Op-Ed | On Captain Ibrahim Traoré’s Glamourised Militarism and Africa’s Elusive Quest for Liberation
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- By Rosebell Kagumire
- Politics & Opinion
Burkina Faso’s military ruler is not a radical economic liberator; his so-called “populist anti-Western nativism” is a smokescreen to conceal the suppression of activists, journalists, and queer people, argues Rosebell Kagumire.
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- By Oyunga Pala
- Politics & Opinion
I know—I belong to a generation obsessed with graves. Their permanence has become our language of love, our way of asserting legacy and resisting the ephemeral nature of life.
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- By ZAM reporter
- Politics & Opinion
The chainsaw feels an inadequate metaphor for the brutal violence with which the Trump administration slashes €58 billion annually from aid to poor countries. On top of that, European governments are cutting more than €10 billion in aid savings.
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- By ZAM reporter
- Politics & Opinion
In a time of hate, missiles, and mass murders, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s call to mingle and meet, made recently at a symposium at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam, comes as a wake-up call.
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- By Jaya Khamala
- Politics & Opinion
Just as we were finalising this piece, yet another tragedy struck. The violence we thought we were remembering came crashing back into the present. On June 7–8, 2025, while in police custody in Nairobi, 31-year-old Kenyan teacher and activist Albert Ojwang died under suspicious circumstances
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- By Benson Mulindwa
- Politics & Opinion
On May 23, 2025, former Ugandan journalist—and now political commentator and government acolyte—Andrew Mwenda posted a lengthy rant on X, accusing European ambassadors in Uganda of engaging in “Colonialism 101.”
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- By ZAM reporter
- Politics & Opinion
In the 2025 Ranking of Most Popular Countries, recently released by the Alliance of Democracies, South Africa ranked seventh. The metric measures “how countries are perceived by their neighbours, key trading partners, and other nations” on issues such as credibility and global trust.
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- By Sisonke Msimang
- Politics & Opinion
On what it means for a stranger to touch your hair in a public space.
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- By Delali Adogla-Bessa
- Politics & Opinion
Like the Kantamanto Market, the government continues to suffer from the same recurring fires.
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- By ZAM reporter
- Politics & Opinion
Mass mortality due to the cessation of aid. Economic subjugation through import tariffs. Tighter visa rules and travel bans. It requires excessive optimism to discern anything positive amid US President Donald Trump’s plethora of decrees affecting Africa.
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- By ZAM reporter
- Politics & Opinion
In the bombardment of punitive measures unleashed by the US government in recent weeks, it is striking how much South Africa has had to endure. Modest support for the distribution of anti-retroviral drugs has been halted, along with other aid worth half a billion dollars.
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- By ZAM reporter
- Politics & Opinion
The words of a colleague in a chat group of African investigative journalists said it all: “You’ve made all of us a bit safer, Anas. Thank you.”
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- By Jaya Khamala and Beth Njeri
- Politics & Opinion
On Tuesday, March 18, 2025, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands are scheduled to visit Kenya. Under normal circumstances, this would be a moment of shared celebration between two nations bound by a history of trade, agriculture, and development cooperation. As regional hubs, both countries have ports that serve as important channels to large hinterlands, facilitating commerce across continents. But these are not normal times.
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- By Kristof Titeca
- Politics & Opinion
Dutch lobbyist Henk-Jan van Schothorst, affiliated with the right-wing orthodox Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij (State Reformed Protestant Party) and founder of Christian Council International, has been instrumental in exporting anti-rights legislation across the African continent.
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- By ZAM
- Politics & Opinion
“The fight for Kenya’s and Africa’s soul is far from over. But for the first time in a long time, we, the people, are reclaiming who we are. We now remember what it means to fight for a better future. More importantly, we know what it feels like to win.”
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- By Evelyn Groenink
- Politics & Opinion
In his Nelson Mandela Lecture on Sunday, 16 February, speaker John-Allan Namu expressed optimism about the potential for change across the African continent, attributing it to an ‘upright’ Generation Z that refuses to be held in ‘subservience.’ Amid the many stories of African oppression and conflict, where does Namu find his hope? ZAM offers a bird’s-eye view of a continent where youth—and increasingly, the adult population—are indeed rising up.
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- By Naila Aroni
- Politics & Opinion
On 10 December 2024, I joined thousands of feminists in a nationwide anti-femicide march in Kenya. More than 100 recent reports of women being murdered—most at the hands of their intimate partners—prompted us to spotlight the connections between gender-based violence, poor governance, and the economic crisis, including the rising cost of living. This marked the second march against gender-based violence in Kenya in 2024, following the first in February.
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- By ZAM Reporter
- Politics & Opinion
In March this year, the Dutch royal family will travel to Kenya, a state visit that has sparked considerable controversy. Why is the Dutch government sending its ceremonial representatives to a country where human rights are systematically violated?
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- By ZAM Reporter
- Politics & Opinion
The Slavery Heritage Guide of The Cape (Gids Slavernijverleden van de Kaap) 2025, the latest instalment in the Mapping Slavery series on sites impacted by Dutch slavery and authored by Nancy Jouwe and Carine Zaayman, will be launched on 26 January at the Wereldmuseum in Amsterdam.
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- By ZAM reporter
- Politics & Opinion
The Dutch King and Queen’s visit to Kenya’s murderous regime is being prepared in the run up to ZAM’s Nelson Mandela Lecture by Kenyan investigative journalist.
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- By Evelyn Groenink
- Politics & Opinion
Editor-in-Chief of the courageous Africa Uncensored media platform, John-Allan Namu, is set to spotlight Africa’s struggles for justice at the 2025 ZAM Nelson Mandela Lecture. As a Kenyan investigative journalist, Namu is well-acquainted with the horrors of power abuse, the machinations of genocidal politicians, the devastation wrought by climate change, and the forced migration of youth from nations misruled by uncaring, oppressive governments.
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- By ZAM Reporter
- Politics & Opinion
ZAM has joined the Ugandan civil rights groups Agora and the African Institute for Investigative Journalism (AIIJ) in condemning the arrests of journalists Agather Atuhaire and Godwin Toko, while calling for their immediate release. Atuhaire, Toko, and other civil rights activists were detained by Ugandan police on Thursday during a march in the capital, Kampala.
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- By ZAM Reporter
- Politics & Opinion
In October 2024, months after ZAM published ‘Hotel Kremlin’, the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle produced a podcast on the investigation, highlighting its “grim picture of life under military dictatorships in the Sahel.”
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- By ZAM Reporter
- Politics & Opinion
Too early to speak of an ‘African Spring’, but the leaves of protest are budding.
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- By ZAM Reporter
- Politics & Opinion
