Africa Archive

Just like in 2017 and 2018, many of the most important stories around the world in 2019 were drowned out by the latest tweet, tirade or tantrum from U.S. President Donald Trump. In this week’s editors’ discussion on Trend Lines, WPR’s Freddy Deknatel and Elliot Waldman talk about some of the big under-covered trends of the year, from the deterioration of U.S. alliances in East Asia to the fate of protest movements that rocked the Middle East. If you like what you hear on Trend Lines and what you’ve read on WPR, you can sign up for our free newsletter […]

Trade wars, territorial disputes, Donald Trump—those are just a few of the topics that attracted the interests of WPR readers in 2019. Many other stories overshadowed by the biggest international news were also on our radar, as always, and they found a dedicated audience online. In original reporting and analysis, we looked for the trend lines behind the headlines, from palace intrigue in Thailand to political reconciliation in the Horn of Africa. The list below of our most-read articles of the year is based on unique page views. What’s in store for 2020? Keep following and subscribing to WPR. 1. […]

Is there any current world leader who faces a more imposing set of challenges than Sudan’s prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok? Four months after taking charge of a transitional government that was formed in the wake of Sudan’s popular revolution, Hamdok—a veteran diplomat with a doctorate in economics—has the unenviable task of repairing a divided, unstable and economically ravaged country with both hands tied behind his back. He is constrained by everyone from partners in the security forces who are resistant to change, to former regime hard-liners, to an expectant Sudanese public, as well as an international community that has offered […]

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, Andrew Green curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. Gambians are not going to let President Adama Barrow forget his promise. When Barrow, then largely a political unknown, challenged longtime autocrat Yahya Jammeh in the 2016 presidential race, he pledged that, if he won, he would run a three-year provisional government before calling new elections. But backing off that promise, Barrow recently said he will serve a full five-year term until 2021, sparking protests. Gambians took to the streets of the capital, Banjul, this week in outrage over his decision. Though […]

By his own account, Jack Ma, the founder of the hugely successful Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba, only visited Africa for the first time in 2017, when he went to Kenya and Rwanda. And yet there he was earlier this month in the Opinion pages of The New York Times, full of supposed wisdom about how the continent can leap into the future by cultivating his own brand of entrepreneurialism. “If we all work together to support entrepreneurs,” Ma gushed, “then Africa will become a hub of innovation and growth, the global leader we know it can be.” It is worth […]

Guinea-Bissau will hold a runoff presidential election later this month, after a first round of voting in late November failed to produce a clear winner. The country has been mired in a long-running political crisis under President Jose Mario Vaz, who failed to advance to the second round. Instead, two of Vaz’s former prime ministers, Domingos Simoes Pereira and Umaro Embalo, will vie for the presidency on Dec. 29. The first stage of the election was mostly fair and peaceful—a relief for a country with a long history of political violence. In an email interview with WPR, Alex Vines, head […]

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, Andrew Green curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. Flash floods and landslides are devastating East Africa, just a month after severe rains flooded countries in the center of the continent. To the south, Zimbabwe and Zambia are in the midst of droughts that have slowed Victoria Falls to a trickle, even as heavy rains batter South Africa and submerge entire neighborhoods. With global leaders gathered in Madrid this week for COP25, this year’s annual U.N. climate summit, the severe weather events across Africa underscore the impact that climate change is […]

For 10 months, weekly mass protests have rocked Algeria, as demonstrators have taken to the streets with sweeping demands that the country’s entire entrenched regime step aside. This standoff between protesters and Algeria’s generals is about to enter a new phase with Thursday’s presidential election. Rather than a genuine chance to elect a new government, the vote, forced through by the generals over popular objections, is an attempt to rebuild the political structure that Algerians have been trying to bring down since their protest movement erupted in February: a military dictatorship with a civilian façade. The results of the election […]

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, Andrew Green curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. Something unexpected finally happened in an election in Namibia: The South West Africa People’s Organisation party, or SWAPO, which has dominated Namibian politics since the country’s independence in 1990, stumbled. Incumbent President Hage Geingob still secured a second term in last week’s vote, but the party lost its parliamentary supermajority, perhaps heralding a new and more competitive political landscape. Geingob’s administration was hobbled by a number of problems, including an economy that hasn’t been growing since 2016 and wealth inequality that is […]