The Continent

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The Continent is an award-winning weekly produced by African journalists, photographers, illustrators and editors. It is designed to be read and shared on messaging platforms.

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Christoph Huber, a Swiss businessman, is alleged to have found significant business opportunities in the 1990s war that killed six million Congolese. A new investigation has tracked him down to the picturesque southern tip of Africa, where he lives in million-rand homes. He denies wrongdoing.

Christoph Huber: Accused of DRC war crimes but living easy in South Africacontinent.substack.com A Swiss businessman is alleged to have found significant business opportunities in the 1990s war that killed six million Congolese. A new investigation has tracked Christoph Huber to Cape Town.

All Protocol Observed We’re back! Welcome to Issue 167 of The Continent. South African troops are in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, trying to counter a greed-fuelled conflict. The DRC’s fabulous mineral wealth has for centuries attracted those wanting to profit.

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Are there any news accounts that haven't completely given up on journalistic integrity that I could follow? News from anywhere in the world, it just needs to be in English. I already know about @aljazeeraenglish.bsky.social and @thecontinent.bsky.social (and so should you)

Dedan Kimathi’s death in 1957 was one of the biggest blows to Kenya’s anti-colonial resistance movement. The British executed him and disposed of his body. But where?

Review: Digging up history’s skeletonsopen.substack.com In the search for the body of a revered Mau Mau leader executed by the British in 1957, a new film puts Kenyans at the centre of their own history.

What could you do with $10-billion? For Ethiopia’s prime minister Abiy Ahmed, he’s planning to use that money to build himself a sprawling palace, at a price of more than half of his country’s 2024/2025 annual budget of $17-billion, which was announced recently.

The Ethiopian prime minister’s new homeopen.substack.com Abiy Ahmed is building a sprawling, staggeringly expensive palace complex as a symbol of his grand vision. He wouldn’t be the first.

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All Protocol Observed Welcome to Issue 166 of The Continent. In the Yeka Hills above Addis Ababa, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is building a $10-billion palace complex. No, that’s not a typo. That’s nine zeros.

REVIEW: In the search for the body of a revered Mau Mau leader executed by the British in 1957, a new film puts Kenyans at the centre of their own history.

Review: Digging up history’s skeletonscontinent.substack.com In the search for the body of a revered Mau Mau leader executed by the British in 1957, a new film puts Kenyans at the centre of their own history.

Boarding call: South African surfer Jordy Smith catches a curl in the Shiseido Tahiti Pro surfing contest in Teahupo’o, Tahiti. Teahupo’o will host the surfing event of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Photo: Jerome Brouillet/AFP

Oil and gas exploration off South Africa’s coast risks devastating the surrounding environment – and the communities who depend on it.

Photo Essay: Troubled watersopen.substack.com Oil and gas exploration off South Africa’s coast risks devastating the surrounding environment – and the communities who depend on it.

Private initiatives have distributed cartons of food, clothes, mattresses, utensils, and school supplies for children in displaced families or direct cash transfers to affected people. It’s all in the spirit of harambee, the Kenyan philosophy of mutual and communal aid.

Stuck with a ‘lazy’ government, Mathare is reclaiming the spirit of harambeeopen.substack.com Harambee, the Kenyan philosophy of mutual and communal aid, has given residents a lifeline.

Estimates of the prevalence of child labour in Benin range from 37%, according to the International Labour Organisation to 52.5%, according to Unicef which says 40% of working children are in dangerous work like cotton and crushed granite production.

This is not child’s playopen.substack.com Child labour is deeply entrenched in Benin – and the problem cannot just be legislated

All Protocol Observed.  Welcome to Issue 165 of The Continent.  No, it’s not just you: life is more expensive, wages are worth less and our leaders either can’t or won’t do what it takes to improve the situation.

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Which comes to my evergreen 🌲 post that you really should be subscribing for free to @thecontinent.bsky.social . It comes in your inbox 📥 or WhatsApp every Friday and is really some of the best journalism and photojournalism out there.

With at least 17 countries reporting outbreaks in the past year, the world has used up the available stockpile of cholera vaccines and new ones are not being produced fast enough.

Medicine for the money, not for the ‘few’ lives it’d savecontinent.substack.com French drugmaker won’t reopen cholera vaccine manufacturing despite global rush to save lives.

Hoof it: A rider on the trot in Orania, the Afrikaner-only town in South Africa founded in the last years of apartheid to conserve off-brand, non-British coloniser culture. Photo: Marco Longari/AFP

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, 1,000 refugees walked out of its Awlala refugee site on 1 May, complaining of insecurity and insufficient services, and have since been living along a road nearby.

Sudanese refugees abandon UN camp in protestopen.substack.com Fleeing the violence in Sudan, refugees are being harassed by Fano militia.

With at least 17 countries reporting outbreaks in the past year, the world has used up the available stockpile of cholera vaccines and new ones are not being produced fast enough.

Medicine for the money, not for the ‘few’ lives it’d savecontinent.substack.com French drugmaker won’t reopen cholera vaccine manufacturing despite global rush to save lives.

Zanu-PF is set to do a backroom deal with leaders from within the Citizen’s Coalition for Change (CCC) party to form a “unity government” and delay the parliamentary and presidential elections. This would in effect extend the term of all sitting politicians.

Zimbabwe: The not-so-secret ploy for presidential perpetuitycontinent.substack.com President Emmerson Mnangagwa is working with ‘opposition’ leaders to extend his time in office.

President Bola Tinubu’s hardnose economic decisions have failed to account for the impact on low-income Nigerians.

Tinubu's first year: Good choices, bad outcomes, harder livessubstack.com Bola Tinubu’s hardnose economic decisions failed to account for the impact on low-income Nigerians.

All Protocol Observed Welcome to Issue 164 of The Continent Say what you like, but one thing is not up for debate: in his first year as president of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been busy.

BIG PICTURE Right field: A banner supporting Palestine towers over the crowd at the first leg of the CAF final between Esperance Sportive de Tunis and Egypt’s Al-Ahly on Saturday. Photo: Fethi Belaid/AFP

Save for being stood up by actor Tyler Perry, William Ruto likely considered the trip a success. The US designated Kenya as a major non-NATO ally, making it the first “sub-Saharan” African country to receive the designation.

Washington completes the Disneyfication of William Rutoopen.substack.com In a tradition that changes cast but not much of the script, the US has named its new man in Africa.

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If there is one thing I want to implore you to do this Wednesday it’s to subscribe to @thecontinent.bsky.social . It’s my favourite email open every Friday afternoon and you can get it sent to you on WhatsApp as well.

🇿🇦 South Africans are voting tomorrow in a critical election. Point of view from @thecontinent.bsky.social: "The ANC really is still the most popular party in the country." continent.substack.com/p/south-afri...

South Africa is (still) ANC countrycontinent.substack.com The big takeaway from this election is less about the weaknesses of the African National Congress, and more about its enduring strength.

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South Africa is (still) ANC countrycontinent.substack.com The big takeaway from this election is less about the weaknesses of the African National Congress, and more about its enduring strength.

This week, South Africans will exercise their democratic rights. With 70 political parties and 11 independent candidates also standing, the ANC will likely still form the government and pick the president. We hit the campaign trail to see who it’s up against.

Photo Essay: On the campaign trailopen.substack.com This week, South Africa decides.

If you enjoyed our cover story on the South African election, our colleagues at Democracy in Africa are putting together a Twitter space tonight where some of the country's best informed experts will break down what’s at stake in this critical election. #SAElections24 Set your reminder here.

#SAElections24: Election Eve Special — The Resistance Bureauwww.theresistancebureau.com South Africa’s 2024 general elections, on May 29, are perhaps the country’s most interesting – and hotly contested –since the country's first multiparty, multiracial elections in 1994.

Last week, state investigators conducted simultaneous raids at all five of South Africa’s refugee reception centres. They said they were looking for evidence of corruption, but the timing – with an election around the corner – was telling.

Blame the neighbours, build a bigger wallopen.substack.com Anti-immigrant sentiment has become a major theme in the run-up to South Africa’s elections

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My latest for @thecontinent.bsky.social: on The Villain's Dance x Fiston Mwanza Mujila, Roland Glasser (tr.) Out now from Deep Vellum. 💙📚 #bookreview #hrb

Despite his history of personal scandals and his disastrous tenure as president of South Africa – which ended when the ruling party recalled him in 2017 – Jacob Zuma remains an enormously popular figure in some parts of the country.

Zuma’s revengeopen.substack.com The former South African leader won’t be president again – but he could still decide this election.