Nikita Pearl Waligwa, who starred as the friend of chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi in the Disney film “The Queen of Katwe,” passed away this week after a valiant struggle with cancer. She was 15 years of age. The film, which starred David Oyelowo as the chess teacher, Lupita Nyong’o as Phiona’s mother, and Madina Nmwanta…

Following an exhaustive review of petitions submitted by the opposition, judges of the Malawian Constitutional Court ruled against Peter Mutharika whose presidential victory last May was attributed to massive fraud. Veteran diplomat Vernon Mwaanga of neighboring Zambia said the Court raised the bar for African countries where elections are plagued by irregularities. “The Malawi judicial…

A stirring call to action was delivered this week in the august hall of the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, spoken by the incoming AU president Cyril Ramaphosa to distinguished members of the continental body representing over 40 countries. In his presentation at the AU’s 33rd summit, the South African President wove history…

Vaccinations have been halted in a test of a new HIV vaccine after it proved no more effective than a placebo, researchers announced. In the “Uhambo” study – also called HVTN 702 – tested in South Africa – it was determined that 129 people who received the vaccine developed HIV while 123 who were given…

She’s your pediatrician. He’s your surgeon. She’s a civil engineer. He has a doctorate. She’s an Emmy Award winner. He was a Chicago Bear. They’re Nigerian-Americans who have set down roots in Dallas, Chicago, Baltimore, Atlanta, Phoenix and Houston – the latter of which has the largest Nigerian population outside Brazil and Africa. They’re the…

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (known as “AGOA”) which aimed to assist the economies of sub-Saharan Africa and improve economic relations between the U.S. and the region is out of step with the new trade deals of the Trump administration. In other words, time’s up. A new economic plan is on the drawing board…

After years of defending dirty extractive industries such as the mining of coal, large mining companies seemed to have switched sides and joined the Greens, or so it seemed at the African Mining Indaba held last week in South Africa. At the Indaba, the continent’s biggest gathering of one of its most vital industries, the companies…

Bulldozers have begun demolishing homes built in the shantytowns of Abidjan, the commercial capital of the Ivory Coast, leaving thousands without shelter as authorities carry out plans to build a buffer zone around an international airport. This comes as large numbers of Ivorians are leaving remote farms and villages for a better life. The demolitions…

A group shot of young environmental activists at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, appeared in final form without one of the activists. Vanessa Nakate of Uganda was missing from the photo of Greta Thunberg, Luisa Neubauer, Loukina Tille and Isabelle Axelsson. All the young women in the photo were white. Nakate confronted AP…

The World Bank’s executive board cancelled expected action on a $500 million loan to Tunisia where teenage girls can be expelled from school because they are pregnant. The Bank had been under pressure from rights activists and held a last-minute emergency meeting this week with Tanzanian and international human rights organizations. The activists demanded that…