A Democracy Older Than the Ballot Box Every election season, much of East Africa braces itself. Incumbents amend constitutions to erase term limits, and citizens wait to see whether power will change hands at the ballot box or in the streets. The pattern repeats: disputed results, ethnic mobilizations, coups, or leaders who refuse to leave….
African equity markets displayed a wide divergence in performance as of Friday, October 4, 2026, with frontier exchanges in East and West Africa significantly outperforming larger markets. Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria led the continent in year-to-date equity returns, showcasing robust growth. This trend highlights a varied investment landscape across the region, with distinct economic drivers…
A military coup d’état is the ouster of an elected president or head of state, usually through the use or threat of force. Putschists (those who participate in a coup) often justify their actions by accusing the government of mismanaging the economy and lowering living standards. Political instability is another reason coup makers give for…
Nairobi — The African Union and regional economic communities have signed a new agreement to strengthen coordination in the use of the African Standby Force, in a move aimed at improving Africa’s collective response to emerging security threats. The African Union Commission said the AU, Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Regional Mechanisms (RMs) signed a…
The Competition Commission has warned makers of smartphones, appliances and other electronics that blocking independent repairers, including through software that stops replacement parts from working until the manufacturer activates them, could fall foul of the Competition Act. The warning is contained in the commission’s final Guidelines on Repair, Service and Maintenance Aftermarkets, announced on Monday….
African tech startups collectively secured $582,808,000 in funding during the third quarter of 2026. This significant capital injection was distributed among 58 different startups across the continent. The period from July to September 2026 emerged as the most successful quarter of the year so far for the African tech ecosystem, indicating a potential strengthening of…
When one Black South African journalist decided to leave the profession after only four years, she did not walk away because she had stopped believing in journalism: ‘I mourned because I knew I could have done so much in that space.’ Her experience is documented in a 2025 Reuters Institute fellowship paper by South African…
Thousands of years ago, farmers in West Africa took a wild ancestor of rice and turned it into a crop of their own. But it was difficult to harvest and, over time, globally dominant Asian rice pushed it aside. Yet African rice survived in some of the region’s harshest growing conditions, coping with drought, deep…
|The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU), and other key regional blocs have signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to streamline the deployment of the African Standby Force (ASF). The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Gen. Birame Diop, signed the agreement on behalf of the West African bloc in…
Plants use carbon dioxide (CO₂) in photosynthesis to make the carbohydrates they need to grow. As the CO₂ in the atmosphere rises, mainly because humans are burning fossil fuels, many plants can photosynthesise more or use water more efficiently. This is known as “CO₂ fertilisation”. Scientists have carried out numerous studies into CO₂ fertilisation in…
