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1 week ago | 
theafricareport.com | Bojang Jnr |Patrick Smith
The British government’s conference on Sudan, marking two years of the country’s devastating war, opened on 15 April with shreds of positive news. Britain, which like most other Western states has been eviscerating its aid budget, offered to launch a £120m emergency humanitarian assistance package for Sudan. This must be set in the context of overall shrinking aid flows to Sudan at a time of its worst conflict since independence in 1956.
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1 month ago | 
theafricareport.com | Patrick Smith
“Stop dreaming, the West isn’t coming back,” the veteran French diplomat warned. “We’re in a new era, a different world now.” We were mulling how African states should respond to trade wars, rumbling polycrises and a US exit from the international system. For those African governments with leverage – market access and natural resources – a splintering of the West may sound positive.
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1 month ago | 
theafricareport.com | Patrick Smith |Carien Du Plessis
There is a historical logic in appointing an economist who was born in 1992 – in the dog days of apartheid rule in South Africa – to chair the economic transformation committee of the country’s biggest party, the African National Congress (ANC). Zuko Godlimpi, the ANC’s rising star in economic policy, has a clearer view than most – both of the progress made since his birth and the challenges that still lie ahead. Get full access to The Africa Report
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2 months ago | 
theafricareport.com | Patrick Smith |Carien Du Plessis
South Africa is sending officials to brief governments around Africa and the world on its aims as it chairs the G20 this year, the first African country to do so. It is due to hand over the leadership of G20 to the US in December.
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2 months ago | 
theafricareport.com | Patrick Smith |Ian Taylor
[Welcome to our series from the vaults of The Africa Report! We turn 20 in 2025, having covered the continent in depth since our beginnings in the heady days of 2005. Back then, the arrival of China into Africa’s economies was provoking a huge turnaround in fortunes. A far cry from the communist vs. capitalist convulsions of the Cold War, the new engagement was more about financing raw materials and construction projects.]The Afro-Asian bloc is back.
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Jan 2, 2025 | 
theafricareport.com | Patrick Smith
The rout of ruling parties in Africa in 2024 – driven by spiralling prices and distrust of political elites – reflects a global trend. And there is little sign that it will let up in 2025 unless economic conditions improve markedly. Youth voters stepped up their role in elections and mobilised on the streets. They scored in Senegal, Botswana and Mauritius, where they helped defeat incumbent parties.
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Aug 16, 2024 | 
theafricareport.com | Patrick Smith
Nigerian photojournalist Tamunominabo Fiofori wrote and co-authored a dozen books of photojournalism and cultural criticism on subjects ranging from the depredations of colonialism and the international oil industry to the coronation of the Oba of Benin, culminating in his definitive book on the life and work of the avant-garde jazz composer and band leader Sun Ra.He was dedicated to the cause of African culture and its foundational role.
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Jul 9, 2024 | 
shorturl.at | Patrick Smith |Bojang Jnr
David Lammy, Britain’s new foreign secretary, is both a groundbreaker – as the first politician of Caribbean heritage in the post – and one of the best prepared, having visited 17 countries and met with officials from 61 countries since his appointment as the Labour Party’s foreign policy chief two years ago. Get full access to The Africa Report
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Jul 9, 2024 | 
theafricareport.com | Patrick Smith |Bojang Jnr
David Lammy, Britain’s new foreign secretary, is both a groundbreaker – as the first politician of Caribbean heritage in the post – and one of the best prepared, having visited 17 countries and met with officials from 61 countries since his appointment as the Labour Party’s foreign policy chief two years ago. Get full access to The Africa Report
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Jul 8, 2024 | 
theafricareport.com | Patrick Smith
A glittering ceremony in the tradition of Nigeria’s elite was organised for President Bola Tinubu in Eagle Square, Abuja, to mark 25 years of civil rule on 12 June. It was the government’s Democracy Day, in memory of an election overturned by the military. And a few days later in South Africa, the ruling African National Congress accepted an electoral shellacking and negotiated a power-sharing coalition. So how should democracy advocates react? Give two cheers sotto voce.
