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Cambridge Analytica – the disbanded data analytics company that allegedly used its software to create and disseminate hateful and inciting messages – in relation to Trump and Brexit, the company also played a nefarious role disseminating fake news in Africa. In Nigeria, it tried to influence the 2015 election

5 Nov 2018 3 minute read

This article is almost two years old.

Fake news is not just a Western problem

Misinformation is rife, but it’s nothing new, writes Nanjala Nyabola.

Dr Asamte Fidel is one of the local Sierra Leonean doctors working at Connaught Hospital. The hospital was on the frontline of the Ebola epidemic when it hit in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Credit: Simon Davis/DFiD

16 Jun 2020 7 minute read

First Ebola, then Covid-19

Four years ago, New Internationalist travelled to West Africa to hear the stories of communities in recovery from the deadly...

9 Jun 2020 3 minute read

The two Yewandes of Jo’burg

Yewande Omotoso’s namesake leads her down some unusual pathways.

Child's play: A boy jumps across boats wedged on a mixture of crude oil, water and sand, near Bojo in the Niger Delta. Oil production is a major pollutant in the area. Petterik Wiggers/Panos

11 Jun 2020 5 minute read

Fed up with the fumes

Dirty air in Nigeria takes a huge toll on lives and livelihoods. But civil society is not short of ideas for change, as...

9 Jun 2020 4 minute read

Spotlight: Maaza Mengiste

Maaza Mengiste talks to Subi Shah about the women who fought Mussolini in Ethiopia.

Nigeria's security forces have long been accused of brutality, harassment, extorting citizens and locking them up if they are unable to pay.

1 Jun 2020 4 minute read

The fight to free Nigeria’s prisoners

Two-thirds of the country’s inmates haven’t even been on trial yet. Nosmot Gbadamosi speaks to an all-woman...

Senegal's President Macky Sall addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., September 24, 2019. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

25 May 2020 3 minute read

Who are you calling ‘international community’?

When did the ‘international community’ become a synonym for the West, asks Nanjala Nyabola?

16 Apr 2020 3 minute read

Race and the city

Yewande Omotoso reflects on why no-nonsense Johannesburg is the place that suits her best.

While homosexuality is not illegal in Equatorial Guinea, neither is homophobia, creating a legal vacuum.

17 Feb 2020 21 minute read

‘I didn’t want to be a mother’

Trifonia Melibea Obono records the unheard stories of queer women living in the West African state of...

DFID and the UK parliament should – at the very least – insist that investments of the kind the summit is promoting – especially those funded through ODA – are measured against a rigorous ‘development impact’ framework; that they demonstrably tackle poverty, inequality and the climate crisis, and that the money could not be spent better.

18 Jan 2020 4 minute read

For-profit investments are not ‘development’

The British government plans to divert taxpayers’ money into private hands – and away from the world’s poorest, warns Labour...

African National Congress (ANC) election posters are seen on street poles in Alexandra township, in Johannesburg, South Africa, April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

13 Jan 2020 3 minute read

Letter from Johannesburg

Yewande Omotoso moves through the unknowable city, looking and listening.

A guard at the Mombasa terminus of the Chinese-financed SGR railway. Saturday is one of the busiest times on the line, as Kenyans travel from Nairobi to the coast to visit family.

25 Nov 2019 6 minute read

The Beijing connection

Christine Mungai reflects on the past, present and future of the relationship between China and the African...

25 Sep 2019 6 minute read

How to fight illegal fishing

Can fishers, coastguards and marine activists see off the thieves from powerful nations plundering the seas of West Africa...

11 Aug 2019 1 minute read

Sierra Leone’s fight against malaria

In a series of web documentaries, Sierra Leonean citizen reporters lay bare the devastating impacts of malaria.

23 Jul 2019 3 minute read

On Hodan Nalayeh (1976 – 2019)

Nalayeh, founder of Integration TV, was killed by al-Shabaab militants on 12 July.

4 Jul 2019 5 minute read

This article is more than one year old.

Protecting the ‘lungs of West Africa’

Palm-oil corporations are threatening the rich rainforests Liberians depend on. Veronique Mistiaen hears...

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