On Wednesday 27 June, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar met for the first time in two years and took a crucial step towards resolving their country’s ongoing conflict. The two signed a document at the Presidential Palace in Khartoum, Sudan, under the supervision of Sudanese
When completed, the 4.8 billion USD Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) will become Africa’s largest source of hydroelectric power, with the potential to generate 6450 MW. Despite the obvious benefits in providing electricity for Ethiopia, its construction has exposed fault lines in the rising power’s diplomatic relations with regional rival
Talks concerning peace in South Sudan finished on Wednesday 23 May, without a negotiated settlement between the warring parties. The third round of the High-Level Revitalization Forum (HLRF), held in Addis Ababa, took place between 17 and 23 May. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the regional organization facilitating the
In May 2016, DP World, the Dubai-based maritime trade conglomerate, signed a USD 442 million agreement with the government of Somaliland to construct a regional trade port at Berbera, on the Gulf of Aden. To the north, oil has traditionally been the critical factor in determining the Middle East’s geopolitical
Following an order made by the High Court in Malindi on Monday 30 April, 4,600 fishermen in Lamu County are to receive KES 1.76bn in compensation for the loss of their fishing rights due to continued delays to a major infrastructure project in north-east Kenya. Judges ruled that the ongoing construction
On Monday, April 9th, Paul Malong Awan, until recently the most senior military official in South Sudan, published a document announcing the formation of a new opposition group – the South Sudan United Front (SSUF). Since May 2017, when Malong was sacked from his position as Chief of General Staff of
In the first two months of 2018, almost 1,400 kilograms of narcotics were intercepted in the Indian Ocean, not far from the east African coast. According to the Drug Control and Enforcement Authority in Tanzania (DCEA) it is highly likely that these were in transit towards Kenya and Tanzania, where
Following a symbolic handshake on the steps of Harambee House in Nairobi, Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga appear to have agreed to attempt consigning Kenya’s election-related uncertainty to history. On Friday, March 9, 2018, the two political adversaries held a press conference in which they pledged
A potentially major al Shabaab attack was foiled by security forces in Kenya in February. This article assesses the Islamist group’s continued intent to launch attacks against civilians in urban areas and examines its current capacity to do so. On Thursday 15 February, Kenyan police arrested two men, Mohammed Nane
The 30th Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Summit was held between the 22 and 29 of January 2018, at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Led by Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the newly-elected AU Chairperson, the Summit’s core theme was ‘Winning the Fight Against Corruption: A Sustainable
