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Dire: An Amazigh woman looks after sheep near Amellagou village in the blistering desert of Morocco, where Morocco’s last nomads live. They say their lifestyle has become impossible to sustain because climate change brings ever more intense droughts. Photo: Fadel Senna/ Getty Images
AFRICAN COUNTRIES

Global pact needed to reset the climate finance system

The climate-vulnerable island of Barbados has come up with an initiative to do this very thing

  • Ozayr Patel
4 min read
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa prepares to leave the State House to give his first inaugural address at the parliament in Harare, September 18, 2018. (Photo by Jekesai Njikizana/AFP)
ABIY AHMED

State of democracy in Africa: Changing leaders doesn’t change politics

The Bertelsmann Transformation Index Africa Report 2020, A Changing of the Guards or A Change of Systems?, suggests that we should be cautious about the prospects for rapid…

  • Nic Cheeseman
6 min read
(John McCann/M&G)
AFRICAN COUNTRIES

Five lessons on reopening SA’s schools

COMMENT As the department of basic education struggles with when and how to reopen schools, we must remember that most of the world is equally at a loss. Almost all children in…

  • David Jeffery
  • Shrochis Karki
4 min read
Harmless
AFRICAN COUNTRIES

Southern Africa’s cannabis industry offers opportunity for open-minded investors

The stigma around the plant needs to be addressed and citizens involved in new policies and processes in order for the market to change

  • James Maposa
6 min read
South Sudan’s international airport has implemented more rigorous health screenings after the World Health Organisation declared the novel coronavirus a global health emergency on January 30, 2020. (Alex McBride/AFP)
AFRICAN COUNTRIES

Debunking 9 popular myths doing the rounds in Africa about the coronavirus

There is still a great deal that’s not known about SARS-CoV-2. This limited scientific information has contributed to a slew of myths and misconceptions. Some claims being made…

  • Neelaveni Padayachee
  • Lisa Claire du Toit
6 min read
Despite mounting allegations of human rights abuse, Museveni has a close ally in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A police officer beats a female orange vendor on a street in Kampala, Uganda, on March 26, 2020, after Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni directed the public to stay home for 32 days starting March 22, 2020 to curb the spread of the coronavirus. (Photo by Badru Katumba / AFP)
AFRICAN COUNTRIES

The time to act is now: A letter to African leaders about the Covid-19 crisis

The dearth of political will and the extractive practices of external actors can no longer be used as an excuse for inaction. We no longer have a choice; we need a radical change…

  • Open Letter
9 min read
A general view of Long Street, usually one of the busiest and most popular entertainment areas with bars, clubs and restaurants in the city, with a billboard reading Stay Home, in Cape Town. (Rodger Bosch/AFP)
AFRICAN COUNTRIES

Lockdown or no lockdown: we face hard choices for complex times

There are no available options for containing the spread of Covid-19 that do not have serious economic costs. We need to listen to expertise, not ill-considered opinion

  • Francois Venter
  • Lucy Allais
8 min read