Africa

How Africa fell out of love with France

9 September 2023 9:00 am

The death of Françafrique

A farewell to alcohol

5 August 2023 9:00 am

Laikipia Some are saved by Jesus and they are sober. For others, drunkenness is as natural as love-making, roasted meat…

Progress is coming to our remote corner of Kenya

10 June 2023 9:00 am

Laikipia The principal of the local polytechnic was waiting for me in the kitchen. Frequently in the kitchen there is…

When will the West start to deal with Africa on its own terms?

27 August 2022 9:00 am

When will the West start to deal with Africa on its own terms?

The sin of neutrality

7 May 2022 9:00 am

Yet again, millions of civilians across the Horn of Africa are starving. The world blames the crisis on drought and…

Letters: The hard truth about soft power

23 April 2022 9:00 am

Soft ground Sir: We have heard much over the years from the overseas aid lobby about the value of soft…

Why so many African leaders support Putin

16 April 2022 9:00 am

Why so many African leaders support Putin

Has Putin outplayed Macron in Africa?

23 February 2022 10:15 pm

While the world is focused on Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron has withdrawn all French forces from Mali. Last weekend, thousands of…

What’s to become of Africa’s teeming youth?

19 February 2022 9:00 am

Demographers are attached to their theories. The field’s most enduring is the ‘demographic transition’, whereby modernisation inexorably lowers a society’s…

My ocean voyage from hell

15 January 2022 9:00 am

Kenya Wondering what this year will bring, at dawn this morning I stood in the waves in front of our…

The problem with 'vaccine equity'

4 January 2022 5:03 am

‘A stain on our soul’. That was how Gordon Brown, in his latest missive on the subject, described the failure…

The Omicron variant: what we know so far

27 November 2021 11:45 am

Will the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes Covid-19, be the black swan that pulls the world back —…

When it comes to Africa, the media look away

20 November 2021 9:00 am

Kenya Each time I sit in St Bride’s on Fleet Street during the memorial of another friend, I look around…

Africa’s empty vastness has vanished under the concrete of the present day

23 October 2021 9:00 am

Kenya   When I was a child in Kenya, the road from the Indian Ocean up to Nairobi was still…

Wrapped up in satire, a serious lesson about the fine line between success and scandal

2 October 2021 9:00 am

Have you heard of champing? Neither had I. Turns out it’s camping in a field beside a deserted church. When…

Our farm is a haven for lost souls

25 September 2021 9:00 am

Laikipia He was turned out in a crisp bush ranger’s uniform and handled his assault rifle like a man hardened…

The Nobel truth

4 September 2021 9:00 am

I suspect that there are no people in the world quite so right-on as the Nobel prize committee members. A…

What a comic treat: The Game of Love and Chance at the Arcola reviewed

24 July 2021 9:00 am

Lady Sylvia is a gorgeous aristocrat whose hand is sought by the charming Dorante whom she has never met. To…

What's behind the South African riots?

15 July 2021 8:59 am

South Africa is ablaze once more. In the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal (formerly Natal) and Gauteng (which includes Johannesburg and Pretoria),…

Thirty years ago, I saw the rebels take Addis Ababa

5 June 2021 9:00 am

Kenya The evening before the assault on Addis Ababa, my guide Girmay and I ventured into a complex stuffed with…

Boko Haram’s demise will only strengthen Isis in Africa

26 May 2021 1:21 am

Multiple reports have confirmed that the Boko Haram chief Abubakar Shekau is dead. Shekau’s demise came after Boko Haram last…

Black African lives should matter too

21 April 2021 8:55 am

The treatment of black people, particularly by law enforcement, has become a principal point of protest in the western world.…

Why I’m investing in sheep

10 April 2021 9:00 am

Laikipia In the past I had a low opinion of sheep. During my first forays into farming I saw them…

Eccentric, artist and storyteller: in memory of my mother Doreen Sanders

16 January 2021 9:00 am

Indian Ocean coast ‘I love you’ became just ‘love’, and that was the last word Mum was able to say…