NEWS ANALYSIS

After two years, no end in sight to Burundi’s deadly turmoil Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Two years after Burundi’s president plunged the central African country into turmoil, the regime shows no signs of easing up on a crackdown that has forced hundreds of thousands to flee. The UN estimates …

African insurance regulators, CEOs and experts share views at high profile meeting in Dakar, Senegal For years now, digital advances have been transforming a range of industries. The insurance industry especially in Africa has generally been slow to adopt new digital approaches, but times are now changing. This shift is …

Here is why Ugandans are poorer today than yesterday There is more bad news for the Uganda economy this April. According to the latest figures from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) and the Central Bank, the economy will not achieve the targeted 4.5% growth this financial year. It will …

Figures from the 2014 National Population and Housing Census show that, in the last 10 years, the percentage of Ugandan identifying as Catholics has declined from 41.6% in 2002 to 39.3% of the general population.  In the 1991 census, however, the number identifying as Catholic was estimated to be between …

US supercarrier due in Sea of Japan ‘in days’: Pence Seoul, South Korea | AFP | The US supercarrier Carl Vinson will arrive in the Sea of Japan in days, Vice President Mike Pence said Saturday, after days of mixed messages from Washington over the warship’s whereabouts. The strike group was …

Why a Rwanda-inspired bill to broaden ban on polythene bags across East Africa might drag on forever Plastic carrier bags could remain in use for the foreseeable future within the East African Community as debate on the East African Community Polythene Materials Control Bill, 2016 drags on in the East …

Paris, France | AFP |  Nearly 47 million French voters go to the polls on Sunday in the first round of the country’s presidential election. – Why is it important? – France is the EU’s second-biggest economy and also one of the world’s biggest military and diplomatic powers. With two …

Paris, France | AFP | The steady drip of jihadist attacks in Europe, including the slaying of a policeman on Paris’s world-famous Champs Elysees Thursday, might give the impression the Islamic State group is thriving — but experts say that’s wrong. Under the pressure of the international coalition in Iraq …

Yumbe, Uganda | AFP | Michael O’Hagan Ugandan motorbike taxi driver Sadiq Agotre grumbles as he waits for a rare client among thousands of South Sudanese refugees hoping to receive food rations in the outskirts of his town. “Business is not good. These people don’t have money,” he says, gazing out …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | British Prime Minister Theresa May’s surprise call for a snap general election comes with the country facing a host of challenges — all closely bound up with the country’s exit from the European Union. Here are some of the major issues May or her …