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.
Cameroon's women call time on breast ironing
Amy Hall reports on a little-known tradition with devastating impacts on girls in African communities.
Country Profile: Mauritius
Contradictions and extremes on an island country 'invented by colonization'.
‘Concern for animal welfare is increasing in Africa’
Chris Grezo talks to a leading animal rights campaigner from Malawi.
Somali President: the world cannot bring us peace
Sally Healy speaks to Hassan Sheikh Mohamud about his hopes for security in Somalia, which must begin to 'address the bitter memories' of its past.
How Washington helped foster the Islamist uprising in Mali
As the French-led military operation begins, Jeremy Keenan reveals how the US and Algeria have been sponsoring terror in the Sahara.
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Meet Congolese youth activist Natasha Makengo
Amy Hall speaks to the 25-year-old activist, scientist and artist, who uses all three tools at every opportunity.
Why do some conflicts get more media coverage than others?
Nick Harvey considers the role – and the agenda – of the global media in making the news.
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Meles Zenawi - where did it all go wrong?
A profile of the former guerilla leader turned tyrant, Ethiopian Prime Minister Zenawi, who died today after 21 years in power.
A voice for the voiceless in DRC
In her third and final instalment from the Congo, Erin Byrnes talks to journalists championing untold stories, despite working in a conflict zone.
Rwanda’s Gacaca courts: a mixed legacy
The community courts set up to bring justice after the Rwandan genocide close this month. But how will they be remembered? Jean Kayigamba reports.
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BRICS challenge dollar hegemony
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa team up to resist Western financial domination, reports Lasanda Kurukulasuriya.
Country profile: Zambia
Mary Namakando digs out facts and ratings on one of Southern Africa's most politically stable countries and probes President Sata's grapple with corruption.
The dirt on Teodoro Obiang
Time to take aim at the tyrannical President of Equatorial Guinea in this month's 'Worldbeater'.
Are ordinary Tuaregs becoming Mali conflict scapegoats?
Nick Harvey and Julien Tremblin look at the plight of Tuareg refugees caught in the crossfire of a conflict that’s as devastating as it is complex.
Frontline Africans: migrants hit by Europe's economic decline
What can African migrant workers do when faced with rising unemployment and racism in Europe? Sarah Babiker reports from Spain and Argentina.
Counting kids in Sierra Leone
The country’s first headcount of street children is complete. Now the government must act, says Gabriella Jozwiak.
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Why we need imagination in medicine
People are not dying of HIV and TB because there is no cure but because medicine can be stubbornly inflexible, explains Anna Hughes.
The shadow world: corruption in the arms trade
Andrew Feinstein examines the corrupt networks of arms deals.
Burkina Faso
Until the beginning of this year, the West African nation seemed like an island of calm in a troubled region. Then everything changed...
Kenya
Thanks to Barack Obama and a piece of mobile technology, Kenya's reputation is now based on more than just safari parks, as Geoffrey Kamadi explains.
Surviving climate change
In many African societies seed preservation was once an almost sacred duty. Isaiah Esipisu explains why it is becoming vital again.
Deported: the man in the newspaper
John 'Bosco' Nyombi sought sanctuary in the West from persecution in Uganda – only to spend eight years struggling for his rights.
Let us not find revolutionaries where there are none
Kenyan journalist, Mukoma Wa Ngugi, makes a plea for a genuine people-based democratic movement in Kenya.
Burundi
A small landlocked state in central Africa, sandwiched between its vast neighbours Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi has suffered as much from ethnic conflict as its other (equally tiny) neighbour, Rwanda. Yet while the 1993 Rwandan genocide continues to commandeer international attention, Burundi’s travails tend to slip under the radar.
Gabon
Gabon is a good example of why judging how well a country is doing by _per-capita_ income is just useless. It is oil-rich and yet half the population lives below the poverty line. World Bank/IMF strictures are doing their part to help keep it that way.
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A tsunami of demolitions
Africa’s squatters are up against ruthless state power. *Andrew Meldrum* reports on Harare and beyond.
The Gambia
Recent visitors to The Gambia are likely to be struck by the huge numbers of smartly dressed schoolgirls chatting away happily on their way to or from school. They are beneficiaries of an ambitious government programme which provides free education for gir
Somalia
Somalia is the ultimate in ‘imagined communities’, the failed state whose fissiparous character is unique even in today’s splintered world. Situated in the dusty Horn of Africa, this is a country whose Transitional Federal Government (TFG) exists only cour
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Mswati III
'IT has been our advice to the King that he must concentrate on one thing at a time,' admitted a senior Prince close to King Mswati III of Swaziland. 'He must stop mixing family affairs with national issues because that's the thing that has caused him the stress.'
Western Sahara
The Government of Western Sahara operates not from its own capital city, L’ayoun, but from a small patch of desert over the border in Algeria.
