This blog was originally posted on NewSecurityBeat, a blog of the Environmental Change and Security Program at the Wilson Center. Nigeria is home to many violent conflicts, one of which is the farmers-herders conflict that has posed severe security challenges in the country. The human toll of the violence has been immense, claiming more lives than the Boko Haram insurgency. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed or displaced. Nigeria has also experienced increased ethnic, regional, and religious polarization, and this crisis has undermined national stabilit ..read more

This blog was originally posted on NewSecurityBeat, a blog of the Environmental Change and Security Program at the Wilson Center. The Central Sahel is increasingly deemed the new epicenter of terrorism, accounting for 35 percent of global terrorism deaths in 2021. Yet as the situation in the region continues to deteriorate, artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) both persists and proliferates. For instance, in Mali, where much of the region’s security crisis originates, this conundrum is laid bare. As in many parts of the world, ASGM is an age-old tradition in this Sahelian na ..read more

The Ethiopian federal government’s April 6, 2023, decision to dismantle the special (paramilitary) forces to dismantle the special forces (paramilitary forces) of all the country’s regions and reintegrate them into either the national defense force, the federal police, or the respective regional police led to wide public protests in Amhara Region. The incident resulted in human rights violations such as killing individuals by security forces, destruction, and interruption of basic services. Additionally, the internet shutdown continued throughout many parts of the region. The main go ..read more

Are power dynamics in international aid changing? In 2020, the racial justice movement called out the entrenchment of racism in national and international systems, including in foreign aid. Activists and aid workers alike called on the aid industry to stop perpetuating a global system that places wealthy donor countries in positions of power and poorer developing countries as passive recipients. But when COVID-19 wreaked havoc across the globe, the responses exposed the continued entrenchment of global inequities. Vaccines were readily available to some but a distant hope for others. Instead o ..read more

Vice President Kamala Harris recently made her first official trip to the African continent. Harris traveled to Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia for a weeklong visit. During the White House’s African Leaders Summit in December 2022, the Biden administration promised to make multiple high-level trips to Africa. First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) traveled to different African countries this year. Vice President Harris is the highest-ranking Bide ..read more

The Ethiopia’s Tigray war was an armed conflict that lasted from November 2020 to November 2022. The war was primarily fought in the Tigray region of Ethiopia between the Ethiopian federal government and Eritrea on one side, and the Tigrayan forces on the other. After years of increased tensions and hostilities between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea, the Ethiopian government declared war after accusing Tigrayan forces of attacking the Ethiopian defense force’s northern command base. The war, initially limited to the Tigray regi ..read more

A plot of land that was in the process of being cleared for agriculture in Kenya. Photo by Amanda Clark According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 70 to 80% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa rely on herbal medicine as their primary form of health care. In some countries, the rates are even higher—in Ethiopia and Burundi, 90% of the population uses traditional medicine to meet their healthcare needs. Other communities use traditional medicine as a supplement to modern (or Western) medical practices–one study shows that 76% of members of Kenya’s Kuku Ranch use both herbal and modern medic ..read more

It has been a decade since African leaders envisioned a fifty-year transformational plan, Agenda 2063, by signing the 50th-anniversary solemn declaration at the African Union (AU) Summit held in Addis Ababa in May 2013. Agenda 2063, under the auspices of the AU, guides the continental, regional, and national development plans to transform the continent with sustainable development. Africa is completing the first ten-year implementation plan (FTYIP) (2013-2023) and is about to embark on the second ten-year implementation plan. The first phase had its achievements and shortcoming ..read more

Given the rate at which young populations in many African countries are expanding, the continent promises to emerge as a major consumption market in the coming decades. Over 75% of Africa’s current population is under the age of 35, and by 2030, 42% of the world’s young people are expected to reside in African nations. These statistics point to the potential for the continent to develop itself and contribute largely to innovative spaces and the world economy. However, for the continent to compete in world markets, technology will be critical to help this emerging population of leaders and doer ..read more

Climate change has thrown East Africa into its worst drought in over four decades, contributing to widespread acute food insecurity and displacement. While climate change is not the sole contributor to these calamities—socio- and geopolitical factors are also to blame—it acts as a threat multiplier, aggravating underlying socio-political tensions and increasing communities’ susceptibility to political and economic insecurity. Women are at particularly high risk of vulnerability during climate-caused natural disasters. During natural disasters such as drought, women are less likely to receive ..read more