West Africa Archive

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, Andrew Green curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. Gambians are not going to let President Adama Barrow forget his promise. When Barrow, then largely a political unknown, challenged longtime autocrat Yahya Jammeh in the 2016 presidential race, he pledged that, if he won, he would run a three-year provisional government before calling new elections. But backing off that promise, Barrow recently said he will serve a full five-year term until 2021, sparking protests. Gambians took to the streets of the capital, Banjul, this week in outrage over his decision. Though […]

Guinea-Bissau will hold a runoff presidential election later this month, after a first round of voting in late November failed to produce a clear winner. The country has been mired in a long-running political crisis under President Jose Mario Vaz, who failed to advance to the second round. Instead, two of Vaz’s former prime ministers, Domingos Simoes Pereira and Umaro Embalo, will vie for the presidency on Dec. 29. The first stage of the election was mostly fair and peaceful—a relief for a country with a long history of political violence. In an email interview with WPR, Alex Vines, head […]

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, Andrew Green curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. Flash floods and landslides are devastating East Africa, just a month after severe rains flooded countries in the center of the continent. To the south, Zimbabwe and Zambia are in the midst of droughts that have slowed Victoria Falls to a trickle, even as heavy rains batter South Africa and submerge entire neighborhoods. With global leaders gathered in Madrid this week for COP25, this year’s annual U.N. climate summit, the severe weather events across Africa underscore the impact that climate change is […]

Editor’s Note: Every Friday, Andrew Green curates the top news and analysis from and about the African continent. Something unexpected finally happened in an election in Namibia: The South West Africa People’s Organisation party, or SWAPO, which has dominated Namibian politics since the country’s independence in 1990, stumbled. Incumbent President Hage Geingob still secured a second term in last week’s vote, but the party lost its parliamentary supermajority, perhaps heralding a new and more competitive political landscape. Geingob’s administration was hobbled by a number of problems, including an economy that hasn’t been growing since 2016 and wealth inequality that is […]