This and other interesting graphs to be found at the new African Visual Data site

• There’s been some excellent analysis of the crisis in South Sudan recently, including Aly Verjee‘s analysis of the failure of the peace process, and Christine Mungai‘s argument that the return to war wasn’t surprising in light of general trends in African conflict

• In Somalia, men who joined Al-Shabaab out of piety and a desire for money and excitement are now being demobilized, having found that the organization largely failed to live up to their aspirations.  The country also has its first female candidate for president, a Harvard graduate named Fadumo Dayib

• Of protests and policing: in Zimbabwe, the independence war veterans who have long made up Mugabe’s main support base are finally turning against his 36-year rule.  Nanjala Nyabola says that police brutality in Kenya can be traced to the colonial origins of the institution.  Chika Oduah notes that African activists have been inspired by the #BlackLivesMatter protests in the US, but American activists have paid little attention to African social issues

• Jon Harle argues that much research in Africa is actually driven by the priorities of foreign donors.  Could building capacity for African civil servants to use research evidence help, or is this a symptom of the broader problem?  In an example of the power of research collaboration, a new telescope in South Africa has already discovered hundreds of new galaxies

• Planes and trains and automobiles, oh my!  This piece on the politics of motorcycle taxis in Africa was fascinating.  VOA has a beautiful and heartbreaking photo essay on African immigrants making the journey to Europe by sea.  Rwanda is launching the continent’s first cycling team composed exclusively of black women.  If you’d like to run like an elite Kenyan sprinter, check out Enda, a new line of running shoes designed and manufactured in Kenya.

• This promises to be an interesting series on 100 science fiction writers in Nairobi.  If you like Warsan Shire, here are six other African poets to check out

• Song of the week: I can’t stop listening to Yeanoh (Powe’hande Binga’dbe), the excellent new song from the Kondi Band.  Thrilled to see the collaboration between Sierra Leonean mbira player Sorie Kondi and Sierra Leonean-American DJ Chief Boima formalized after great earlier work like “Without Money, No Family“