Scores of people died in Ethiopia in late October after anti-government demonstrations descended into communal violence in and around the capital, Addis Ababa, and other parts of the Oromia region. The protests against Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed began when a high-profile activist and media mogul, Jawar Mohammed, accused the government of plotting an attack on him at his home. Responding to the violence—which killed 86 people, according to the government’s latest count—is only one of the domestic challenges facing Abiy, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last month for his efforts to reconcile with neighboring Eritrea. To discuss the [...]
Editor’s Note: Every Friday, Andrew Green curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. Even for a region that has witnessed the growing entrenchment of extremist groups and skyrocketing violence, it was a particularly deadly week in Africa’s Sahel. On Nov. 1, Islamist militants killed 54 people, including dozens of soldiers, in an attack on an isolated military base in northeastern Mali; the Islamic State claimed responsibility. Days later, gunmen ambushed a Canadian mining company’s convoy in northern Burkina Faso, killing at least 37 people and wounding 60 more. Though the two attacks are not directly [...]
Two years after the military coup that removed Robert Mugabe from power, Zimbabwe has entered a new spiral of decline that threatens to take the country back to the worst days of his era. President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who came to power in that coup, had promised a “new beginning” for Zimbabwe. That initially bought him some valuable breathing space, and even goodwill from the international community, which seemed willing to give him an opportunity to make good on his pledge. It hasn’t taken long for the euphoria—always rooted more in the demise of Mugabe than in the rise of Mnangagwa—to [...]
