THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

Jan

09

2026

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…

Dec

30

2025

By ABBEY MAKOE

US faces China’s backlash over “provocative” Taiwan arms sale

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE People's Republic of China has unleashed a major backlash against what it calls a provocative US decision to sell large-scale arms to Taiwan, which China considers an inalienable part of its territory. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced countermeasures against 20 US military companies and 10 senior executives involved in arming Taiwan in recent years. In a statement published on its website, the Ministry declared in no uncertain terms: "No country or force shall ever underestimate the resolve, will and ability of the Chinese government and people to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity." Appealing for adherence…

Dec

29

2025

By VICTORIA GIBBON and CIRAJ RASSOOL

Looted African belongings must be returned: is it repatriation or restitution? The words we use matter

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

MUSEUMS and universities around the world hold vast collections of cultural artefacts, artworks, objectified belongings and even ancestral remains. Many were not freely given but taken during colonial times, through force, manipulation, theft or violence. For decades, they have sat in storerooms and display cases, classified into categories like anthropology, natural history or ethnology, separated from the people and communities to whom they once belonged. In recent years, there has been growing recognition that these collections carry painful legacies. Calls for their return have become part of a global conversation about decolonisation, justice and healing. In 2018, French President Emmanuel…

Jul

28

2025

By ROSE NAKAYI and JÖRG WIEGRATZ

Uganda’s land eviction crisis: do populist state measures actually fix problems?

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

POPULISM is rife in various African countries. This political ideology responds to and takes advantage of a situation where a large section of people feels exploited, marginalised or disempowered. It sets up “the people” against “the other”. It promises solidarity with the excluded by addressing their grievances. Populism targets broad social groups, operating across ethnicity and class. But how does populism fare when it informs state interventions to address long-standing societal issues under capitalism? Do populist state measures – especially when launched by a politically powerful leader – deliver improvements for the stated beneficiaries? As academics who have researched populism…

Jun

18

2025

By MOHAMMED AMIN

Khartoum is free of the RSF, but survival is still a struggle

HEADLINES, THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian.By Mohammed Amin HUNDREDS of families were moving in both directions last month as I drove between Port Sudan – the country’s wartime capital – and Khartoum, the real capital, now under army control after a painful occupation by the Rapid Support Forces. Heading toward Khartoum were returnees crammed into small trucks, packed full of furniture and other household items. They had fled two years earlier when the RSF swept into the city. Now, some were returning to see what was left of their homes. But going the other way – back…

Dec

22

2025

By TSWELOPELE MAKOE

RIP Lusanda Dumke: The captain of the unseen

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

WHEN Nelson Mandela spoke the following words, he was describing a force capable of bridging the deepest chasms of our unequal society. “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair.” In the life and career of the Springbok legend Lusanda Dumke, we saw those Mandela’s words made flesh. Dumke’s journey from the grassroots fields of the Eastern Cape to the captaincy of the Springbok Women was more than a sports…