insert_link Africa Niger has cut military ties with the US: why this is bad for the Sahel’s security By Olayinka Ajala, Leeds Beckett University Niger – a landlocked country of 25 million people in one of the most unstable parts of the world – recently announced it was suspending military cooperation with the United States. For over a decade, Niger has been one of America’s most reliable allies in the Sahel. The Sahel region, which stretches across Africa from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, is […] todayMarch 20, 2024 15
insert_link Africa Pro basketball teams shine at the NBA-backed BAL Kalahari Conference By bird story agency South Africa's SunBet Arena in Pretoria successfully concluded the group stage matches of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) on Sunday (March 17) as the inaugural Kalahari Conference ignited fierce competition and provided electrifying hoop action. Despite Burundi's club Dynamo withdrawing from the competition, other conference matches went on as planned, with Morocco’s Fath Union Sport de Rabat emerging at the top of the conference, […] todayMarch 19, 2024 10
insert_link Africa Press freedom in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda: what journalists have to say about doing their jobs By Karen McIntyre, Virginia Commonwealth University and Meghan Sobel Cohen, Regis University A majority of the world’s population has experienced a decline in press freedom in recent years, according to a UN report. In east Africa, the results are mixed and debatable. In Rwanda, both international press freedom rankings and journalists on the ground say press freedom has increased over the past 10 years. In neighbouring Uganda, both […] todayMarch 19, 2024 6
insert_link Africa New ecoregion proposed for Southern Africa’s threatened ‘sky islands’ By Ryan Truscott There is an “inland archipelago” of mountains stretching across southern Malawi and northern Mozambique — a chain of hard granite inselbergs lifted high above the surrounding landscape as it weathered down over millions of years. These “sky islands”, as they’re also known, are topped with high-altitude grasslands and evergreen forests and watered by cool moist winds from the Indian Ocean to the east. A group […] todayMarch 18, 2024 36
insert_link Africa IOC Young Leaders: Ouname Mhotsha is inspiring the next generation of sportswomen in Africa As one of the few girls growing up in the world of African golf, Ouname Mhotsha would have liked to have female peers and mentors through her early career. Now, thanks to the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s Young Leaders programme, Ouname is launching the Thanya Monana Projects, aiming to give young girls the opportunity and support needed to flourish in golf. Ouname grew up in Botswana in a sports-loving family who were […] todayMarch 18, 2024 10
insert_link Africa 2024 Senegal election crisis points to deeper issues with Macky Sall and his preferred successor By Amy Niang, Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa The botched attempt by Senegalese president Macky Sall to postpone the presidential election has stirred unnecessary tension in an already strained electoral process. The move reflected deeper governance problems in the country. Sall’s decree, subsequently annulled by the Constitutional Council, was the latest in a range of government interventions that exceeded the scope of […] todayMarch 18, 2024 7
insert_link Africa Cameroon’s rebels may not achieve their goal of creating the Ambazonian state – but they’re still a threat to stability By Manu Lekunze, University of Aberdeen Cameroon’s separatist insurgency is an armed conflict in the country’s North West (NW) and South West (SW) regions that began in 2017. It pits government forces against several non-state armed groups, locally known as “Amba rebels”. The rebels seek to create a state called Ambazonia out of Cameroon’s English-speaking regions. The conflict has killed over 6,000 people and displaced 765,000. Over […] todayMarch 18, 2024 3
insert_link Africa Undersea cables for Africa’s internet retrace history and leave digital gaps as they connect continents By Jess Auerbach Jahajeeah, University of Cape Town Large parts of west and central Africa, as well as some countries in the south of the continent, were left without internet services on 14 March because of failures on four of the fibre optic cables that run below the world’s oceans. Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Ghana, Burkina Faso and South Africa were among the worst affected. By midday […] todayMarch 18, 2024 7
insert_link Africa Niger’s Junta Revokes Military Accord with US, Bans Presence of US Defense Personnel Niger's ruling junta, as announced by spokesperson Colonel Amadou Abdramane, has revoked a military accord allowing military personnel and civilian staff from the U.S. Department of Defense on its soil with immediate effect. According to Reuters, this decision comes after a visit by U.S. officials, led by Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee and including General Michael Langley, commander of the U.S. Africa Command, earlier in the […] todayMarch 18, 2024 10
