Stephanie Burchard

Cameroon’s Predictable Election Will Produce Unpredictable Chaos At nearly 93, Paul Biya is all but guaranteed a victory—but has no successor.

On Sunday, #Cameroon will hold an election that will certainly return #PaulBiya to power. For @foreignpolicy.com , I examine how the succession battle and election have unearthed societial fissures that will make the post-Biya transition dangerously unstable.

The research on this topic shows that the way pollsters ask about political violence impacts the results they get — and that this can, in turn, actually affect real-world support for violence. That means that covering polls the right way can help decrease long-term political violence in America

Review: Victims of a terrorist insurgency talk back So many stories of suffering in Africa are told by others; so few by the people living them. An oral history of people living through the Boko Haram conflict aims to correct this.

So many stories of suffering in Africa are told by others; so few by the people living them. 'The World Was In Our Hands', an oral history of people living through the Boko Haram conflict, aims to correct this. @hararereview.bsky.social has the review.

Biya seeks an 8th term. Ministers defect. Anglophone regions face insurgency. Can Cameroon's opposition break decades of CPDM dominance? 🔗 africaelects.com/2025/10/07/biya-vs-the-opposition-cameroons-high-stakes-2025-vote #CameroonDecides #AfricaPolitics

This is a fantastic achievement. Congrats, Nina, for producing the most comprehensive book to date on the foreign intervention in the Sahel. What makes this work so precious, among other things, is the unique body of evidence it relies on, collected year after year in multiple Sahelian countries

Tanzania’s Samia Hassan has ushered in a new era of authoritarianism: here’s how President Samia Hassan is relying on repressive tactics to eliminate her most significant competitors from the 2025 presidential race.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan has ushered in a new era of authoritarianism, and in key ways more autocratic than her predecessor Magufuli. She has crossed autocratic thresholds that haven’t been breached since Tanzania’s transition to multipartyism in 1992.

Madagascar president who took power in coup accuses protesters of trying to trigger another one Young people take to streets to voice anger at water and power cuts, and corruption in political system

Madagascar’s president Andry Rajoelina, who first came to power in a coup in 2009 after leading mass protests, has condemned protests calling for his resignation, saying that demonstrators were trying to trigger a coup.

Beset by Jihadist Violence, ECOWAS Mends Fences With Coup Leaders Having initially sanctioned the coup leaders of three Sahel states that withdrew from it last year, ECOWAS now hopes to reconcile.

“ECOWAS is no doubt aware that unless it works with its junta-led neighbors, it is at risk of collapsing entirely.”

‘We are the last hope’: Gen Z Madagascar vows to fight on until president resigns Protesting young people reject dissolution of government as insufficient and demand list of reforms

“I realised if I stop now, who’s gonna stand up again? If I don’t do it, who’s going to do it? If it’s not now, then when?”

I spoke to Gen Z protestors in Madagascar, who said they plan to fight on until the president resigns and the whole political system is reformed

Kenyan activists abducted in Uganda, Bobi Wine says Bobi Wine says the two Kenyans were "picked up mafia-style" because they had joined his campaign.

Kenyan activists abducted in Uganda, Bobi Wine says

So happy to see this out! We caution against excessive optimism that the opposition will restore countries back to their democratic trajectories after electoral victory. Weakened institutions and the memory of repression makes it tempting to continue rather than buck the trend of autocratization.

The Battle for the Soul of Uganda – Africa Center A new generation in Uganda demanding more political inclusion is challenging the NRM old-guard’s monopoly on power.

Yoweri Museveni is officially seeking to extend his 39-year rule in Uganda’s next presidential election.

Here’s a look at the struggle for the country’s future taking place behind Uganda’s electoral exercises:

Vanishing returns: Sudan’s ‘disappearing’ crisis Thousands of people have gone missing without a trace in Sudan’s war, exacerbating a decades-old pattern that leaves their families trapped between hope and despair.

Thousands of people have gone missing without a trace in Sudan’s war, exacerbating a decades-old pattern that leaves their families trapped between hope and despair.

This weeks @thecontinent.org covers power aspects of aid, if the US who is one of the biggest funders of healthcare sector pulls back what does that mean for healthcare ? Here I am focusing on Uganda whose health budget is heavily subsidised by aid.

A Growing Divergence of Security Narratives in Burkina Faso – Africa Center Burkina Faso’s security conditions continue to deteriorate under the military junta despite a high-volume information campaign.

Addressing security challenges in Burkina Faso will require navigating the disparities between manufactured digital narratives and the deteriorating security realities on the ground.

After the uprising Following two years of mass protest, Kenya stands at a crossroads. A new generation of organizers is confronting an old question: how do you turn revolt into lasting change? Sungu Oyoo joins the AIAC ...

Following two years of mass protest, Kenya stands at a crossroads. A new generation of organizers is confronting an old question: how do you turn revolt into lasting change? Sungu Oyoo joins the AIAC podcast to discuss the vision of Kenya's radical left. africasacountry.com/2025/09/afte...

Since 1960, U.S. presidents have mentioned Africa in their speeches to the UN General Assembly. Only a few have said anything meaningful. My latest analyzing all 50 speeches -- from Eisenhower to Trump. poststrategy.substack.com/p/on-un-spee...

Lydia Namubiru, editor of The Continent, on how to cover Sudan. The editor in chief of The Continent on how African writers cover Africa differently.

Lydia Namubiru @namlyd.bsky.social on How to Tell the Story of Sudan: The editor in chief of The Continent on how African writers cover Africa differently, with @moniango.bsky.social.
www.cjr.org/the-intervie...

🪖Read this current article, “Briefing: How a mutiny became a(nother) coup: The politics of counterinsurgency and international military partnerships in Niger,” published in African Affairs by Aoife McCullough and Adam Sandor 👇 academic.oup.com/afraf/articl... #polisky

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

Article by @andresrtcausal.bsky.social, @tappeortiz.bsky.social, & @carlokoos.bsky.social shows gender shapes the political effects of violence: In Colombia, killings of women activists reduce women’s candidacies and voter support for women in mayoral elections.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Joseph Kony case in The Hague begins with accounts of alleged atrocities ICC hearing takes place in absence of Ugandan rebel leader accused of murder, rape, torture and sexual slavery

An ICC hearing into charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Joseph Kony has begun in his absence, but it isn't publicly known if he is actually still alive.

The victims' lawyer spoke about children who were abducted and sexually abused and mothers forced to abandon their babies

America Surrenders in the Global Information Wars The U.S. is reorienting its foreign policy to protect governments that manipulate and suppress information.

"On August 29, the State Department leadership notified staff that it was terminating more than two dozen agreements...designed to create common language and tactics to push back against Russian, Chinese, Iranian, and terrorist influence campaigns overseas..."

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

"Every single person who has died during these cycles of actions and reprisals — around 140 people in large protests –– has been killed by the police." - @nanjala.bsky.social in @hammerandhope.bsky.social

Multilateralism is not necessarily fading! There is still civilian support for it in different parts of the world. Using two sets of independent conjoint experiments, we show that civilians in Liberia prefer multilateral actors (the UN) to oversee (not rebuild) security sector reforms

Political violence in democracies: An Introduction - Andrea Ruggeri, Ursula Daxecker, Neeraj Prasad, 2025 It is well established that democracies experience less political violence than autocracies. Paradoxically, however, this widely accepted fact has led scholars ...

🚨🚨🚨Announcing a special issue on “Political Violence in Democracies” published by @jpeaceresearch.bsky.social and edited by @andrearuggeri.bsky.social, U Daxecker, and me. In this very long 🧵, I will introduce the special issue with its 14 articles. doi.org/10.1177/0022...

Uganda’s Opposition Faces a Brutal Pre-Election Crackdown The election is months away and opposition supporters in Uganda are already being beaten and thrown in jail.

Months ahead of Uganda’s general elections, opposition supporters have already been beaten and thrown in jail—an ominous sign of what is to come as the country’s long-ruling strongman seeks reelection.

Apologies: You Have Reached the End of Your Free-Trial Period of America! Want rule of law? That’s premium.

Apologies! You have reached the end of your free trial period of America

Mapping Gulf State Actors’ Expanding Engagements in East Africa – Africa Center Gulf state actors are expanding their engagements in in East Africa as they compete for influence—reshaping the region's security contours.

Turkey has emerged as a leader in the unmanned aerial vehicle market, controlling 65% of global UAV sales. This includes supplying Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, & Sudan, and negotiations are underway for an artillery and drone assembly plant in Uganda.

How Elon Musk Is Remaking Grok in His Image

"...Mr. Musk and his artificial intelligence company, xAI, have tweaked the chatbot to make its answers more conservative on many issues, according to an analysis of thousands of its responses by The New York Times. The shifts appear, in some cases, to reflect Mr. Musk’s political priorities."

The cover of The Continent (30 August 2025, Issue 211) is a cartoon illustration by Gado. It shows an old, broken-down bus painted in Burundi’s national colors (red, green, and white), with a Burundian flag at the front. The bus is overloaded with an enormous, unstable pile of goods on its roof — suitcases, sacks, baskets, furniture, bicycles, even a skull. Inside the cramped bus, passengers look weary and squashed. The bus sits propped up on bricks instead of wheels, symbolising that it can’t move. Next to it, a smiling man is holding a yellow jerrycan of fuel, as if about to pour it in. The headline at the bottom reads: “The country that’s run out of fuel.”

All Protocol Observed

Welcome to Issue 211 of The Continent.

Fuel’s been scarce in Burundi since 2018, thanks to political unrest. Now, people are risking bullets, crocodiles, even prison just to fill up.

Get your copy here: bit.ly/211_TC