The Netherlands has expelled Eritrea’s top diplomat after finding increasing evidence that it was forcing Eritreans who fled the country to pay a “diaspora tax” in order to gain services.
The lack of a comprehensive database on fishing vessels, their exact location, and if they were engaging in illicit activities is undermining the global efforts to curb illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, a new study says.
When Ethiopian prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn visits Egypt this week to discuss bilateral cooperation in sectors like health, education, and agriculture, one contentious issue will stand out: the completion of Africa’s largest dam.
Nairobi
The fallout from Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis is spiraling, leading to a refugee emergency, escalating tensions with neighboring nations, and threatening to put a dent in global cocoa production.
Defined by long delays and cancellations, limited connections, rickety planes, and dilapidated runways, flying across Africa can sometimes be quite inconvenient. The problem is also compounded by the restrictive regulations and protectionism that hinder intra-nation travel, leading African airlines to lose $800 million in 2016, according to the World Bank.
Angola’s president João Lourenço has sacked the son of former president José Eduardo dos Santos as the head of the country’s $5 billion sovereign wealth fund.
In its 2017 annual sustainability report, Kenya’s largest company Safaricom said the biggest challenge it confronted during the year was tackling “fake news.”
Africans are a jolly and optimistic bunch—and especially when it comes to perceptions about the future.
The Maekelawi detention center in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, has a reputation as a site for the detention, investigation, and abuse of protesters and opposition politicians. For three months in 2014, it was blogger and human rights activist Atnaf Berhane’s home. Charged with terrorism for his critical writing and reporting on the government, Berhane says he was kept in a dark cell with no sunlight and questioned up to eight hours a day.
Leave, or go to prison: That’s the ultimatum Israel has proposed giving African migrants who illegally entered the country and who do not have asylum applications pending.
For many African countries, 2017 was the beginning of a new era. Long-term rulers departed in Zimbabwe, Angola, and the Gambia; internal dissent, economic challenges, and increasing unemployment rates pressured many countries including Ethiopia and Nigeria; and a divided ruling party in South Africa showed an electorate disenchanted with liberation movements.
The role of aid in Africa has been a controversial issue over the years, with economists like Dambisa Moyo even arguing against it, due to questions surfacing around its effectiveness in economic growth and poverty reduction.
The joy of sharing food with friends and loved ones lies at the heart of the festive season. A longstanding Somali tradition can help guests give back.
Ethiopia is legendary for its medieval, rock-hewn churches, the cruciform and colorful frescoes of which have attracted tourists from across the world. The ancient kingdom of Abyssinia, which we now know as modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea, was probably the site of the first Christian nation, and the churches still serve as religious sanctuaries and draw pilgrims celebrating the Ethiopian Christian calendar.
Photography gives us a peek into distant events—inextricably drawing us together, and allowing us to celebrate our commonalities and appreciate our differences. In these selected photos from 2017, we see this unifying, and sometimes tragic, features represented across Africa. They captured some of the biggest stories of the year. Sometimes the photos were the story.
This year marked a crucial turning point for digital progress and internet freedom in Africa. Here are the big trends that shaped the digital space in 2017, and what they tell us about what to expect in 2018.
Mobile operators and electronic payment firms are focusing on the hundreds of thousands of small businesses in Kenya by introducing new products specifically aimed at paying for low-value card transactions with ease, speed, and convenience.
Dozens of people were killed in Ethiopia in clashes between two of the countries largest ethnic communities—pointing to the increasing violence and internal problems facing the Horn of Africa nation.
It’s been two months since a deadly blast ripped through a busy intersection in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, killing more than 500 people and injuring over 300. The Oct. 14 truck bombing, the deadliest attack in Somalia’s history, turned buildings into heaps of debris and death, and left Somalis across the world stunned and frustrated.
Calestous Juma, the towering Kenyan scholar of technology and development, died on Friday (Dec. 15) at the age of 64 in Boston, Massachusetts.
Calestous Juma, the luminary Kenyan scholar who championed the cause of innovation and technology in transforming African countries, and whose books and papers about the environment, biotechnology, education, artificial intelligence, and the politics of land in Africa made him a towering figure both in the continent and across the world, has died. He was 64.
Ethiopia’s government has blocked the internet following days of protests and unease that resulted in deaths and injuries in universities and towns across the East African nation.
Ethiopia’s government has been doubling down on its efforts to surveil its critics, bringing the long arm of the state into the foreground and its resolve to sabotage opposition figures and media outlets.
