Editor's note

There are growing fears in Kenya that general elections due to be held in August could trigger the kind of violence that marred the country 10 years ago leaving over 1 000 people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. Sekou Toure Otondi explains what’s fuelling the fears.                                                                                                                                                                   

The term “middle class” is bandied about to back up the claim that Africans are increasingly moving out of poverty and getting wealthier. But, writes Henning Melber, these claims are meaningless given that very little analytical rigour is applied to the definition of what constitutes a “middle class”.

The Ebola outbreak in parts of West Africa two years ago had a devastating effect on many countries. In Sierra Leone it led to the collapse of its entire health system. Eric Osoro explains how, with health facilities closed, communities were pushed to the forefront of the Ebola outbreak response and why this was critical to bringing it under control.

Julie Masiga

Editor

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Voters queue to cast their ballots during presidential and parliamentary elections in 2013. Reuters/Thomas Mukoya

Kenya's history of election violence is threatening to repeat itself

Sekou Toure Otondi, University of Nairobi

As party primaries have kicked off in Kenya in the run-up to the county's general election in August, the ghost of violence past has reared its ugly head causing deep divisions along tribal lines.

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