For more than eight decades, the kings of the House of Saud have faced diverse challenges at home and abroad, but they managed to survive and persist in the Middle East, seen by many as the one of the most turbulent regions in the world.
But since (...)
After four decades in power, Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos has announced his intention to retire from politics in two years. If it happens, he will become the fifth major African despot to have stepped down since the Arab Spring of (...)
Every day, sub-Saharan African states facing terrorist Islamist groups score a victory, but these organisations are still able to carry out attacks against civilians, especially the poorest who live in camps and villages, and target military (...)
Electoral commissions in Uganda and the Central African Republic (CAR) announced the results of presidential elections held in the two landlocked countries, both critical races despite the seemingly different political conditions in each.
Yoweri (...)
One striking feature of the recent attack on the Imam Rida Mosque in Mahasen, a mixed Sunni-Shia area in eastern Saudi Arabia, was its ominous familiarity.
The target was a Shia place of worship, the assailants hired or motivated by the Islamic (...)
A round of informal talks will open between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) in Berlin on 22 January, according to African Union officials.
Another round of informal talks on Darfur will open on 23 (...)
Ethiopia's hydroelectric ambitions have led to a tussle with Egypt and Sudan, the two downstream nations whose survival hinges on the quantity of water they receive from the Blue Nile.
But Addis Ababa's problems may exceed those of antagonising its (...)
One of the unexpected things that happened in the past two years was that Boko Haram replaced Islamic State (IS) as the deadliest terror group in the world.
In 2014, Boko Haram killed 6,664 people, more than the 6,073 that IS killed, according to a (...)
In an archival library building, in Timbuktu in northeast Mali, restoration experts are working on thousands of medieval manuscripts. The library, sponsored by South Africa's Cape Town University, is one attempt to repair some of the damage fanatics (...)
The country that overthrew long-serving President Blaise Compaoré on 31 October 2014, then survived a coup attempt in September 2015, has successfully held free and fair elections. At long last, Burkina Faso has a freely elected president.
The (...)
The gunmen approached the hotel at 7am on 20 November. They must have known from earlier surveillance that this was the moment the hotel guards changed shifts. Just as the night shift was waiting to be replaced by a new team, the militants opened (...)
The 8 November landslide victory of the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, has ushered in a new era in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
Aung San Suu Kyi's party won 378 seats (19 more than the magic figure of 329) in the (...)
The Arab Human Rights Committee (AHRC) met in Cairo on 9 and 10 November to discuss a report by the Sudanese government on human rights conditions in the country. Khartoum joined the Arab Charter on Human Rights in 2012, but civil society groups (...)
The crisis of the 2010 elections is now a thing of the past, the head of Cote d'Ivoire's electoral committee reassured the public as he announced, on 28 October, the landslide win by incumbent President Alassane Ouattara.
Ouattara, 73, received 84 (...)
In one country after another, long-serving African presidents are busy changing their countries' constitutions, seeking to remove barriers to the two-term rule.
In the Republic of Congo, also known as Congo Brazzaville, the opposition called for a (...)
Africa stood on the cusp of democracy, and then turned back. Twenty years ago, the march of freedom seemed irreversible, with countries ditching long-serving generals to hold free and civilian elections with varied, but generally credible, degrees (...)
South Africa is often depicted as a success story, a country that successfully managed the political transition from Apartheid, electing a former freedom fighter as president and becoming one of the 20 largest economies in the world.
But the clashes (...)
Kenyan authorities have decided to fence off part of its eastern borders, especially along the Lamu coastal region. The move comes after years of terrorist attacks by Al-Shabab, and growing calls to stop illegal immigration from its war-torn (...)
The Sudanese opposition has called for a boycott of elections slated for April as part of its demands for a government of national unity and a transitional phase leading to democracy.
Politicians and military commanders of various opposition groups (...)
If there is one thing that drug traffickers and terrorists like in common, it is a country with a shaky government. And since many African nations seem to be inflicted with recurring instability, the continent has provided a sanctuary for many (...)
Nigeria has postponed its presidential and parliamentary elections for six weeks, until 28 March, in order to deal with Boko Haram. Otherwise, its officials say, the army will be overstretched. It was considered impossible for the army to take (...)
As Nigeria's elections approach, the country's protracted fight with the ultra-radicals of Boko Haram looms large. Nigeria and four of its neighbours have tried to confront the militant group, but so far their efforts have been less than (...)
Hardly had the South Sudanese warring factions of the Sudan's People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) returned to the country, having signed a peace deal in Tanzania in late January, than signs of renewed tensions surfaced, suggesting that Africa's (...)
The UN Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), a document that aims to regulate international trade in conventional weapons, went into effect on 25 December. The treaty was signed by 130 countries, but only 61 have ratified it so far.
It may be good news for (...)
Like a gifted child who never reaches its full potential, Africa is plodding along amid the horrors of war and the debris of corruption, lost and afflicted by the very things that should have saved it, its wealth of resources once drained by (...)