And in this week's edition of our newsletter Analysing Africa, I wrote about religiosity and secularisation in Africa:

view.e.economist.com?vawpToken=BU...

How Africa is changing Catholicism The world’s biggest church is becoming less Eurocentric but more unruly

In @economist.com this week I explore the explosive growth of African Catholicism - a shift so seismic for the faith that it has been compared to the upheaval of the Protestant Reformation - and what it means for the future of the world's biggest church:

www.economist.com/internationa...

A shake-up at Africa’s spikiest media group Rostam Aziz, a Tanzanian industrialist, has bought a controlling stake in Kenya's Nation Media Group, one of Africa's largest media empires facing financial losses.

This week I sat down with Rostam Azizi, one of east Africa's richest men and the new owner of the Nation Media Group. He gave me his account of what he has in store for the region's spikiest media house 👇

www.economist.com/middle-east-...

Kenya’s ailing sugar sector is a test case for reform Kenya's sugar industry exemplifies how political elites extract rents through state controls, as President William Ruto's reforms test broader economic liberalisation.

“The story of Kenyan sugar is the story of Kenyan politics—of how elites make money."

Attempts at reforming the sector by the government of President Ruto are thus a crucial test case for the economy as a whole.

My latest - on competition in Kenya 👇

www.economist.com/middle-east-...

Thousands of Africans are fighting for Russia in Ukraine Russia recruits thousands of African fighters for its war in Ukraine, often through deceptive agencies promising civilian jobs but forcing military contracts instead.

"All the soldiers seen dancing in the video were soon killed in battle. Apart from the commander, all were African."

My latest, on the Africans fighting in Ukraine 👇

www.economist.com/middle-east-...

South Sudan’s decrepit regime is unravelling It is taking the country down with it

"Cash reserves at the airport in Juba, the capital, are dwindling. Fuel is scarce. Licensed air-traffic controllers have left.

The alarming state of South Sudan’s only international airport is a symbol of the country’s wider malaise."

My report from South Sudan 👇

www.economist.com/middle-east-...

In July 2018, shortly after #Abiy became PM, #Epstein texts #Bannon:

"Note, I spoke with the president of #Ethiopia and #Eritrea , they have agreed not to do any
more work with the Chinese. ! as they now understand the trick.

In fact there is a possiblitiy of the two countries becoming one".

🫠

How Africa’s hottest new museum unravelled A dispute over returning Benin bronzes to Nigeria is only part of the story

I this week's issue of @economist.com I wrote about how local politics threatens to undo Nigeria's multimillion dollar Museum of West African Art in Benin City 👇

www.economist.com/middle-east-...

New from me, feat. Prince of Darkness and his “best pal”

Ethiopia inches ever closer to war The latest flare-up in Tigray shows the risk of a regional conflagration

Tigray’s interim president described the fighting as “something resembling an all-out war”.

That outcome appears to have been averted, for now. Yet the risk of further violence remains uncomfortably high.

Our piece on the latest war-scare in Ethiopia👇

www.economist.com/middle-east-...

If Jeff Bezos could afford to spend $75 million on the Melania movie & $500 million for a yacht to sail off to his $55 million wedding to give his wife a $5 million ring, please don't tell me he needed to fire one-third of the Washington Post staff.

Democracy dies in oligarchy.

African trade has been vastly underestimated The continent’s food markets are more dynamic than commonly thought

My piece from last week's issue of @economist.com is about how one of the most widespread assumptions about trade in Africa - that African countries barely trade with each other - is, in some important ways, wrong:

www.economist.com/middle-east-...

The regime’s paramilitary forces are conducting a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

My piece in @economist.com last week on Nigeria's emerging domestic energy champions, with reporting from Lagos 👇

Great to see our investigation in the Guardian!

Portland declined to comment on our findings.

They told the Guardian they didn't have a relationship with the subcontractor we linked them to, claimed to follow guidelines for all "social media platforms".

(Wikipedia is not a social media platform)

London PR firm rewrites Wikipedia for governments and billionaires Founded by Keir Starmer’s comms chief, Portland helps rich clients ‘protect their reputation’ – with a shady, off-the-books service

Happy 25th to @wikipedia.org, one of the great wonders of the digital world!

While #Wikipedia's volunteers are good at disrupting influence ops, PR firms still try to manipulate pages for the rich & powerful.

My latest, for @tbij.bsky.social 🧵

www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...

Marco Rubio is reportedly saying Maduro will stand trial in US courts.

Which means it’s now the US administration’s position that US courts can hold foreign presidents, but not the US president, accountable for crimes.

Seen from above, el-Fasher is a ghost town Satellite imagery reveals how North Darfur’s capital has been abandoned after its fall

Today the city appears eerily silent. Seen from the sky, once bustling markets are empty and overgrown with vegetation. The streets are devoid of traffic, except for vehicles known to be used by the RSF. Water points, too, appear deserted:

www.economist.com/interactive/...

At least 60,000 murdered in Sudanese city, which resembles ‘a slaughterhouse’ Satellite evidence shows extent of paramilitary massacre in El Fasher

So, El Fasher looks like one of the worst single event atrocities to happen this century so far, but the evidence has come in such a trickle it seems to only now be getting verified

Nigeria’s kidnapping crisis Donald Trump’s ire has drawn attention to appalling security failures

“They packed our children like cows into the bush,” says Chukwuelota Mmadubueze, whose son was 1 of 300 abducted from his school in north-west Nigeria last month.

My latest, on Nigeria's kidnapping epidemic (filling in for @oreogunb.bsky.social while she's away) 👇

www.economist.com/middle-east-...

Mormonism’s surprising boom in Africa The American sect has come a long way from being “the white people’s church”

My piece in this week's issue looks at the rapid rise of Mormonism in Africa, where the small but influential American sect is building temples and impacting politics from Sierra Leone to Ghana to Kenya 👇

www.economist.com/middle-east-...

I guest wrote this week's War Room, our defence newsetter, on the lessons for the Horn of Africa from Europe, 1914 👇

view.e.economist.com?qs=df4e468c9...

Armed men take power in Guinea-Bissau, again But not everyone is convinced the latest putsch is a real one

"A putsch favouring the government would be unusual. But unusual things happen in Guinea-Bissau."

My latest 👇

www.economist.com/middle-east-...

Erik Prince, America’s most notorious mercenary, spies opportunity in chaos The return of the Blackwater founder is a sign of the times

From Ukraine to Haiti to Congo, Erik Prince’s mercenary services are everywhere, and his worldview is more influential among America’s powerholders

A fuel blockade shows the frightening power of Mali’s jihadists But fears of a terrorist takeover are overblown

"Contrary to some recent news headlines,JNIM, the Sahel’s pre-eminent jihadist group, is not about to follow in the footsteps of jihadists in Afghanistan and Syria and seize power in the capital."

My latest

www.economist.com/middle-east-...

I am moving to Dubai because England is so dangerous. www.ft.com/content/9bf6...

How to avoid Africa’s next war Pressure from America and its allies can prevent a return to fighting

Three years ago one of the deadliest conflicts of the 21st century ended when Ethiopia’s government struck a peace deal with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. Now it is unravelling

Ethiopia is perilously close to another war Conflict in Tigray could balloon into a regional conflagration

"But a covert proxy war between Ethiopia, Eritrea and their allies has, in effect, already begun. It needs worryingly little to explode into the open."

www.economist.com/middle-east-...