For the first time in 150 years, Ethiopia’s Oromo people celebrated “Thanksgiving” in “Finfinee” – also known as Addis Ababa. The country’s largest ethnic group turned up in the hundreds of thousands to mark “Ireecha” – a public outdoors event. People gathered around water bodies, holding tufts of grass to thank Waqqaa (God) and ask…

Ugandan investigative reporter and news anchor Solomon Serwanjja is the 2019 winner of the Komla Dumor award. It goes to a journalist committed to changing the narrative about Africa. Serwanjja, a presenter at Uganda’s NBS TV, hosts one of the channel’s prime-time shows. He has also produced award-winning reports, including one for BBC’s Africa Eye…

A year-long investigation into sexual harassment by professors at the University of Lagos and the University of Ghana has produced evidence of a tolerated practice of “sex for grades” at the two top schools. Shocking tapes of university profs brazenly propositioning young women who had come seeking admission to classes or financial aid showed their…

The war may be over in a place called Biafra – a region of states in the southern part of Nigeria – but it remains a flashpoint for ethnic tensions that simmer just below the surface. This September, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), announced a meeting with world leaders at the…

In a new low water mark for Zimbabwe’s troubled economy, two million people in Zimbabwe’s capital have now been left without water after the government ran out of foreign currency to pay for imported water treatment chemicals. Zimbabwe’s capital city shut its main water works on Monday, potentially leaving the city dry and raising the…

Congolese people seeking a vaccine against the Ebola epidemic could be getting the runaround by the World Health Organization (WHO) which stands accused of rationing the distribution of a drug deemed highly effective against the deadly disease. The humanitarian medical group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) criticized the pace of ongoing inoculations “too slow” and “largely…

Sunbathers snoozing away the last days of summer awoke to a cold water bath of reality when news of the bankruptcy filing by the famed Thomas Cook travel group hit the airwaves, leaving many with no way home. With its profits decimated by online travel services such as Expedia, Priceline and Hotel.com, the 178-year old…

Millions of young climate activists are declaring “enough is enough” to the use of fossil fuels that are superheating our planet and unleashing floods, hurricanes and droughts unlike any we’ve seen before. On Friday, a Global Climate Strike led by school children and adults marched and rallied in 185 countries around the world—making it the…

In an effort to help those students and families affected by Hurricane Dorian, Hampton University is entering into an agreement with the University of the Bahamas-North to allow students who have been displaced by the hurricane to continue their education on HU’s campus. “I think this agreement is something that can be helpful to a…

The palm oil industry is growing by leaps and bounds around the globe but its overnight success is worrying environmentalists. An estimated 7.5 million acres of land traditionally used or inhabited by local communities has been acquired by palm oil companies, according to GRAIN, a nonprofit that supports small farmers. In the past decade, politicians…