Creator
Simon Allison
Simon Allison is the Africa editor of the Mail & Guardian, and the founding editor-in-chief of The Continent. He is a 2021 Young Africa Leadership Initiative fellow.
Bill Gates plays God in Africa’s agriculture and gets it wrong
Agra’s drive for a ‘green revolution’ has reduced crop diversity, created a dependency on commercial seeds and fertiliser and increased vulnerability to drought
Abiy Ahmed biography is an intimate, unsettling portrait of the man who would be emperor
Tom Gardner offers a compelling analysis of how the Ethiopian prime minister ruthlessly exploited tensions between regions and ethnic groups to gain power
This is (still) ANC country
The big takeaway from this election is less about the weaknesses of the ruling party and more about its enduring strength
Africa’s biggest-ever media deal opens the door to far-right nonsense
If the biggest-ever media deal in Africa is successful, a French billionaire with a track record of buying media to promote far-right ideologies will have access to tens of…
Nobel peace laureate: ‘More money in lies than in truth’
Nobel peace prize winner Maria Ressa has taken up the fight against deepfake, a threat to journalism and democracy
World court agreed that Israel is on the wrong side of history
South Africa’s case against Israel’s actions in Gaza has boosted its international standing and secured its position as the moral voice of the Global South
Abiy’s port in a storm
Landlocked Ethiopia wants a port, any port. Somaliland has a coastline and wants someone to recognise the self-governing territory as a fully-fledged country. So a deal was made…
The world is brutally indifferent to the DRC’s democracy
The country’s future is inextricably intertwined with that of the planet itself. That is not necessarily a good thing
The arms dealer behind the African peace mission to Ukraine
A weapons manufacturer on a peace mission. What could possibly go wrong?
African researchers warn against AI hype
If anything, the programmes in their current incarnation are more like sophisticated parrots, incapable of original thought
African Union leader charged with sexual assault
The charges against the Pan-African Parliament’s president are the latest in a string of alleged offences by senior African leaders
Russia losing scramble for Africa
Sergei Lavrov’s African tour was supposed to highlight the strength of Russia’s relationship with the continent but it did the opposite
Amazing Africans of the year show world how to achieve true greatness
Here are some of the people who made it in worlds as diverse as entertainment, sport and politics — and made a difference on the continent
Latest US strategy highlights Africa’s place in the new world order
African states are once again caught in the middle
Uber drives a hard bargain in Africa at the cost of its drivers
But the drivers don’t get a say, or the benefits gained by their overseas peers