The World Today

August & September 2022: African voices want to be heard

Supporters of Adama Barrow, the flag-bearer of the coalition of the seven opposition political parties in Gambia, dance at the venue of a political rally in Wellingara.

Voters want the continent’s ageing leaders to step aside to usher in a new age of political engagement and robust democracy, say the experts of Afrobarometer.

With elections looming, the country’s young are mobilizing to change the face of the nation, says Rinu Oduala.

Disgruntled members of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) march holding a poster reflecting the face of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Corruption and poor governance blight South Africa’s long-time incumbents, but a divided opposition appear unable to punish them politically, says Kiri Rupiah.

President Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi, seen here campaigning in the presidential elections of June 2020, has fallen out with other leaders of the Tonse Alliance and is now struggling to defend his administration against charges of corruption

The Tonse Alliance vowed to root out corruption. But hope in the new administration has turned to despair, says Golden Matonga.

King of Swaziland Mswati III walks past the guard of honor on a state visit to Senegal on July 05, 2019

Protests are increasing pressure on King Mswati III, Africa’s last absolute monarch, to relinquish power, says Koffi Sawyer.

A woman casts her ballot at a polling station in the city of Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, on June 21, 2021. - Voters in Ethiopia cast ballots on June 21, 2021 in a delayed national election taking place against the backdrop of war and famine in the northern Tigray region and questions over the poll's credibility

Women urgently need to gain access to high office if the country hopes to survive, say Hilina Berhanu Degefa and Emebet Getachew.

An employee at the Afrigen biotechnology company and vaccine hub facility works in a laboratory.

The continent plans to make 60 per cent of its vaccines by 2040. After the failure of the world to help in the pandemic, it’s high time, says Ngozi Erondu.

Will Africa’s leaders provide the democracies voters demand? How can space satellites improve life on the continent? All this and more in our special edition.

Articles

Illustration of an imagined cityscape in green

Young professionals from across the continent tell Emmanuel Adegboye how city life could be improved: from high-speed rail to people-centred urban planning.

Scene from the Nigerian TV series 'Blood Sisters', showing richly dressed guests at a wedding reception in a hotel. 'Blood Sisters' was among the top 10-most popular shows globally when it first aired on Netflix in spring 2022

Nollywood studio boss Mo Abudu and author Dipo Faloyin discuss how Africans are redefining how the world sees them.

A Chinese expatriate worker worker works on an oil tanker built on the banks of Lake Victoria at a new fuel storage complex on January 15, 2022 in Entebbe, Uganda. The lakeside complex will play a key role in the region's oil infrastructure, increasing Uganda's oil storage capacity and reducing freight costs, as transportation of petroleum products is moved from roads to the lake

Scaling back infrastructure plans and investment in the Global South could cause China problems, says Yu Jie.

Bystanders read newspapers on a stall in Onitsha, Anambra State, south-eastern Nigeria, on November 5, 2021, on the eve of a governorship election in a ballot being widely anticipated as a barometer for the country's 2023 presidential vote

Africa’s news sites are gripping audiences with digital innovation and bold directions. Helen Fitzwilliam talks to editors at three platforms.

Trucks queue on the road to enter Uganda in Malaba, western Kenya, on April 29, 2020. All truck drivers ferrying goods crossing the border from Kenya must take a test for the COVID-19 by Ugandan health officials and wait 24 hours to get the result. After entering Uganda, the driver must not leave the truck until they reach their destination to unload.

The new African Continental Free Trade Area must embrace hyperscale data centres, cross-border digital payments and other innovations to realise its potential.

A black and white photo of a jubilant crowd carries Julius Nyerere, premier of Tanganyika (Tanzania), after being granted internal self-government.

Jenna Marshall on a lively if flawed argument to find a way forward in a debate that has descended ‘into acrimony’.

Also in this issue

Senegal's players celebrate with the trophy after winning the Africa Cup of Nations 2021 final football match between Senegal and Egypt.

The country’s elite football academies produce champions, but the lure of fame and fortune abroad can lead to ‘football trafficking’, says Azil Momar Lô.

Ahmed Sekou Toure (left), President of Guinea, poses outside the Claridge Hotel with his wife, Hadja Andrée Touré, and ambassador Nabi Youla, on November 12, 1959 in London during an official visit to England - the following day he became the first independent African leader to address Chatham House

As Chatham House marks 20 years of its Africa Programme, Christopher Vandome recalls momentous visits from some of the continent’s independence heroes.

People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) supporters gather for the start of the campaign for the presidential elections in 2022, at Largo das Escolas in Luanda. They are waving flags and holding placards.

The two countries are in contrasting states of democratic health, says James Orr, but their next rulers will both face debt, inflation and frustrated voters.

French President Emmanuel Macron salutes residents, walking with Burkina Faso's President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, as he leaves Ouagadougou University after giving a speech, on November 28, 2017, in Ouagadougou, as part of his first African tour since taking office

Europe’s ‘gas grab’ in Africa is just the latest abuse of its relationship with the continent, says Catherine Fieschi.

Photo portrait of a woman in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, her left eye towards the camera, her right eye obscured by a Covid-style mask pulled obliquely over her face

The annual Contemporary African Photography Prize recognizes images that engage with Africa or its diaspora. Here, we present images from 2022’s five winners.

Novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga protesting against corruption in Harare, Zimbabwe

From foster care in England to colonialism’s legacy in Zimbabwe, this set of essays on race, feminism and identity is searingly honest, says Masiyaleti Mbewe.

A smiling Oliver Tambo, with toddler on lap, and Nelson Mandela of the ANC at a desk, possibly in 1961

Thula Simpson recalls how Mandela’s gradual embrace of armed resistance made him apartheid’s public enemy No 1 and led to his arrest on August 5, 1962

The latest

In the first of a three-part series examining the global importance of the CCP’s 20th National Congress, Yu Jie explains how it makes its big decisions.

The Nigerian photojournalist on the exploitation of African suffering and how African democracy should be visualized.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence look at mobile phone with alarm

The co-writer of the hit Netflix film Don’t Look Up talks about the role of a strong media, human weakness and how billionaires won’t save the world.

In the final part of a series on the impact of the Roe v Wade ruling, Nina van der Mark assesses the global impact of America’s reverse on reproductive rights.