NEED TO KNOW Getting Polished BOTSWANA The president of Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi, appeared transfixed recently as he held up the rough-hewn, 2,492-carat […]

NEED TO KNOW When the War Ends ETHIOPIA Alemetu, pregnant, was trying desperately to fall asleep when the men from the rebel […]

NEED TO KNOW Common Ground TANZANIA Architects in Tanzania are using three-dimensional printers to construct housing and other buildings, also using soil […]

NEED TO KNOW The Tyranny of Doubt MALAWI In March last year, Cyclone Freddy ripped through Malawi and southeast Africa, killing 679 […]

NEED TO KNOW Nothing to Lose KENYA In late June, Kenyan President William Ruto blinked. After winning the 2022 general election on […]

NEED TO KNOW Mirror Image WEST AFRICA Earlier this month, a triumvirate of military leaders who oversee military juntas in Burkina Faso, […]

NEED TO KNOW The Blood Minerals RWANDA Rwandan President Paul Kagame recently won reelection in a landslide, adding five more years to […]

NEED TO KNOW Prosperity, by Fiat RWANDA A notable international exchange occurred recently when Sir Keir Starmer, the new Labour prime minister […]

NEED TO KNOW Lost in the Desert AFRICA Bella, 27, from a small village in northern Guinea, decided to try her luck […]

NEED TO KNOW The Many Shades of Terror SOMALIA The Somali National Army suffers from bungling leaders, inexperienced field officers and corrupt […]

NEED TO KNOW A Permanent Transition SOUTH SUDAN Global leaders are putting their heads together to solve South Sudan’s political crisis and […]

NEED TO KNOW Back to Basics MAURITANIA In 2019, the former president of the West African country of Mauritania, Ould Abdel Aziz, […]

NEED TO KNOW Becoming Besties KENYA Western influence on the African continent has been waning in recent years, with many countries moving […]

NEED TO KNOW The Inheritance NAMIBIA The southwest African country of Namibia has long been isolated geographically and politically. A former German […]

NEED TO KNOW A Long Way to Fall SOUTH AFRICA Since the racist apartheid regime in South Africa ended 30 years ago, […]

NEED TO KNOW The Fertility of Chaos SUDAN On June 15, 2023, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its Arab allied […]

NEED TO KNOW Naming and Shaming UGANDA Barred from staging street protests, Ugandans are leveraging social media to shine a light on […]

NEED TO KNOW The Last, Wobbly Domino CHAD When polls in the landlocked central African country of Chad open on May 6, […]

NEED TO KNOW The Lost and the Found NIGERIA Nigerian military forces recently found one of the 276 schoolgirls abducted 10 years […]

NEED TO KNOW Breeding Ground MOZAMBIQUE A jihadist insurgency with links to the Islamic State terror group has plagued Mozambique’s lawless Cabo […]

NEED TO KNOW Like Father, Like Son TOGO For years, Togolese citizens have been calling for the resignation of President Faure Gnassingbé. […]

NEED TO KNOW Sowing Justice LIBERIA A French court recently sentenced Kunti Kamara, a former rebel leader in Liberia, to 30 years […]

NEED TO KNOW A Cut of Control GAMBIA The Gambia banned female genital mutilation in 2015 because officials said the tradition of […]

NEED TO KNOW Iron Junta GUINEA The leader of the junta that runs Guinea, Gen. Mamadi Doumbouya, recently sacked the head of […]