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- By ZAM Reporter
- Politics & Opinion
ZAM’s office in the Netherlands may have been surrounded by the noise and clamour of election campaigns in recent days, but that commotion pales in comparison to the protests — and, sadly, the violent responses by authorities — that have accompanied elections in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, and Tanzania during the same period.
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- By ZAM Reporter
- Politics & Opinion
In 1955, now seventy years ago, the Bandung Conference took place in Indonesia. Initiated by Indian Prime Minister Nehru and Indonesian President Sukarno, twenty-nine newly independent African and Asian countries committed themselves to a charter emphasising ‘respect for fundamental human rights’.
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- By ZAM Reporter
- Politics & Opinion
The LGBTQIA+ community in Burkina Faso responds with shock to lawmakers’ decision to recriminalise consensual same-sex sexual relationships.
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- By ZAM Reporter
- Politics & Opinion
Produced over eleven years in Mali and Mauritania, the film offers a unique first-person account of Tuareg history and culture against a backdrop of conflict and exile. It is a story of transmission and memory, where the intimate meets the political,
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- By ZAM Reporter
- Politics & Opinion
Draagt een culturele boycot van officiële Israelische instituties bij aan het Palestijnse streven naar zelfbeschikking? In Nieuwsuur reflecteerde ZAM redacteur Bart Luirink op de ervaringen van zo’n boycot in de strijd tegen apartheid.
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- By By Charles Mafa, Samuel Baker Byansi, Elizabeth BanyiTabi, Eric Mugendi, William Moige, Josephine Chinele, Emmanuel Mutaizibwa, Beloved John and Evelyn Groenink
- Politics & Opinion
Instead of young Africans trading their dreams for a place in someone else’s war, the international community should embrace them.
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- By William Shoki
- Politics & Opinion
It’s easy to fall back on ‘the spectacle of suffering,’ but we need to examine the reasons behind the drama, argues Africa Is a Country editor William Shoki.
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- By ZAM Reporter
- Politics & Opinion
Recently, American media reported on discussions between Israel and several African countries regarding the potential resettlement of Palestinians displaced from their land.
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- By Sisonke Msimang
- Politics & Opinion
In the last few weeks, the genocide in Gaza has been framed as a problem of starvation. From global leaders to social media influencers to celebrities, everyone seems to have woken up to ‘what is happening in Gaza.’ And for some reason the word ‘starvation’ seems easier to say than genocide.
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- By ZAM Reporter
- Politics & Opinion
On 18 July, (coincidentally the birthday of Nelson Mandela), a landmark case was filed before the East African Court of Justice by Ugandan Agather Atuhaire, and Kenyan human rights defender Boniface Mwangi,
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- By Theophilus Abbah
- Politics & Opinion
Nigeria’s 2025 national budget heavily favours the defence and security sector, which consumes nearly ten per cent of total expenditure. By contrast, health receives slightly less than five per cent, while the social investment budget, at under one per cent, lags even further behind.
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- By ZAM reporter
- Politics & Opinion
Much has been written about the recent, scandalous reception of four West African leaders by Donald Trump. Telling the Liberian President, as Trump did, that his “English is beautiful” was deeply embarrassing—but not only for Trump.
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.
