Edible art from 57 Chocolate in Ghana

• South Sudan’s leaders are being blamed for deliberately orchestrating the country’s famine.  Other African countries affected by famine, including Nigeria and Somalia, are developing their own new technologies to help coordinate relief efforts.  In a step forward for Somali refugees, IGAD has agreed that they should be able to work in their host countries.

• A recession in Nigeria is hurting smugglers in Benin.  Nigeria’s abortion laws are also desperately in need of reform.  Flaws in the design of an amnesty program in the Niger Delta are encouraging more violence.  On a more positive note, the Goethe-Institut in Lagos is running a new oral history project aimed at preserving local languages.

• Gabon is being hit hard by a drop in oil prices.  Gambia’s ousted dictator is living the good life in a palace in Equatorial Guinea, which despite appearances is probably good for regional stability.  Senegal is setting up a new industrial park to attract Chinese manufacturing.  This is an accessible summary of current politics in Togo.

• This is a remarkable profile of the doctor who treated the earliest Ebola cases in Zaïre in the 1970s.  Regardez ce nouveau livre: « Analyses croisées de conflits à l’est de la République Démocratique du Congo. »  I loved this piece on a day in the life of a female taxi driver / sapeuse in Kinshasa.

• A Rwandan teenager has received scholarships to four Ivy League universities.  Kigali is rushing to finish paving rural roads ahead of this year’s August elections.

• Burundian political commentator Thierry Uwamahoro has posted videos and analysis of militias associated with the ruling CNDD calling for the rape of women in the opposition.  « Elles sont balayeuses, coiffeuses,  femme choma … la femme burundaise malgré les temps durs continue à se battre. »

• In Uganda, local production of sanitary pads is becoming a political issue.  Housing cooperatives are tackling a dire shortage of affordable housing in Kampala.

• Nairobi is now the fourth most congested city in the world.  Kenyan citizens are still being oppressed by archaic colonial laws.  This was an incredible portrait of the women leading human rights activism in Nairobi, often at great personal cost.

• Here’s a good summary of current politics in Tanzania.  Surgically trained nurses have dramatically reduced maternal mortality rates in Mozambique.  In South Africa, the San people have written the world’s first local code of ethics for researchers.

• This is a remarkable article about how colonial laws reshaped women’s access to money and power across Africa.  Read alongside this interesting piece on the history of colonial and post-independence archives in Africa.

• Cool findings of the day: this is a great podcast on insights from the African women’s leadership conference.  Here are 10 Ghanaian authors you should be reading.  All aboard the East African Soul Train.  Check out the biomechanics of how African women carry so much on their heads.

Dreaming big (source)

• Song of the week: Run, don’t walk, to listen to “Republique Amazone,” the debut album from new West African supergroup Les Amazones d’Afrique.  Angélique Kidjo, Kandia Kouyaté, Mamani Keita, Mariam Doumbia, Mariam Koné, Massan Coulibaly, Mouneissa Tandina, Nneka, Pamela Badjogo and Rokia Koné all in one place!