Opinion

Dismantling Africa, one nation at a time

4 November 2021 By Gwynne Dyer Something is going wrong in Africa. Nigeria and Ethiopia, the two most populous countries on the continent, are both stumbling towards disintegration. There are now 54 sovereign African countries, which really ought to be enough, but in a few years there could be 60. Ethiopia is closer to the […]

How to turn Nigeria into true federation

August 18, 2021 By Jerome-Mario Utomi THERE are many reasons Nigeria must take the present call for restructuring seriously. It is in the long-term interests of all the ethnic nationalities in Nigeria to restructure Nigeria into a true and sustainable federation. It is, however, clear that there is at present no love lost politically between […]

Is the Nile Dispute In Fact Moving Toward a Dénouement?

August 17, 2021 By Gregory Copley Ethiopia is at a strategic tipping point, with significant consequences for the stability of the lower Red Sea maritime route (and much more). However, it may be premature to assume that it would soon break up as a federation in the manner of the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s, […]

Ambazonian, Biafra etc: Does suppressing agitations for separation mean bottling the bomb?

17 August 2021 By Olusegun Akinfenwa Secession related crises are fast becoming omnipresent in Africa and have led to the fragmentation and division of many nations. The unrest usually comes with devastating impacts largely responsible for the continent’s current economic and social retardation. From Nigeria’s Biafra to Cameroon’s Ambazonian, and Ethiopia’s Tigray, the daily heightened […]

Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project and Political Conflict

10 August 2021 By Jacob Richard Bergeron In 2011, Ethiopia started construction on a dam along the Blue Nile River that the government coined the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project, GERD. Projections predict the dam’s cost around $5 billion, which was around 7% of Ethiopia’s GDP in 2016. Egypt and Sudan lodged formal complaints against GERD’s […]

How migrants are being used as weapons

8 August 2021  By Ian Birrell The pandemic has crushed the global tourism industry, with thousands of flights cancelled and millions of holidays postponed – but in one part of the world not normally considered a travel hotspot, there has been a surprising surge in visitor numbers. Belarus, led by Europe’s last dictator and which has […]

Making sense of boundary disputes in India’s Northeast

07 August 2021 By Pradip Phanjoubam In order to understand the clash between Assam and Mizoram place, we have to go back to the British colonial government’s outlook to frontier management Express Illustration: Amit Bandre Much has already been said about the atrocious clash between Assam and Mizoram police on July 26 that left six policemen […]

Removing Cross-Border Trade Barriers Affecting Small-Scale Women Entrepreneurs

13 June 2021 Cross-border trade has broad poverty and development ramifications, especially for low-skilled women in border areas. It contributes to income, provides jobs, and empowers women across Africa. Because women’s empowerment is a key factor for economic and social development, making cross-border trade easy for small-scale traders is essential for supporting women. Cross-border trade is a female-intensive […]