ISS, Institute for Security Studies
Could G20 or BRICS be Africa’s route to global influence?
18th November 2022 Africa lacks a permanent seat on the United Nations (UN) Security Council – a situation that will likely remain for a long time. Does membership of... →
No silver bullet to stop cattle rustling in East Africa
17th November 2022 In April, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni launched a disarmament exercise in north-eastern Uganda and deployed the military to carry it out. The... →
Can Mozambique’s march to authoritarianism be stopped?
17th November 2022 In his first three years after becoming president in 2015, Filipe Nyusi’s governance led Mozambique to fall in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s... →
Could COP27 still shift views on climate migrants?
15th November 2022 While climate-linked migration and displacement (‘mobility’) feature throughout discussions at the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference... →
Options for reviving security cooperation in the Sahel
14th November 2022 The Sahel is experiencing increasing political and security upheavals. A series of unconstitutional changes in government have occurred in Mali,... →
Are red flags about Islamic State in South Africa alarmist?
11th November 2022 Alarm bells about the threat of terrorism in South Africa have recently been sounding more stridently and more often. Are these false alarms or is... →
Climate change, flooding and Nigeria’s tide of corruption
11th November 2022 Africa’s big message at the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt is that the countries responsible for causing climate... →
Mali’s women mediators shape local talks with terrorists
9th November 2022 In central Mali, local communities have entered into peace agreements with terrorist groups to regain a sense of calm. Residents in the area have... →
Peace agreement pledges transitional justice for Ethiopia
9th November 2022 On 2 November, the Federal Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front signed an agreement in Pretoria to end the two-year... →
China vs the West: a contest that will hurt Africa’s future
7th November 2022 A new long-term scenario analysis confirms that China will overtake the United States (US) as the most powerful country in the world by... →
Will we hear Africa’s youth at COP27?
3rd November 2022 Africa faces a trio of issues that are accelerating youth migration – the youth ‘population bulge’, high unemployment and mounting climate impacts.... →
South Africa must rethink its community safety system
3rd November 2022 Community Police Forums (CPFs) were foundational to South Africa’s 1990s transition to democracy. When first established, they provided a bridge... →
Can the East African Community stabilise eastern DRC?
1st November 2022 As clashes escalated between the rebel March 23 Movement (M23) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) armed forces in North Kivu, the... →
As terrorists claim new ground, an African strategy is vital
31st October 2022 As Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda leaders have been targeted and eliminated internationally, the terrorist groups have expanded and consolidated... →
What do protests say about UN peacekeeping in Africa?
28th October 2022 In the past few months, two United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions in Africa have encountered violent protests from the local populations... →
Prosecution reforms sharpen SA’s anti-corruption drive
27th October 2022 South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa recently set out several government responses to the more than 350 recommendations made by the Zondo state... →
Kidnapping for ransom on the rise in North Cameroon
26th October 2022 Since 2013, communities in Cameroon’s Far North Region have suffered attacks from the violent extremist group Boko Haram. The divisions of... →
The curious case of Zimbabwe sanctions
25th October 2022 The Southern African Development Community (SADC) designated 25 October as a day for solidarity against sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the... →
A new chapter in India-Africa relations?
24th October 2022 The size and health of India’s US$3.5 trillion economy have made the country a force to be reckoned with in global affairs. It has surpassed the... →
Tshisekedi needs to clean up his inner circle
21st October 2022 President Félix Tshisekedi this week waxed lyrical about the opportunities his country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), offered to... →
Another bailout won’t solve Ghana’s economic crisis
21st October 2022 Ghana’s economic woes continue as the country seeks International Monetary Fund (IMF) support for the 17th time. The bailout was necessary after... →
Countdown to Africa’s Climate COP
20th October 2022 The Africa Climate COP is around the corner. The 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate... →
Digital industrial hubs are key to Africa’s economic transformation
18th October 2022 Digital innovation enables transparency in public services and new opportunities in commerce, health, education and agriculture. But Africa lags... →
Reform in Burundi deepens ruling party divisions
17th October 2022 At the beginning of September, an audio recording emerged in Burundi allegedly featuring President Évariste Ndayishimiye accusing unnamed political... →
Security priorities for Burkina Faso’s new transition
13th October 2022 On 30 September, disgruntled army officers staged a coup that toppled Burkina Faso’s transitional military leader Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri... →
Weaponised drones – the latest tech threat to reach Africa
11th October 2022 Drones have for some time been used by regular armed forces on Africa’s battlefields, such as in Ethiopia and Mali. But now they’re increasingly... →
Terrorists and poachers take aim at the Congo Basin’s guardians
10th October 2022 Globally, over 1 000 park rangers have been killed over the last decade. According to the World Wildlife Fund, more than 100 died on the job in... →
SADR grows theoretically stronger but diplomatically weaker
10th October 2022 The Western Sahara has been reduced to a political football in Africa in a grim game between Morocco and the Polisario. Morocco aggressively claims... →
Careful balance needed to advance humanitarian action while countering terror
7th October 2022 In July 2022, South Africa’s Police Minister Bheki Cele introduced a draft bill to update the country’s existing counter-terrorism law – the... →
Can external mediation break Sudan’s political stalemate?
5th October 2022 October marks the first anniversary of Sudan’s second military coup, which removed the transitional government of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and... →
Mozambique’s people should come before resources
4th October 2022 The discovery of large gas deposits in the Rovuma Basin off the coast of northern Mozambique in 2011 made Mozambicans dream of prosperity. They... →
Youth are vital for Sudan’s post-coup stability
3rd October 2022 Sudanese youth drove the demonstrations and uprising that toppled former president Omar al-Bashir’s nearly 30-year-long rule. They were... →
Russia’s war in Ukraine revives calls for Security Council expansion
3rd October 2022 Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine has revived the perennial debate about the need to reform the United Nations (UN) Security Council, including... →
Lesotho reforms hang in the balance ahead of elections
29th September 2022 Lesotho citizens are going to the polls on 7 October amid uncertainty over the future of much-needed reforms that were declared null and void at... →
Africa – where is the good news?
28th September 2022 A sombre mood has dominated the discourse around Africa this year. At a recent investor roundtable in London, there was a sheepish silence when... →
East Africa and the Horn light the way for climate migrants
28th September 2022 Regional cooperation and free movement are critical for handling climate-linked migration and displacement but are vastly underused. East Africa... →
Smugglers carve a niche in Africa’s rare rosewood
26th September 2022 African rosewood (mukula) is the world’s most trafficked endangered timber, fuelling a US$26-billion market for Ming dynasty-styled furniture and... →
Can Africa outdo its election riggers?
26th September 2022 Can the political opposition win elections even when the incumbent government is determined to remain in power at all costs? This is a challenge... →
Should SA municipalities get greater policing powers?
22nd September 2022 With murder and other crimes on the rise in South Africa, better responses to violence and crime are urgently needed. Cape Town Mayor Geordin... →
Hunger grips Lake Chad Basin in the face of terrorism
19th September 2022 Despite years of humanitarian assistance, hunger and malnutrition in the Lake Chad Basin have reached alarming levels this year. Underpinning the... →
Terrorists’ use of tech in West Africa must be contained
16th September 2022 When al-Shabaab attacked the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya in 2013, the group live-blogged the terrifying event on Twitter, taunting the... →
