Sub-Saharan Africa
While maintaining a strong awareness of historical contexts, our coverage of Sub-Saharan Africa aims to comprehensively address many of the most pressing challenges facing the region today.
From LGBTQI+ rights in Uganda to the economic situation in Zambia, we aim to provide nuanced and insightful analysis. In our archives, you will also find profiles of individual countries located within the region where you can learn more about colonial legacies, climate breakdown and demographics.
Carbon credits are dispossessing African communities
Instead of cutting their emissions, big polluters are exploiting the continent’s forests.
Justice from the King?
Ahead of a royal visit, communities violently evicted by colonial era settlers are calling for justice. Anthony Lang’at reports.
Africa’s military coups are climate coups
Abdoulie Ceesay, Gambian representative to COP28, argues that the West must take climate action – not militarization.
How Rhodes Must Fall amplified calls to decolonize
Musawenkosi Cabe speaks to activists who were part of the Rhodes Must Fall push to decolonize universities and challenge white supremacy.
Spotlight: Roger Ballen’s world of contrasts
Subi Shah talks humanity, power and expression with Johannesburg-based artist Roger Ballen.
Africa deals with the ripple effects of Russia’s war in Ukraine
Can the quest for peace in Europe bring calm at home? Rosebell Kagumire asks.
A new story for Kenya’s media
A new Kenyan media initiative is using live performance to break free of colonial industry norms, Patrick Gathara reports.
Vaccines alone won’t stop malaria
Malaria vaccines are welcome, but they won’t be enough to stop its disease, argues Rosebell Kagumire.
The Ogiek won reparations, now they want results
One year after a court ruling, the Ogiek are still waiting for reparations. Amy Hall reports on a case that could change the lives of Indigenous people across the region.
Choose your scapegoat
As Uganda passes its anti-gay law, Rosebell Kagumire decries the way faltering governments make scapegoats of their most marginalized citizens.
Baaba Maal’s impact extends far beyond music
Senegalese singer-songwriter Baaba Maal speaks to Graeme Green about music making a difference.
Africa is beginning to hold social media companies to account
A court case shows the continent’s demand for social media companies to be accountable for their impact offline, columnist Resebell Kagumire writes.
Tax Justice Network Africa's historic win
Could a Kenyan court case point the way towards a more just tax system? Amy Hall investigates.
The making of tax haven Mauritius
Naomi Fowler of Taxcast investigates the making of a tax haven that's been hurting Indians and Africans for years.
Structural adjustment 2.0
Debt crises are back with a vengeance as the dollar goes from strength to strength and interest rates rise. As the International Monetary Fund keeps pushing austerity, Zambian journalist Zanji Valerie Sinkala explores whether that’s really a solution to her country’s economic woes.
#EndSARS: Remembering a massacre
Two years on from the Lekki toll gate shooting, Obiora Ikoku, reflects on the legacy of Nigeria’s youth-led movement against police brutality and speaks to survivors about their quest for justice.
Spotlight: The Critics
Starting from humble DIY beginnings, Nigerian special effects posse The Critics are making waves. By Subi Shah.
Country profile: Angola
Joana Ramiro summarizes the Southern African nation’s recent history of ‘European encroachment and African reinvention’.
Conservation from behind the lens
Shadrack Omuka meets the Maasai women using photography as a way to preserve Kenya's Loita forest.
The interview: Ndongo Samba Sylla
Senegalese development economist Ndongo Samba Sylla speaks to Hazel Healy about why he thinks ‘neo-colonialism’ is an outdated term.
Cut and run
Transnational oil companies are looking to leave the Niger Delta without cleaning up their mess. Ken Henshaw reports.
The war in Ukraine has hit Africa’s food security
Russia’s invasion has triggered cost rises and staple shortages. Ugochi Anyaka-Oluigbo examines the crisis faced by low-income countries.
Country profile: Nigeria
Almost half of Nigerians want to move abroad in the next five years, Nosmot Gbadamosi writes, and the country’s population is expected to surpass that of the US by 2050.
Stolen treasures
Taken during a violent British raid, the Benin bronzes have sat in Western museums and private collections for over a century. Kieron Monks reports on Nigeria’s battle to get them back and what it means for the wider push to return works robbed from Africa.
‘We will oppose it until the end of our lives’
Shadrack Omuka reports from Kenya’s Arabuko Sokoke forest on the threat posed to East Africa’s largest coastal forest from titanium mining.
From fear to romance in Nairobi’s parks
Nanjala Nyabola on how Nairobi’s young lovers have claimed the city’s public spaces.
VIDEO: ‘It’s a battle to survive’
An intimate 7-minute video portrait shares a stonecutter’s family struggling with hunger in Sierra Leone.
Saving the Wild Coast from Big Oil
Mike Loewe reports from South Africa on the community fighting to stop Shell from exploration along its wildlife-rich shores.
Spotlight: DJ Switch
DJ Switch, a 13-year-old campaigner for children’s rights and all-round powerhouse, talks with Subi Shah.
The COP26 deforestation pledge alone won’t save the Congo Basin
The recent anti-deforestation pledge at the UN climate talks is a welcome announcement, but to protect the ‘lungs of Africa’ it must go further, writes Camilla Barungi.
1980s throw-back
Multiple coups, a global virus and democracy on the ropes in many parts of the world. Nanjala Nyabola asks, have we gone back to the 1980s?
Let the water flow
Could solar-powered desalination help boost drinking water supplies in Kenya and beyond? Anthony Langat reports.
Eritrea: how did we get here?
A one-party political system, mass disappearances and a total ban on non-state media – Alex Jackson of Amnesty explains how the anti-colonial promise of Eritrea turned into one of the largest producers of refugees worldwide.
Suspending pandemic reality
Exasperated at politicians, Nanjala Nyabola reflects on the disastrous consequences of poor leadership in a pandemic.
