Rising demand for batteries has placed lithium at the centre of the global energy transition. In South Africa, proposed mining activity has also prompted concern from farmers and communities about land, water and environmental impacts. The debate captures a wider African challenge: how can mineral-rich countries benefit from clean-energy supply chains without transferring environmental and social costs to rural communities? Why critical minerals have become a development issue Lithium, cobalt, graphite and other minerals are essential for batteries and renewable-energy...

The QS World Future Skills Index 2027, published in July 2026, delivers a blunt verdict on the global labour market: AI is not disrupting every economy equally — it is amplifying the gap between economies whose higher education and skills systems are aligned with workforce demand, and those where the gap is widening. For Africa, the signal is double-edged. The continent has the world’s fastest-growing higher-education-age population and now 48 universities in the QS World University Rankings, up from 32...

A wave of anti-migrant violence in South Africa has escalated into a continental diplomatic dispute. Nigeria has accused South Africa’s government of failing to protect its nationals, citing at least 98 Nigerians killed in xenophobic attacks since 2022. Ghana and Mozambique have repatriated hundreds of citizens fleeing the violence, and Nigeria and Ghana are now pushing for “Afrophobia” to be formally debated at the next African Union summit. For an organization working across Africa’s humanitarian, development and governance sectors, this...

A United Nations Fact-Finding Mission has concluded that Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out genocide against the Fur and Zaghawa communities during and after the siege of El Fasher in Darfur — mass killings, gang rape, enforced disappearance and the deliberate use of starvation as a weapon, all as part of an intentional policy. The finding, released in July 2026, is one of the starkest legal determinations to come out of Sudan’s three-year civil war, and it lands as...

The World Health Organization’s latest situation report shows how food insecurity in the Greater Horn of Africa has become a combined nutrition, disease and health-system emergency. More than 37.8 million people are experiencing or projected to experience acute food insecurity across the countries covered by the response, while more than 4.9 million children are projected to suffer acute malnutrition.What WHO’s situation report showsWHO classifies the crisis as a Grade 2 emergency affecting six countries across its African and Eastern Mediterranean...

African telecommunications leaders have backed the Abuja Declaration on Meaningful Connectivity, placing affordability, digital skills and usable access alongside network coverage. The shift matters because a signal alone does not allow people to learn online, use digital public services or participate safely in the AI economy.What meaningful connectivity changesTraditional connectivity targets often focus on whether infrastructure reaches a location. Meaningful connectivity asks harder questions: can people afford devices and data, do services meet their needs, and do they have the...

African Union member states have adopted the 2026 Luanda Declaration on the African Blue Economy, shifting the continental conversation from broad strategy toward deadlines, financing mechanisms and measurable delivery. For governments and development organizations, the declaration creates a practical agenda linking oceans, rivers and lakes to jobs, food security, climate resilience and regional trade. What the Luanda Declaration commits to Adopted on 24 July during the Third Africa Blue Economy Week, the declaration calls for national and regional blue-economy strategies...