In this Spotlight series, The Features editorial team have dug deep to keep you informed on outsider stories that were missed in mainstream news.
Africa
Africa: Continent at the Crossroads
Online Features Editor Bryan Knight reports on the recent political developments in Africa and assesses the threats faced by the continent. In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced an ambitious initiative that would revamp an ancient trade network that connected the Eastern world with the West. This ‘Belt and Road Initiative’, as it is commonly […]
Ignoring Sudan: How Western guilt about the Arab Spring is being taken out on the Sudanese people
Adam Robertson Charlton analyses the social and political turmoil in Sudan, and explores the failures of Western foreign policy in Africa.
Nigeria hits the polls
With 73 million able to vote and 120,000 polling stations nationwide, Africa’s largest democracy braced itself for what was seen as its biggest election yet. In 1999, Nigeria finally emerged from the oppression of a military regime, allowing democracy to flourish for the first time in 33 years, with 2019 marking 20 years of free […]
Melania Trump: Fashion Faux Pas or Diplomatic Disaster?
Melania Trump shocks the world wearing a colonial helmet in Kenya. For her first major solo international trip, similarly to her predecessors, Melania Trump flew to the African continent. During 5 days she visited Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt with the objective to promote USAIDS projects. She also came with the intention of improving the […]
Zimbabwe’s Presidential Election
Even by post-colonial standards, Zimbabwe is a young country. Prior to 1980, the region was known as Southern Rhodesia after the British colonist Cecil Rhodes. Like South Africa, political power was controlled by white supremacist parties, but a gorilla war waged by the African Nation Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu PF) during the 1970s resulted in British […]
Abiy Ahmed: Ethiopia’s Man of the Hour?
Desalegn had succumbed to sectional pressure and resigned in February, consequently leaving Ethiopia under a state of emergency. Months prior to him exiting office, Ethiopia had witnessed violent protests that resulted in hundreds of deaths. The initial motive behind the protests had been over disputed land rights but later morphed into cries of ethnic marginalisation […]
We are all A LOT older than we thought!
Carina Schlebusch led a team of researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden in a project combining genome mapping with anthropology in an effort to uncover genetic links between modern African populations and their ancestors. The findings may have unexpected implications for the early history of Homo sapiens, the modern humans. Until now scientific consensus has […]
Discover Morocco with Maroc ‘N’ Roll
Three weeks in Morocco inclusive of all flights, accommodation and travel for only £545 – sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Well, that’s what I thought when I first saw the deal pop up on my Facebook feed. However, after a glance at the Overlanders website I was intrigued by this small family […]