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.
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Voters queue to cast their ballots during presidential and parliamentary elections in 2013.
Reuters/Thomas Mukoya
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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Business + Economy
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Henning Melber, University of Pretoria
The middle class concept in Africa has remained vague and limited to number crunching. The minimum threshold for entering it in monetary terms was critically vulnerable to a setback into poverty.
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Health + Medicine
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Eric Osoro, Washington State University
The power to overcoming Ebola was in public awareness by performing simple yet basic infection prevention and control measures like washing hands, isolation and reporting suspected cases.
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Politics + Society
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Yvan Yenda Ilunga, Rutgers University
Political agreements between major political actors aren’t enough to ensure stability in the DRC. Structural changes are needed as is a new approach towards governance.
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From our international editions
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James Foster, Lund University
New research shows the insects use the brightness of different stars to work out which direction to go.
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Dan Reisenfeld, The University of Montana
As the probe starts its 'Grand Finale,' a Cassini team member describes the amazing discoveries it made about the ringed planet and its many moons.
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Shakespeare: from our archives
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Francis Thackeray, University of the Witwatersrand
South African forensics may provide clues to the 400-year-old mystery of what was smoked in pipes found in Shakespeare's garden.
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Chris Thurman, University of the Witwatersrand
Is there a place for Shakespeare in African schools, or is his time long past?
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Sarah Pett, University of York
When literary studies degrees focus almost entirely on the work of white, male writers, we do our students and the academy a great disservice.
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Chris Thurman, University of the Witwatersrand
Most other African countries have a less fractious or problematic relationship to Shakespeare than South Africa does.
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