The evolution of criminal networks across Africa is a complex tale crossing centuries – but the continent’s integration into the global economy, especially after the advent of democracy in the wake of the Cold War, has consolidated gangsterism as never before. The dense networks of smuggling routes established in the pre-colonial era, such as those that transect the Sahara desert, linking the riches of West Africa such as gold and ivory to the markets of the Mediterranean world and thus Europe, were the same used during the slave trade. Remarkably, they continue to be used centuries later, albeit now augmented…
Michael Schmidt
Michael Schmidt
Michael Schmidt is a veteran investigative journalist who focuses on African affairs, a best-selling non-fiction author, and a human rights rapporteur with field experience in 49 countries. He has reported from the bowels of many corporate and artisinal mines, and writes here in his capacity as an analyst for the Pan-African Justice Initiative (PAJI).
Africa’s ‘lawless third’: duty of care Swathes of the continent are home to people whose efforts at self-rule or traditional ways of life have challenged state attempts to deal with COVID-19 The lack of access to healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic experienced by millions of Africans as a result of living in ungoverned, under-serviced, rebel-controlled, or poorly supported alternatively administered regions, raises a unique set of problems for governments, donor agencies, and healthcare professionals combating the novel coronavirus. The sheer scale and persistence of this problem has caused many decision makers at country and international levels to turn a blind…
The media: no place to hide Journalism is a high-risk job for African reporters, who are often not only undertrained and underpaid but also face jail, injury, even death A promising young journalist told me of covering a recent riot and tweeting an update on the action on his cell phone when he fortunately looked up mid-tweet to see “two Molotov cocktails flying through the air towards me” – forcing him to abandon his frankly useless tweet to scramble for his life. That neatly encapsulates one new dimension of threat to journalists working in Africa: while navigating between authorities wielding…
Africa: an artificial patchwork? Understanding the dynamics of ethnic conflicts in Africa means appreciating the role of ethnic identity In 2011 Peter S. Larson, a professor at the University of Nagasaki, Japan, published an attempt to chart the interplay between ethnicity and African conflict. Larson used the 1959 map of 835 “ethnic regions” of Africa produced by anthropologist George Murdock. While admitting that Murdock’s map is “perhaps naïve”, Larson states that it remains an important source to Africanists. He then drew on the University of Sussex’s Armed Conflict and Event Location Database to plot current conflict events onto Murdock’s ethnographic…
Africa: the scourge of ethnicity Understanding ethnicity—inherited or imposed—can go a long way to ensure accurate coverage of conflict in Africa As a journalist I have covered a range of conflicts, some of which had a clearly ethnic dimension. But ethnicity is a multidimensional concept that blends race, colour, creed, class, clan, language, lifestyle, identity and culture in an ephemeral and continually shifting matrix. This can make it a tricky subject at the best of times. Moreover, politics can be distorted through an ethnic lens, making it treacherous territory for journalists, especially when they can’t speak local dialects or know…
Understanding the dynamics of ethnic conflicts in Africa means appreciating the role of ethnic identity
