Those who are fighting today against the splintering of Ukraine are the same as those who are working behind the scenes to break up Mali and who are financing the rebellions in eastern DRC in order to create a new republic in the Kivu tomorrow

There is enough research to show massive capital drain from Africa and that Africa is a net creditor to Europe and North America. Without an African central bank functioning under democratic control and a credible African currency, the drain of resources will continue to rob Africa the means to achieve development

Ethnic Somalis in Kenya have always been the target of security operations resulting in serious human rights violations. That is what is currently happening again following attacks by suspected Al Shabaab militants. But not all Somalis are terrorists. The state should respect their fundamental rights as citizens

To blacklist students is not only a witch-hunt aimed at preventing activists from holding union offices but also a calculated scheme to weaken the OAU students’ union and establish it under the direct manipulation of the university administration

Al Shabab followers wake up every morning with a plan on how many lives they can take, not how many lives they would save. They read Quran and in their demented minds come up with wrong self-serving interpretations

Thirty six African heads of state recently attended an EU-Africa summit on the theme “Investing in People, Prosperity and Peace.” Yet, behind the scenes the EU plans to deploy a thousand troops to join UN troops in the Central African Republic

New development projects along the Congo River are bound to restore colonialist structures and looting of resources in the DRC. These will benefit elite companies and countries, but fail to prioritise poverty and access by the poor - serving only as a repressive tool to locals.

Industrial investment in Africa by BRICS nations has been mired in scandal at times but on the whole appears to be welcomed. Farai Maguwu takes a closer look at the real impact of BRICS investments in Zimbabwe, and questions what is required for Zimbabwe’s long term benefit.

The Lobito Corridor between Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo is a game-changer in the new scramble for Africa’s mineral riches.

This week’s special issue takes a gloomy look at the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and their subimperialist extractive tentacles around the African continent. Social justice movements must start with a common critical analysis of the BRICS in order to intensify South to South resistance and solidarity

Ethiopia claims that it has enjoyed double-digit real economic growth for about a decade and that it is a stable nation. But the massive outmigration of its people points to a different reality

Caribbean nations are seeking reparations from Europe for the slave trade. All peoples of Africa and the Caribbean should support this cause. We ought to fully appreciate the lasting effects of genocide, slavery and colonialism - and how they relate to our condition today

Major General Nkonyeni was a true Pan Africanist and a hero of the South African liberation struggle in the fearless tradition of the freedom fighters. His exploits will remain an inspiration for future generations

A recent incident underscores the magnitude of lack of professionalism and corruption among police officers in Zimbabwe. There is an urgent need for reforms

In Orwellian Ethiopia, the government is using foreign technology to bolster its widespread telecom surveillance of opposition activists and journalists both in Ethiopia and abroad. Addis Ababa uses control of its telecom system as a tool to silence dissenting voices

The US military is making deeper inroads into Africa, including military involvement with at least 49 of 54 nations. But there is nothing to suggest that these interventions actually help end Africa’s post-colonial conflicts

As Malawians prepare go to elections on May 20, a new comprehensive report shows that important electoral reforms have not been put in place. And the country’s politics is driven by regionalism and ethnicity

Over sixty percent of Zimbabwe’s population are Christians. However, not all churches are supportive of homosexuality and endorse the Zimbabwe constitution that criminalizes same sex marriage yet disallows discrimination. Meanwhile several politicians make reckless denunciations of homosexuals whilst others quietly indulge in homosexual acts themselves

The current outbreak of homophobia and enactment of laws against LGBTI persons in Africa have their roots in colonialism. African cultures are generally tolerant of difference

The proposed external evaluation seeks to find out to what extent members of the Board of Trustees, Senior Management Team and other members of staff of Fahamu have implemented recommendations provided by the Change Manager as part of the transition process of the organisation

There is a generalized Western dismissal of the Global South and its peoples, as exemplified in the racist attack on Jamaican President Manley and reggae star Bob Marley. It is quite unlikely that anyone growing up in a culture which constantly touts itself as ‘the greatest in history’ will not be cursed with delusions of a superior heritage

Kwadir Felton, one of Sen. Cory Booker’s constituents, faces 30 years in prison for allegedly assaulting the Jersey City police who shot and blinded him. But Felton can expect no constituent services from Booker. Black people demand next to nothing from their politicians.

Funds meant for informal settlement upgrading and urban regeneration diverted to upgrading the President’s home

On the occasion of the 4th edition of the West African peasant seed fair, held in Djimini, Senegal, from March 11-13, 2014, 350 participants, representing 54 delegations from Benin, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Niger, Mali, Togo, Senegal, Guinea, India, Europe and Canada assembled to promote peasant seeds.

Freshly smuggled from a gulag in Ethiopia, this is a poignant, albeit long, letter from a journalist of exceptional courage: the brilliant veteran editor Eskinder Nega who is serving an 18-year prison sentence based on trumped-up terrorism charges in reprisal to his 2011 articles about the implications of the Arab Spring in his country

The actor George Clooney has in the past campaigned on Darfur. Yet in his recent film he is now campaigning for the return of the Elgin Marbles to Greece and fails to make the same argument for Africa’s stolen artefacts scattered across the Western Hemisphere

As China gathers its state and non-state resources to buy back its looted historical treasures, questions arise about the legitimacy of this method for reclaiming stolen cultural history.

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni recently signed a law that outlaws miniskirts in the east African nation. This poet attempts to make sense of the new law

The death of jobless youth last weekend brings to the fore the crisis of unemployment in Nigeria. Successive government of Africa’s most populous nation, a leading oil producer, have failed to create jobs. Now the youth need to rise and demand a better life from the rulers

Public opinion is fast shifting in South Africa about the use of marijuana, which is criminalised. A key legal argument in the debate is that prohibiting dagga use while allowing tobacco and alcohol amounts to discrimination, which violates equality as guaranteed by the Constitution

Despite a sustained international outcry about the expected devastation of the Omo Valley and loss of livelihoods for thousands of local people due to construction of a mega dam, Ethiopians and people in Eastern Africa are inexplicably silent. The indigenous people of the Omo Valley need your voice

There are three kinds of promises. There are promises made among equals, freely kept and just as freely disregarded with no lasting hard feelings. There are promises the poor are obliged to make to the rich and to the state, which are enforced at gunpoint. And there are promises the wealthy and powerful make to the poor, which are almost invariably broken. Turns out this is a handy guide for which promises the Obama Administration has chosen to kept.

The second thematic session of the Leadership for Change initiative started today [March 17] in Gaborone Botswana, with 12 participants selected from South Africa, Mauritius, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Lesotho.

Namibia needs to tackle the problem of gender based violence in the country. A new degree in gender and development studies will assist in grappling with such problems. However, some argue that dealing with the epidemic of gender violence facing Namibia will require more than developing academic programmes

Kenya’s well regarded media ought to shift attention from the sideshows and power duels politicians engage in and instead focus more on important national development issues. It is a year since the devolved system of government was implemented. The media should lead in assessing how citizens have benefited from devolution and what needs to be done better.

The project model for Inga 3 does not prioritize access to electricity for the poor, especially considering that the bulk of the power has already been committed for export. Social and environmental impacts of the dam have not been given due attention

Chokwe Lumumba ran for mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, in order to set in motion a process of ‘social transformation from the ground up.’ He died eight months into his term, but the state refused to do an autopsy. Lots of folks suspect he was assassinated for challenging the ruling order

The United States is more than just an ally to fascists in Ukraine and everywhere else; the American South provided an historical model for fascism. The fascist order of the pre-Sixties Solid South was simply a domestic expression of U.S. Manifest Destiny – the national religion. The fascists – both local and imperial – have laid siege to Russia.

The Nigerian Constitution has signed several international conventions to promote gender equality and women’s rights. However translating this legislation into real life advancements for women is yet to fully materialize.

The reaction of the Obama Administration and the American elite generally to the crisis in Ukraine reveals an astounding double standard, which arise from not just capitalist avarice and cynical ruling-class self-interest but is rooted in the pathology generated by the disease of white supremacy.

It is nearly half a century since Cabral’s heroic rousing speech in Cuba, but many of the points he made at the time remain valid. Crucially, ‘it is not by shouting or uttering insults against imperialism that we will achieve its liquidation.’ What will win the fight is ‘the daily practice of the struggle.’

International Women’s Day on 8 March 2014 marked 40 years commemoration of women in an unequal world. In Lagos, Benin and Abuja women protested against the brutal killing and abduction of innocent students in Yobe, Nigeria. Women continue to mobilise for action and change around the world

Inequality between and within countries is the outcome of capitalist development, and not a natural outcome of social processes, as seen in Tanzania and Zambia. New models of development are needed to resolve the structural contradictions of endemic poverty in the Global South