NEWS ANALYSIS

Will 80% supply hole in Uganda’s polythene bag market be crisis or opportunity? Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE | Ugandan environmentalists are renewing their fight against the manufacture of polythene materials in the country following the Aug. 28 enforcement of a ban on plastic carrier bags by the Kenyan government. …

Norway’s wealth fund – a jumbo piggy bank to be used prudently Oslo, Norway | AFP |  Norway has the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund — a treasure chest nearly $1 trillion (830 billion euros) to be set aside for rainy days but also to help fund today’s election promises. …

Yangon, Myanmar | AFP | The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), the militant group which tipped Myanmar’s Rakhine state into a crisis, on Sunday declared a unilateral ceasefire until October 9. Deadly attacks by ARSA began on August 25, provoking weeks of operations by Myanmar’s troops and police which have sent …

ANALYSIS: Long serving Angola President retires to a quiet sunset. Can it happen in Uganda? Kampala, Uganda | RONALD MUSOKE |   Renowned Ugandan political researcher and analyst Frederick Golooba Mutebi (PhD) says there is no guarantee of a smooth transition from long-serving President Yoweri Museveni as happened recently in Angola where President José …

ANALYSIS: Kenya Supreme Court annulment of election reignites debate over Uganda ruling Kampala, Uganda | HAGGAI MATSIKO | On the evening of Sept.4, in the boardroom of his offices on Plot 103, Buganda Road, Mohmed Mbabazi, the lead lawyer in the 2016 Amama Mbabazi presidential elections petition, appeared like he was …

  Lagos, Nigeria | AFP |  Poverty, marginalisation and bad governance are more important factors in the radicalisation of young Africans than religion, according to a new study published on Thursday. The UN came to the conclusion after interviewing 495 former members of organisations such as Nigeria’s Boko Haram, the …

Lome, Togo | AFRICAN ARGUMENTS  | On Saturday 19 August, shocking images of the bodies of protesters being carried on stretchers started flooding social media in Togo. That day, thousands of citizens had taken to the streets to demand democratic reforms and the restoration of the country’s 1992 constitution. Calling for change after half a …

Given its challenges, why did Kenya’s IEBC schedule the rerun election before the 60 day limit?  Nairobi, Kenya | ISS TODAY |  Kenya’s Supreme Court has been widely – and rightly – hailed for its bold, historic and unprecedented decision last week to annul the 8 August election victory of President Uhuru …

  Paris, France | AFP |  First there was Harvey, which put much of Houston under water. Now Hurricane Irma is rampaging across the Caribbean and closing in on Miami. Meanwhile, Jose — still a tropical storm — is brewing in the Gulf of Mexico, while Katia in the Atlantic …

HURRICANES: low-pressure systems that pack more power than the energy released by the atomic bomb that levelled Hiroshima. Paris, France | AFP |  No matter what they are called — hurricanes, cyclones or typhoons — the giant tropical storms that form in oceans near the Americas and Asia can be …