13/11/2020
The current crisis in Tigray has not appeared from a clear blue sky. Its roots are deep in Ethiopia’s history and its outcome will dictate the country’s future. It is unlikely that Ethiopia will fall apart. But a period of violence is probable and will continue until there is a further adjustment of government …
Power is addictive. Almost no-one gives it up voluntarily. So societies evolve ways to transfer power from one person or one generation to another when a change is necessary. The question is whether these systems prove effective. All eyes today are fixe...
03/11/2020
The pre-colonial African economy was not poor. Not in the terms we measure it now, in GDP per capita, or in health and wealth. It was much the same as most other parts of the world before the coming of the industrial revolution: most people farmed, a few peopl...
28/9/2020
One of the main trends throughout Africa in 2019 was that people across African countries were starting to insist their voice be heard by their governments. In Sudan, Algeria, Uganda, Togo, Ethiopia, it was clear that “the people’s voice is growing louderâ...
18/8/2020
In January this year, the British Government hosted an Africa Investment Summit at which the Prime Minister, fresh from his election victory, promised to prioritise Britain’s relations with the continent. At the time, I set out some suggestions for how that ...
13/7/2020
The Government’s decision to merge the Department for International Development with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, whatever the claimed advantages in terms of policy coherence, Whitehall reorganisation and cost saving, does serious damage to Britainâ€...
24/6/2020
These are uncertain times, for Africa as much as for Britain. Will they prove each others’ friend in need? Or will circumstances pull the UK and African countries apart? It will all depend on what priority each gives to the other. For many years follo...
28/5/2020
Photo credit: GCIS Throughout the world, the coronavirus pandemic is testing political as well as medical systems. Some will survive, some may not. But everywhere, the strain it is putting on politics is accelerating a number of processes of change that...
11/5/2020
Africa has already been severely impacted by the economic side-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, whether the virus spreads more extensively there or not. This risks knocking years off Africa’s growth, exacerbating poverty and precipitating an African debt cr...
14/4/2020