It promises to be another tumultuous year for Ethiopia and its struggling ruling coalition, the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front. After what amounted to an interna...

President Macky Sall is unlikely to need a second round to secure re-election in February. He has the advantage of incumbency in a much-reduced field of candidates, following the p...

The last year was full of promise of greater change during this year. Regional relations were dominated by the sea-change in policy brought about by Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy ...

His formidable intellect and tough independence of spirit made Joseph Henry Mensah an improbable candidate for the hurly-burly of partisan politics. Yet it was those qualities, alo...

South Africa is facing an even tougher year economically in 2019. The disastrous legacy of former President Jacob Zuma may seem distant but its echoes will continue to sound and cl...

The Egyptian economy is primed to show impressive results in 2019 on the basis of core indicators such as real GDP growth, the current account and foreign direct investment. Howeve...

Three weeks of opposition demonstrations across the country have left President Omer Hassan el Beshir much weakened, and vulnerable to machinations in the National Congress Party r...

Radical political change and peace-making in Ethiopia, together with the signing of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement, lifted spirits in Africa as other regions bec...

A long-standing friend of Africa Confidential, John William Alan Raymond Howe was a remarkable reporter, columnist, translator, poet and short story writer. Best known for his repo...

João Lourenço will consolidate his power in 2019, cashing in on his popularity and position as President of both the country and the ruling Movimento Popular de Liber...

If everything goes to plan and on schedule, South Sudan should finally turn the corner in 2019 and take its rightful place among the community of African states that have recovered...

A showdown is looming after the country’s Catholic bishops announced they knew who had won the presidential election on 30 December, as anger builds after delays in the release of ...

In an era when narrow nationalism and populism are taking on the international system, the career of Kofi Annan showed where the battle lines were drawn.