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Mail & Guardian
horn of africalatest news & developments
Upward trajectory: Kenyan president William Ruto and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during Ruto’s state visit to South Africa. South Africa’s exports to Kenya grew by 18.9%
compared with 93.3% for imports. Photo: GCIS

SA integrating well in African commerce

Under Ramaphosa, the country’s trade with other regional powers on the continent is growing — but unevenness must be addressed

Egypt in the horn of Africa: Restoring strategic balance in a turbulent region

Egypt’s movements in the Horn of Africa, both diplomatic and military, over the past two years have drawn the attention of observers of Egyptian foreign policy, as well as those…

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam  is expected to be the Horn of Africa country’s solution to acute power shortages, but it brings problems for downstream countries . (Flickr)

Abiy Ahmed touts Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam as showcase of African excellence

The dam is expected to be the Horn of Africa country’s solution to acute power shortages, but it brings problems for downstream countries

A Somaliland police officer gives directions to voters in front of a tent operating as a polling station during the 2024 Somaliland presidential election in Hargeisa on November 13, 2024. (Photo by LUIS TATO/AFP via Getty Images)

Ramifications of the US recognising Somaliland as a state

Somaliland’s strategic value in the Horn of Africa means the repercussions of such a decision would be far-reaching

Forced out: Families are shuttled from Maula Prison to Dzaleka. Photo: Jack McBrams

Families trucked off to prison in Malawi crackdown on expatriates

Refugees ‘hounded like dogs’ by the police and army despite protests by the United Nations Refugee Agency and civil society

Food prices soared in Sierra Leone in 2022. (Saidu Bah/AFP)

Political and economic volatility will continue in Africa in 2023

Although direct trade and financial links between Africa, Russia and Ukraine may be small, the main effect of the war will be civil strife in Africa driven by food and energy…

A child displaced by drought holds her nose as she walks past the rotting carcasses of goats that died from hunger and thirst on the outskirts of Dollow, Somalia. People from across Gedo in Somalia have been displaced due to drought conditions and forced to come to Dollow, in the southwest, to search for aid. Somalia has suffered three failed rainy seasons in a row, making this the worst drought in decades, and 6 million people are in crisis levels of food insecurity. The problems are being compounded by the rising costs of food prices because of the Ukraine war. Hence, hundreds of thousands of livestock have died from hunger and thirst. (Sally Hayden/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Hungry for action campaign: Time for a food and finance revolution

The world must act now because the food system is broken and families from Mozambique to Ireland don’t know where their next meal will come from

Members of of the community collect water from trucks –  in the area around Port Edward. (Delwyn Verasamy)

Right the injustice of Africa’s water crisis

African leaders are taking the initiative in developing strategies for coping with it, including its effect on the continent’s water security and sanitation

Having committed to pursuing a much closer partnership with African governments and the African Union, the European Union must consider how it can best contribute to Africa’s security and economic prospects. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Europe must be Africa’s partner of choice

Having committed to pursuing a much closer partnership with African governments and the African Union, the European Union must consider how it can best contribute to Africa’s…

A Nigerien farmer sits in the shade of a tree in the Great Green Wall site in Simiri, about 100km north of Niamey, on November 13, 2021. – The Great Green Wall (GGBW) is a Pharaonic project of the African Union, which aims to restore 100 million hectares of dry land in Africa by 2030, along an 8,000 km strip stretching from Senegal to Djibouti, including Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia.
The Niger part of the Great Green Wall is mainly made up of Acacia (white gum) and Bauhinia trees, two very drought-resistant species that can reach heights of twelve metres. (Photo by BOUREIMA HAMA / AFP) (Photo by BOUREIMA HAMA/AFP via Getty Images)

13 million face hunger as Horn of Africa drought worsens: UN

Three consecutive rainy seasons have failed as the region has recorded its driest conditions since 1981

A man wears a traditional Kankurang mask along the beach in the popular tourist area of Senegambia in Banjul on December 6, 2021. (Photo: John Wessels/AFP)

The Continent: Africa A-Z of 2021

The highlights of 2021 in Africa

Amhara militia men, that combat alongside federal and regional forces against northern region of Tigray, receive training in the outskirts of the village of Addis Zemen, north of Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, on November 10, 2020. (Photo by Eduardo Soteras/AFP)

It’s not too late to silence the guns in Ethiopia

An open letter from civil society organisations, from across the African continent calls, for an end to the conflict in Ethiopia

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. (Tiksa Negeri/Reuters)

African leaders must continue to press for talks: Ethiopia is too big to fail

The conflict in Ethiopia could spill over into the entire Horn of Africa region. AU and regional leaders need to step up their efforts to de-escalate the situation

People walk in the street in the city of Gondar, on November 09, 2020. (Photo by EDUARDO SOTERAS / AFP)

Ethiopia is about to cross the point of no return

As the conflict between the national government and Tigray escalates, the window for intervention is closing fast

A local resident tries to swot away a swarm of desert locusts in Mathiakani, Kitui County, Kenya, on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020. The number of locusts in East Africa could expand 500 times by June, the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organisation said last month.  (Patrick Meinhardt/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In East Africa, the locusts are coming back for more

In February the devastating locust swarms were the biggest seen in East Africa for 70 years. Now they’re even bigger

East Africa Locust Swarm Illustration

The Year of the Locust

About 25 years ago, Baldwyn Torto and his team taught themselves to talk to locusts. Now, Simon Allison brings you the story of the swarms eating their way across the continent

Although there are several state-sponsored initiatives aimed at creating work opportunities, these initiatives tend to miss many young people who are isolated as a result of vulnerabilities and social exclusion.

To silence Africa’s guns, empower its youth

It may be impossible to end the cycle of conflict in various countries on the continent without creating jobs for young people

Strait talk: The Bab el-Mandeb Strait

Africa on the Horn of a dilemma

Conflict among the Gulf states is spilling over into their vassal nations on the continent

The simple truth is that unions largely do not organise workers who will benefit from the national minimum wage and are therefore indifferent to its practicalities.

​Gulf crisis reverberates through the Horn of Africa

The Gulf crisis has revealed the extent to which Middle Eastern rivalries are played out on the African continent.

Ethiopian expatriates mobilise to keep famine at bay

The threat of severe food shortages in Ethiopia motivated Abebe Haregewoin and other expatriates into action, creating a Go Fund Me page.