The Conversation Africa

In explaining the war on Ukraine, ideology matters as much as interests. This means that we need to factor ideology into our analysis if we want to gain a deeper understanding of interstate violent conflict. If we focus purely on the material interests of an aggressive state we land up with a lopsided picture of war. We view it simply as a continuation of politics – diplomacy has failed therefore the use of force is the only option.

Since March 2022, fighting has escalated in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) between the army and the rebel group March 23 Movement, more widely known as M23. The group allegedly attacked army positions near the border with Uganda and Rwanda. In addition, a UN helicopter crashed in the combat zone leaving eight peacekeepers dead.

On 8 March 2022, Ugandan politics was sent into a spin by 49 words tweeted by President Yoweri Museveni’s only son, Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba. The tweet announced Muhoozi’s retirement from the Ugandan People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), which he had formally served in since 1999. Since his most recent promotion in June 2021, he has served as the commander of the land forces. The position made him the third-highest ranking officer in the defence forces.

The election of Angolan President João Lourenço in 2017 raised hopes of a shift from the authoritarian and corrupt era of his predecessor. This was thanks to the new, more open and approachable style of governance he instituted in his first months in office. This included opening up the public media as well as symbolic gestures such as ending the practice of blocking off road traffic for the president’s motorcade to pass.

The threat of violent extremism across West Africa has been on the rise in recent times. Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa Province have been active in the Lake Chad Basin region. Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara and Ansarul Islam in the Sahel. The implications for the peace and security of the sub-region have never been more pronounced.

Nigerian artist and lecturer Dilomprizulike, who curated, among other things, the Junkyard Museum of Awkward Things in Lagos, wages a continuous battle on two fronts. First, as an easily misunderstood human being and then as an artist making perplexingly noncommercial art. The Alliance Francaise Lagos/Mike Adenuga Centre, is hosting a...

Recent decades have seen remarkable growth in astronomy on the African continent. Africa enjoys pristine dark skies and vast radio quiet zones, making it the ideal home for many advanced telescopes trained on our galaxy and beyond. For instance, Namibia hosts the High Energy Spectroscopic System (HESS), which is an...

Potatoes originated in South America, where they were domesticated about 8,000 years ago. The plants were eventually brought to Europe in the mid-1500s, from where they spread to the rest of the world. They have become a very important crop in East Africa, both as a food and economically. In...

The word “abortion” is used to describe two types of pregnancies that end before 20 weeks, which is now regarded as the age of viability of a pregnancy. Spontaneous abortion occurs without an intention by the woman to stop the pregnancy, it is pregnancy loss before 20 weeks of gestational age. Induced abortion is the deliberate termination of a pregnancy because it is unwanted.

The use of herbicides – substances that control unwanted plants – is on the rise across Africa. This trend has been referred to by some researchers as the “herbicide revolution”. This trend is driven by cheap herbicides flooding into the continent from Asia and global agrochemical companies discovering Africa’s emerging markets. Also, rural wages have risen due to rural-urban migration and structural transformation.

In April 2022, 70 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were reportedly detained and then deported by the Zimbabwe government. Once back in the DRC, their government rejected 15 of them, who were sent back to detention facilities in Harare. The incident raises legal questions around human rights and the obligations of states that are signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. Zimbabwe hosts 22,400 refugees and asylum seekers. Parvati Nair, a professor of migration studies, answers questions about the rights of refugees and the obligations of states.

Astronomers have revealed the first image of the black hole at the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way. The image was produced by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, an international team made up of over 300 scientists on five continents – including Africa. Black holes were predicted...

Inflation is a process of sustained increases in the general price level over a period of time, typically 12 months. Inflation can be calculated for a country, for specific regions in a country and for different income and demographic groups, for instance pensioners. These different calculations are important because the...

Kenya is one of 32 countries in Africa that criminalise homosexuality. People who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) are frequently stigmatised, shamed and assaulted. The hashtags calling for action against the murder of queer people – like the most recent #JusticeForSheila – continue to trend on social media. We asked gender studies professor Awino Okech to tell us about the state of homophobic violence against queer Kenyans – and what needs to be done about it.

“From today, I no longer want to be called your mother, if you don’t want to change you can leave my house and come back when you are a transformed person, when you are a man.” Chris (not his real name) a queer transgender person from Rwanda recalls the words of their angry mother. That was the last time Chris interacted with their mother. She chased Chris away and, from then on, they had to fend for themself.

Kenya is now the second biggest refugee hosting country in Africa. Of its over half a million refugees, over a thousand from neighbouring African states have sought asylum on the basis of persecution over their sexual orientation or gender identity. For instance, approximately 400 asylum claims by Ugandans were registered...

In December 2018, a leaked letter from the Kenyan auditor-general’s office sparked a rumour that Kenya had staked its bustling Mombasa Port as collateral for the Chinese-financed Standard Gauge Railway. Our new research shows why the collateral rumour is wrong. The former auditor-general, Edward Ouko, was completing the 2017/18...

On the morning of 5 September 2017, the inhabitants of Saint-Louis, a regional capital on Senegal’s northwest coast, woke to a strange scene. The statue of Louis Faidherbe that had formed the focal point of the Square Faidherbe since 1887 had fallen. The effigy of the 19th-century French general...

On the morning of 5 September 2017, the inhabitants of Saint-Louis, a regional capital on Senegal’s northwest coast, woke to a strange scene. The statue of Louis Faidherbe that had formed the focal point of the Square Faidherbe since 1887 had fallen. The effigy of the 19th-century French general...

Around the world, educational research has found that students’ achievement and experiences largely depend on which school they attend and the resources available to support learning. Educational policies mostly determine the distribution of resources to schools and a student’s choice of school could be limited by these policies.