Central Africa Archive

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, Andrew Green curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. Subscribers can adjust their newsletter settings to receive Africa Watch by email every week. Extending a presidency that has lasted more than 36 years, Denis Sassou Nguesso won reelection in the Republic of Congo with nearly 90 percent of the vote, according to provisional results from Sunday’s ballot. His victory was overshadowed by the death of his main opposition opponent, Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas, who died on Election Day from COVID-19. Sassou Nguesso’s resounding victory underscores the near-absolute control he maintains over […]

After months of political and institutional maneuvering, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s president, Felix Tshisekedi, has finally unshackled himself from his predecessor, Joseph Kabila. The two had until recently been partners in an uneasy power-sharing arrangement, but Tshisekedi now has the power to make decisions without being constrained by the man who put him in office. The key question is how he will use it. Kabila ruled the country for 18 years but agreed to step down ahead of the disputed 2018 elections, in which his preferred successor lost to Tshisekedi even as his allies gained a sizeable majority of […]

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, Andrew Green curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. Subscribers can adjust their newsletter settings to receive Africa Watch by email every week. John Magufuli, the populist president of Tanzania who oversaw a crackdown on political dissent and recently emerged as a prominent coronavirus denier, has died at the age of 61. Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan was sworn in Friday to complete his five-year term, becoming the first woman to lead the East African country. Hassan announced Magufuli’s passing in a televised address Wednesday, more than two weeks after he […]

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, Andrew Green curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. Subscribers can adjust their newsletter settings to receive Africa Watch by email every week. After days of violent protests that have left at least five people dead, the political situation in Senegal, long one of West Africa’s most stable democracies, remains precarious. The unrest was triggered by the arrest last week of prominent opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, following a rape allegation against him. But the demonstrators were also driven by mounting frustration over corruption scandals involving President Macky Sall’s administration, and with […]

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, Andrew Green curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. Subscribers can adjust their newsletter settings to receive Africa Watch by email every week. Despite mounting pressure from the international community, the Ethiopian government is blocking independent investigations into allegations of atrocities and human rights abuses committed by federal troops and their allies in the war-torn Tigray region. Instead, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office confirmed this week that the government will conduct its own probes. The statement from Abiy’s office acknowledged that the allegations are “credible,” a reversal from the government’s earlier […]