Zach Wong 
There’s a question that has consistently gripped Botswana’s politics: bomme ba kae? (where are the women?). It became even more urgent with the country’s 2024 general elections. Only 28 women stood for parliament out of 258 contestants, representing 10.85%. Only three women won their seats. This represents 4.92% of the 61 seats. It’s a drop … Read more
The chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, has congratulated the military-led government of Gabon on a successful constitutional referendum. General Brice Oligui Nguema came to power through a coup d’etat in 2023. The new constitution is expected to provide the basis for the conduct of elections that will replace the military government … Read more
Voters in Ghana elected the country’s first woman vice president, Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang, in early December 2024. Voters also elected John Mahama as president, a man who had served as president before, from 2013 to 2017. In that first term as president, Mahama had also appointed the most women cabinet ministers ever in Ghana … Read more
South Africa’s general election in May 2024 fundamentally changed the country’s political landscape when the African National Congress (ANC) lost its majority for the first time. Collette Schulz-Herzenberg and Roger Southall are the editors of a new book called Election 2024, South Africa: Countdown to Coalition. They fielded some questions. Why were the 2024 elections … Read more
The Red Sea region is a geopolitical hotspot. It holds strategic maritime importance as a global trade transit route and plays a crucial role in the broader region’s security and economic stability. Various actors are vying for influence in this important region. They include Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China, the US and … Read more
For over six decades, Chad was a crucial ally to French and US forces in their counter-insurgency operations in the Sahel. But both lost influence because of repeated mistakes. The Sahel region is now regarded as the “epicentre of global terrorism”. In our recent research, we argue that France and the US put their national … Read more
Kenya has been accused by various non-state and state actors of supporting extraordinary rendition, which refers to the secret transfer of people from one country to another without due process of law and against their will. The most recent case of extraordinary rendition was the removal of Ugandan opposition politician Kizza Besigye in November 2024 … Read more
Festive season is here again. During the last quarter of the year (a period popularly called the “ember months” in Nigeria – a reference to the last letters of the words September, October, November and December), many people count down to Christmas, End-of-the-Year and New Year festivities. Towards and during these festivities, specific threats and … Read more
John Dramani Mahama, Ghana’s incoming president, has won a chance to rewrite his legacy. He was voted out of office in 2016 by the highest margin in the post-independence history of the west African nation amid corruption scandals and an energy crisis that had crippled the country. But he has made a comeback, winning by … Read more
Kenya’s ousted deputy president, Rigathi Gachagua, who was impeached in October 2024, established his name early enough as a forceful politician unafraid to take a stand. These include his aggressive push for justice for Mau Mau ex-freedom fighters and those who survived them. Landless veterans of the guerrilla war against British colonialists were infamously left … Read more
