THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

Jan

16

2026

Uganda’s autocratic political system is failing its people – and threatens the region

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

WHEN he was first sworn in as Uganda’s president in 1986, Yoweri Museveni declared that his victory represented a “fundamental change”. He promised that Ugandans would no longer die at the hands of fellow citizens. He also criticised African leaders who sought international prestige while their people lacked food, healthcare and dignity. In his books Sowing the Mustard Seed (published in 1997) and What Is Africa’s Problem? (2000), Museveni condemned leaders who overstayed in power. Now nearly four decades into his rule, Uganda’s promised democratic renewal has been replaced by increasingly autocratic governance. Once the liberator, Museveni has become the…

Jan

16

2026

By WILLIAM GOURLAY

Another war in the Horn of Africa would be disastrous for one of the world’s most repressive nations

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE geopolitical temperature is rising in the Red Sea. Ethiopia is threatening Eritrea, its diminutive neighbour, making a claim on the Eritrean port of Assab. Ethiopian President Abiy Ahmed recently remarked that regaining Red Sea access would correct a “historical mistake” and address an “existential question” for landlocked Ethiopia. Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel snapped back, accusing Ethiopia of irredentism and fomenting “an unjustified war”. Public responses were muted on the streets of Asmara, the Eritrean capital, where I recently visited. The media is entirely government-controlled, so it is possible that few Asmarinos were aware of these developments. And while…

Jan

15

2026

By MAHMOOD MAMDANI

The making and breaking of Uganda: an interview with scholar Mahmood Mamdani

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

IN his latest book, Slow Poison: Idi Amin, Yoweri Museveni, and the Making of the Ugandan State, anthropologist Mahmood Mamdani explains the factors and characters – Idi Amin and Yoweri Museveni – that shaped post-independence Uganda. As he explains to The Conversation Africa, there are striking differences between the two men. Museveni has been in office for almost four decades. Amin lasted eight years. What explains Museveni’s endurance? I try to explain in the book some of the most important reasons Museveni has lasted for more than four decades. I think these reasons are both internal and external. The internal…

Jan

14

2026

By VUSI MAVIMBELA

Sunbeam, Pantyhose and the loss of pride as well as dignity

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

PROFESSOR Busani Ngcaweni uploaded a Facebook post where he laments the deterioration and squalor of iNanda, the hometown of his youth in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. He wittily titled the post, ‘Sunbeam and Pantyhose: iNanda and the Loss of Dignity’. In our youth, even in the midst of social deprivation and Apartheid, Sunbeam polish and a pantyhose were essential elements in keeping the concrete floor of the house and the veranda shining and squeaky clean. It seems today there is lamentation everywhere as we witness the mess we have allowed to set in and multiply. We have abandoned even…

Jan

10

2026

By ALAMALDEEN ISMAIL

“I volunteer because I love my people”: On the ground with Darfur’s mutual aid volunteers

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

MUTUAL aid remains at the heart of Sudan’s humanitarian response, and nowhere more so than in the western Darfur region, where the paramilitary-turned-rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has carried out some of the conflict’s worst abuses to date, displacing millions of people. https://youtu.be/yRonhgYXP88?si=WthnlRYewYe1JFnz To document these grassroots efforts, Darfuri videographer Alamaldeen Ismail travelled in August 2025 to the border town of Tina, where he met displaced families and members of emergency response rooms – decentralised, neighbourhood-based groups delivering much of the lifesaving local aid. Like many towns in Darfur, Tina has received large numbers of people fleeing RSF atrocities in…

Jan

09

2026

By TOLU OLAREWAJU

Nigeria has a high poverty rate – what this has to do with ethnic conflicts

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

NIGERIA has endured decades of violent insurgencies and ranks 6th on the 2025 Global Terrorism Index. Numerous people have been killed, and millions displaced. The number of casualties from terrorist attacks in 2025 can be seen in both the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data and the Council on Foreign Relations’ Nigeria Security Tracker. Most of the casualties are in places with high poverty levels, as the Nigerian Poverty Map shows. Tolu Olarewaju, who has researched ethnic poverty, unpacks why regions of violence and poverty overlap in Nigeria. What is the state of poverty in Nigeria? Poverty in Nigeria comes…

Jan

07

2026

By ROBERT MUGGAH

5 scenarios for a post-Maduro Venezuela — and what they could signal to the wider region

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE predawn U.S. military operation that spirited Nicolás Maduro and his wife out of Venezuela and into U.S. custody marks a watershed in hemispheric politics. In an operation that lasted just over two hours, American forces removed a foreign president. It followed months of sabre-rattling and a steady buildup of America’s regional forces. Whether under the banner of counter-narcotics or regime change, the message is unmistakable: The U.S. is prepared to act unilaterally, forcefully and, potentially, illegally. And this will have broad ramifications across Latin America, not least for Venezuela itself. The reaction to the U.S. intervention from across the…

Jan

03

2026

By JOVIAL RANTAO

VENEZUELA: What then? The Collapse of international order and the return to might makes right

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE missiles have fallen on Caracas. The president of Venezuela has been seized. The condemnations have been issued. The emergency UN Security Council meeting has been called. And now comes the question that should terrify anyone who values a world governed by law rather than force: What then? When the United States can bomb a sovereign capital, kill civilians, and kidnap a head of state - regardless of that leader's legitimacy or crimes - without facing meaningful consequences, what remains of the international order painstakingly constructed after two world wars cost tens of millions of lives? The answer, increasingly, appears…

Jan

02

2026

By OLAYINKA AJALA

US air strikes in northern Nigeria: possible windfalls, as well as dangers

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

A month before the US carried out its Christmas Day attack on militants linked to the Islamic State group (IS) in north-western Nigeria, President Donald Trump had declared Nigeria a “country of particular concern”. This was due to the alleged killing of Christians by terrorist groups in the country. Trump threatened military intervention if the attacks against Christians continued. The threat became a reality on Christmas Day when the US military’s Africa Command – in coordination with the Nigerian authorities – carried out strikes on terrorist locations in Sokoto state, North-West Nigeria. There were mixed reactions to the attacks. Some…

Dec

31

2025

By MOHAMMED AMIN

Sexual abuse and blood theft: What I found at a camp for Sudanese displaced from El Fasher

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

FOR nearly three years, I have documented the human toll of Sudan’s war, including the suffering it has caused to my own family. Yet little compares to what I heard last week at a displacement camp in the town of Al Dabbah in northern Sudan. This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian. By Mohammed Amin The camp hosts nearly 15,000 people from the western Darfur region who fled attacks by the UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces after the group seized the city of El Fasher on 26 October, killing thousands in one of the war’s worst atrocities yet. Many…