Eye on Africa

Conflict, poverty and collapsing services: why cholera is surging again "Peace is health," World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus repeats in briefings, a blunt reminder that infectious disease is not merely a biological problem but a political and social one. In late August 2025, WHO warned the world that cholera is resurging — and that the drivers are familiar: armed conflict, broken water and sanitation systems, deepening poverty and strained vaccine supplies. The warning is not abstract.…

Between a Scholarship and a Closed Door: A Somali Student’s Long Wait for a Yes The calls stopped first. Then the messages. For 12 days, a Somali student who had won a coveted Erasmus Mundus scholarship waited for a residence permit to study in Denmark—only to learn, as so many young people with dreams find out, that the hardest borders are often the invisible ones. Ali Musa, a scholar who had secured full funding to study at the University of Copenhagen, found his plans stalled when Danish authorities denied his residence…

Political Shifts in Liberia: A Changing Landscape Under President Boakai In a dramatic turn of events, President Joseph Boakai of Liberia has reshaped the government's landscape by dismissing senior officials, sparking a wave of uncertainty among cabinet members and agency heads. This unexpected upheaval has not only alarmed those directly affected but has also raised broader questions about the direction of Boakai’s presidency. As the dust settles, the political implications of these moves could resonate far beyond the…

Conflict, poverty and collapsing services: why cholera is surging again "Peace is health," World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus repeats in briefings, a blunt reminder that infectious disease is not merely a biological problem but a political and social one. In late August 2025, WHO warned the world that cholera is resurging — and that the drivers are familiar: armed conflict, broken water and sanitation systems, deepening poverty and strained vaccine supplies. The warning is not abstract.…

South West Somalia Tries to Turn Down the Temperature — Online and Off Somalia’s South West State is drawing a line against those it says are fanning inter-clan tensions from afar, announcing this week it will pursue legal action against people accused of inciting violence and revenge killings. The warning comes as local elders and administrators push a fragile peace deal in Diinsoor, a town in Bay region where recent clashes between armed militias ignited long-simmering grievances. “There are people outside the conflict…

Political Shifts in Liberia: A Changing Landscape Under President Boakai In a dramatic turn of events, President Joseph Boakai of Liberia has reshaped the government's landscape by dismissing senior officials, sparking a wave of uncertainty among cabinet members and agency heads. This unexpected upheaval has not only alarmed those directly affected but has also raised broader questions about the direction of Boakai’s presidency. As the dust settles, the political implications of these moves could resonate far beyond the…

Analysis: A diplomat’s lonely fight exposes a bigger test for Canada’s foreign service OTTAWA — The room was quiet when Madina Iltireh finished talking. She had just told a small crowd of former colleagues and friends what it felt like to represent Canada abroad while, she says, being made to feel she did not belong. “I was representing Canada, but Canada did not represent me,” she said softly, standing in a downtown Ottawa conference room. “I went through hell.” The hell she describes unfolded thousands of kilometres…

Somali Youth Unemployment Deepens as Foreign Workers Take Local Jobs — A Threat to the Nation’s Future

Somalia’s Jobless Youth and the Expat Premium: What Happens When a Country Outsources Its Future? MOGADISHU — On a hot morning near Kilometre 4, the capital’s arteries of traffic pulse around concrete blast walls and coffee stalls. At a curbside kiosk, a queue of young men and women refresh their phones, swapping links to job ads that feel always just out of reach. Many are college graduates; most live with family; almost all say the same thing: the opportunities are elsewhere. Somalia is far from the only place where a…

New Afreximbank chief vows to turn raw exports into homegrown industry — but the path is steep In a stately ceremony in Cairo on Oct. 25, Dr. George Elombi took the oath as president and chairman of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), laying out a mission that is at once technical and deeply political: to break a continent’s dependence on exporting raw materials and instead build the factories, ports and skills that keep wealth in Africa. "To change the structure, we must process. We must produce. Unless we…