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Oct
03
2023
By The African Mirror
Trade unions and the new economy: 3 African case studies show how workers are recasting their power in the digital age

Trade unions and the new economy: 3 African case studies show how workers are recasting their power in the digital age

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS, EDITORS CHOICE
FROM US car factories to public sector workers in Nigeria and South Africa, strikes by trade unions continue unabated among the established sectors of the working class. In Detroit in the US, workers are resisting contract employment. In Nigeria, they are angry over the rising cost of living and in South Africa, municipal workers are striking for better wages. EDWARD WEBSTER, Distinguished Reserach Professor, Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, University of the Witwatersrand But it’s becoming increasingly difficult to build sustainable worker organisations as companies employ more people on a casual basis in the digital age. Work has become more…
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Sep
30
2023
By The African Mirror
Charms and rituals are used by criminals in Nigeria – should police deploy spiritual security too?

Charms and rituals are used by criminals in Nigeria – should police deploy spiritual security too?

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS, EDITORS CHOICE
CRIME is among the major challenges confronting Nigeria as a nation. The pervasiveness of crime has repeatedly called into question the effectiveness and efficiency of the Nigeria Police Force. This is despite their exclusive reliance on modern policing strategies and techniques. USMAN A. OJEDOKUN, Sociologist/Criminologist, University of Ibadan Traditionally, crime-related matters have been handled through what’s known as “spiritual security”. This is a knowledge system that involves the use of amulets, charms, rituals and talismans for protection, power and clairvoyance. As sociologists specialising in criminology, we were interested in what the Nigerian police personnel had to say about these mechanisms…
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Sep
29
2023
By The African Mirror
Lagos building collapses: we used machine learning to show where and why they happen

Lagos building collapses: we used machine learning to show where and why they happen

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS
BUILDING collapses have become a major menace in Lagos, Nigeria. Lagos is the business hub of the country and has its largest seaport and airport. With an estimated population of 15.4 million, it is the largest city in sub-Saharan Africa and the second largest in Africa after Cairo. The city has two distinct geographical areas: Lagos Island and Lagos Mainland, connected by three bridges. Lagos Island is the historical nucleus of the city. This area is renowned for its eclectic mix of architectural styles, a blend of modern skyscrapers, remnants of colonial-era structures and bustling traditional markets. It serves as…
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Sep
27
2023
By JOHN IRISH and EDWARD MCALLISTER
Analysis: West losing sight of Sahel after France announces Niger withdrawal

Analysis: West losing sight of Sahel after France announces Niger withdrawal

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS
FRANCE'S decision to pull 1,500 troops from Niger leaves a gaping hole in Western efforts to counter a decade-long Islamist insurgency and could bolster Russian influence across the vast, insecure scrublands of West Africa, analysts and diplomats said. Niger was the West's last key ally in the central Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert until a July 26 coup brought in a military junta which called for France to leave. France's forces have already been kicked out of neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso following coups in those countries, weakening its influence in its former colonies amid a wave of anti-French…
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Sep
23
2023
By AMIRA OSMAN, AMIRA OSMAN, Tshwane University of Technology; AKRAM AHMED ELKHALIFA and TALLAL ABDALBASIT SAEED
Khartoum’s burning tower: architects on the destruction of a city – and what it’ll take to rebuild

Khartoum’s burning tower: architects on the destruction of a city – and what it’ll take to rebuild

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS
THERE has been a continued escalation in fighting between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The destruction of the capital Khartoum continues – physically, economically, socially and culturally – as buildings are bombarded and homes looted. One of the city’s landmark skyscrapers, the Greater Nile Petroleum Oil Company Tower, was recently engulfed in flames. We asked three Sudanese architecture experts – Amira Osman, Akram Elkhalifa and Tallal Abdalbasit Saeed – about the skyscraper and the destruction of the city. Osman also interviewed Khartoum-based architects Arwa Ahmed and Hassan Mahmoud for this article as part of her ongoing research.…
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Jul
13
2023
By The African Mirror
Gold fraud: The Goldenberg scam that cost Kenya billions of dollars in the 1990s – and no one was jailed

Gold fraud: The Goldenberg scam that cost Kenya billions of dollars in the 1990s – and no one was jailed

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS
THE Goldenberg scandal in the early 1990s is Kenya’s largest documented gold fraud. The scheme involved Goldenberg International Limited, which pretended to export gold and diamonds, and in exchange received substantial subsidies from the government for “earning” foreign exchange. Kenyan businessman Kamlesh Pattni – who was at the centre of the scandal and was charged with fraud but eventually acquitted – was recently named in a new investigation into gold fraud. This time his operation is allegedly being run through Zimbabwe from his base in Dubai. Economists Roman Grynberg and Fwasa Singogo, who have researched the Goldenberg case, and the…
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Jul
05
2023
By LIBBY GEORGE
Analysis: Caught between riots and debt crises, African countries cut fuel subsidies

Analysis: Caught between riots and debt crises, African countries cut fuel subsidies

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS
ABDOULAYE Diallo is paying over 50% more to fill up his "thiak-thiak" motorbike taxi in Keur Mbaye Fall, a suburb of Senegal's capital Dakar, than he was before the government began lifting fuel subsidies in January. Diallo, 25, is already navigating punishing inflation and deadly political riots, but his biggest problem is he cannot pass on the cost of filling his fuel tank, which has risen to 3,500 CFA ($5.82), from 2,000 CFA last year. "The customers...don't realize how difficult it is," Diallo said. "That's the kind of thing we need to protest against." Senegal, like Nigeria and Angola, is removing costly…
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Jul
01
2023
By The African Mirror
What does the Wagner Group do? Operations in Africa and the rest of the world explained

What does the Wagner Group do? Operations in Africa and the rest of the world explained

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS
THE abortive mutiny by Russia's Wagner group last week calls into question the fate of the group's wide network of military and commercial operations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. This factbox shows what Wagner is doing and where. UKRAINE Wagner deployed in Ukraine soon after the invasion began early last year and by the summer it was enlisting thousands of prisoners to fight for it on the front lines. By December, as it took a central role in the battle for Bakhmut, U.S. intelligence estimated it had 40,000 prisoner recruits fighting in Ukraine, though Wagner itself has not commented on…
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Jun
29
2023
By The African Mirror
Migrant numbers are rising: conflict, climate and harassment are forcing tens of millions to leave their homes

Migrant numbers are rising: conflict, climate and harassment are forcing tens of millions to leave their homes

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS
THE number of forcibly displaced people increased to 108 million in 2022 and is expected to reach 117 million by the end of 2023, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Of these, just over 60 million were internally displaced – people who have been forced to leave their homes but have not crossed their (internationally recognised) borders. Almost 30 million were refugees outside their country of origin. The remainder were asylum seekers, stateless persons, returnees and persons in need of international protection. BORJA SANTOS PORRAS, Director Ejecutivo - IE School of Global and Public Affairs, IE University UNHCR…
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Jun
28
2023
By MACDONALD DZIRUTWE
Analysis: Nigeria’s Tinubu faces daunting hurdles after reform sprint

Analysis: Nigeria’s Tinubu faces daunting hurdles after reform sprint

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS
NEW Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has moved at lightning speed in his first month in office, implementing a raft of radical changes aimed at finally unleashing the full potential of Africa's sluggish economic giant. But while his rapid headway on reforms has wowed investors, some analysts, observers and business leaders warn that bigger challenges await and question whether the 71-year-old - viewed by many as part of Nigeria's old guard - is really the man to take them on. "There has been a big policy shift (but) I think there are things that investors would like to see happening to really be convinced…
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