Leaders have called for a record replenishment of the Bank’s grants and concessional lending arm. Much bigger changes are needed. Leaders from Africa at the IDA21 Replenishment Summit called for an increase in donor contributions to IDA, the low-income financing arm of the World Bank. Credit: Primature de Côte d’Ivoire. When he assumed the presidency of the World Bank in June 2023, Ajay Banga promised a bigger and better Bank. During the just concluded annual Spring Meetings, Banga reiterated this ambition and his hope for a 20%-25% increase in donor contributions to the International Develo ..read more

Burundi is struggling to provide relief to hundreds of thousands and protect infrastructure as floods cause devastation. Children play in the floods in Gatumba, Burundi. Credit: Lorraine Josiane Manishatse. Thousands of people in Burundi have been displaced by floods caused by the overflowing of Lake Tanganyika, the second largest freshwater lake in the world by volume. The capital Bujumbura, which sits on the northeastern edge of the lake, has been badly affected along with other coastal towns and cities. Hundreds of buildings including hospitals and schools have been abandoned, roads and b ..read more

Leaders called on donors to replenish the World Bank’s grants and concessional loans arm with “at least $120 billion” for debt and climate. 19 Africa heads of state and other leaders were present at the IDA21 Summit in Kenya on 28-29 April 2024. Credit: WilliamsRuto “The current system needs more than just adjustment – it needs an overhaul. Africa must be at the centre of these reforms, but our criticisms have for too long fallen on deaf ears.”  This was the shared opinion of the presidents of Ghana, Kenya and Zambia in their piece on how to make global finance work better, for The Econ ..read more

Ethiopia’s triumph over Italy at Adwa is central to its national identity, but many Eritreans who were subjected to Emperor Menelik’s brutal retribution for serving Rome recall the darker side of the story. Opened on 12 February 2024 at a cost of 4.6 billion birr ($80 million), the Adwa Victory Memorial Hall is one of PM Abiy Ahmed Ali’s grand monuments both to history and modernity that now dot Addis Ababa’s expanding skyline. Photo courtesy: Adwa Museum.  The 128th commemoration of the Battle of Adwa was observed in Ethiopia on 2 March 2024, amidst lavish festivities coinciding w ..read more

Regional price distortions hurt small traders the most; as more states adopt competition rules, it’s the traders and consumers who will win big.   Adjamé Market, Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Courtesy: Ecofin Agency.  National economies may reign supreme, but cross-border trade remains vibrant across Africa. Markets are interconnected. A drought in one country will impact the price of maize in a neighbouring country. Businesses understand this dynamic and often operate on a regional basis. Take an example: traders buy soybeans in Malawi and Zambia to then sell them in Kenya. When mark ..read more

An expert panel give their verdict on whether the Spring Meetings offered Africa hope that climate finance will be expanded and reformed.  At the World Bank and IMF meetings, climate finance and the climate crisis were high on the agenda. Credit: Riccardo Savi/World Bank. In a year in which climate finance will take centre stage in climate negotiations, all eyes were on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring Meetings last week to see what kind of tone they would set. Both institutions are under growing pressure to reform, including to massively expand funding availa ..read more

Restoring degraded forests is essential, but planting trees in rangelands is largely ineffective and often damaging. In Africa alone, grasslands and savannas totalling an area the size of France are inappropriately targeted for tree planting. Credit: StormSignal. Tree planting is one of the nature-based solutions being used to offset greenhouse gas emissions. Trees absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide. Many of these tree planting projects target Africa’s rangelands (open grasslands or shrublands used by livestock and wild animals). They include agroforestry initiatives such as the Great Green W ..read more

Debating Ideas reflects the values and editorial ethos of the African Arguments book series, publishing engaged, often radical, scholarship, original and activist writing from within the African continent and beyond. It offers debates and engagements, contexts and controversies, and reviews and responses flowing from the African Arguments books. It is edited and managed by the International African Institute, hosted at SOAS University of London, the owners of the book series of the same name.    I read the article “The Future of IGAD amidst Turmoil in the Horn” with some intere ..read more

Workers on the HCB oil palm plantations © H. Nicolaï, 1955. Courtesy: The Oakland Institute.  Lord Leverhulme’s 1911 concession in the Congo, is now held by an African-run New York-based private equity firm with strong links to global philanthropy.  140 years ago this November at the Berlin Conference, Belgium’s King Leopold was recognized as the sole owner of the Congo Free State, a territory including the entirety of today’s Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Leopold’s reign was marked by slavery, millions of deaths, and widespread atrocities committed during the first colo ..read more

A decade ago, Europe responded to Rwanda’s incursions into the DRC with sanctions. Today, it’s turning a blind eye – with devastating consequences for the Congolese. UN Human Rights High Commissioner, Volker Turk addressing refugees at the Bulengo camp in North Kivu in April 2024. Photo courtesy: MONUSCO In April 2012, a group of largely Tutsi Congolese military officers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) mutinied and crossed the border into Rwanda, where they announced the creation of a new rebel group, the M23. The movement went on to launch attacks into eastern Congo, motivate ..read more