NEWS ANALYSIS

Mercury: Slow killer in Uganda’s gold mines Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE |   Inside one of the dozens of gold camps that dot the foothills and valleys of Mubende in central Uganda, the hustle and bustle is astounding. “Saigon City” nestled in the valley of Kayonza; Kitumbi Sub-County is one such camp. …

Paris, France | AFP |  The theory has been aired several times over the last week: French voters are so desperate for change and for new President Emmanuel Macron to succeed that they are blindly electing his party’s candidates to parliament. Polls suggest that Macron’s Republic on the Move (REM) …

Lusaka, Zambia | AFP |  Nearly a year after coming to power in a contested election, Zambian President Edgar Lungu is facing a growing chorus of criticism over his government’s moves to clamp down on dissent. “Zambia eminently qualifies to be branded a dictatorship,” the country’s religious leaders said in …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP |  Guards check drivers’ papers to keep out uninvited guests from gated compounds where Egypt’s rich can escape the chaos of Cairo’s streets in a country with a widening wealth gap. Built in the deserts around Cairo, some compounds offer amenities such as indoor and outdoor …

Maiduguri, Nigeria | AFP | In 2013, thousands of young men formed a rag-tag militia and rounded up Boko Haram members in Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria, then handed them over to the military. The Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), as it later became known, was instrumental in driving the Islamist militants …

Berlin, Germany | AFP |  Germany’s longest serving post-war leader Helmut Kohl, the father of national reunification and an architect of European integration, died Friday at the age of 87. Kohl helped a Germany that was split during the Cold War between a capitalist west and a communist east make …

Pretoria, South Africa| BY PETER FABRICIUS| ISS TODAY| Later this month South Africa’s ruling party begins its five-yearly policy conference to determine the direction to be taken by the new African National Congress (ANC) president who will be elected in December. This is assuming that that person also becomes South Africa’s …

For the past two decades, the phenomenon of the opposition coalition has gained growing traction and interest across Africa. Johannesburg, South Africa| AFRICAN ARGUMENTS| BY NICOLE BEARDSWORTH | For the past two decades, the phenomenon of the opposition coalition has gained growing traction and interest across Africa. In 2000, a group of …

Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP |  The Somali capital Mogadishu, where at least 18 people died Wednesday in attacks on two restaurants, has suffered repeated attacks since Islamist fighters were driven out of the city in August 2011. Here is a recap of the biggest assaults since 2015: – 2017 – …

Aweil, South Sudan | AFP |  “I sell the small bottle of cooking oil for 140 SSP. Six months ago, it was 70. The customers complain,” said James Deng, an 18-year-old stallholder in Aweil, South Sudan. In this regional market in the country’s northwest — just as at the main …