of conflict in Africa As a journalist I have covered a range of conflicts, some of which had a clearly ethnic dimension. But ethnicity is a...
The Rift: A New Africa Breaks Free by Alex Perry, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2017.
While new metropoles sprouting across China remain empty, those they’ve built in Angola are housing the African nation’s growing middle class China’s construction boom has seen spanking new “ghost cities” sprout up across China in an effort to boost GDP. And fears...
Understanding the dynamics of ethnic conflicts in Africa means appreciating the role of ethnic identity In 2011 Peter S. Larson, a professor at the University of Nagasaki, Japan, published an attempt to chart the interplay between ethnicity and African conflict....
