January 11 – Tunisia
People across Tunisia take to the streets to protest the government’s new austerity measures, which are expected to spike prices of foods, medicine, and other necessities, and will raise taxes. The protests quickly turn it into an overall dissatisfaction with the country’s economy, high unemployment, and corruption. One person is killed and about 600 arrested in clashes with security forces.[1] In 2011, it was Tunisia that started the pro-democracy revolutions that swept through the Middle East called the Arab Spring. The mass protests ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali after more than 20 years in power. But after seven years and nine governments later, economic problems persist. In 2015, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lent Tunisia $2.9 billion, but the country has to abide by the loan’s conditions such as low budget deficit, thus austerity measures.[2]
January 30 – Kenya
Kenya’s opposition leader, Raila Odinga, declares himself “the people’s president” and takes the oath of office during a self-organized swearing-in ceremony at a downtown park in the capital, Nairobi. During the event attended by thousands of his supporters, Odinga says that people have had enough of rigged elections and he will establish a proper democracy.[3] Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta was officially re-elected in October, but because Raila Odinga and his supporters boycotted the vote the turnout was only 39 percent. Now, they question the legitimacy of Kenyatta’s win. Prior to the event, the government declared that if Odinga follows through with the oath, it would be treason and punishable by death.[4] The government forces three-privately owned television stations, NTV, KTN and Citizen TV, to go off the air to prevent live coverage of the event. A day later, it announces that the stations will stay shutdown until further notice.
More on freedom of the press in Kenya from Freedom House
February 8 – South Africa
The ruling African National Congress (ANC) party asks President Jacob Zuma to resign or it says it will support an opposition vote of no confidence in his leadership. His tenure since 2009 has been plagued by numerous allegations of corruption, fraud, racketeering and money laundering. ANC has been in power ever since the end of apartheid in 1994, but its support has been slipping due to widespread corruption, political turmoil, low economic growth, unemployment at over 27 percent, and a ballooning deficit.[5] The party did poorly in the 2016 local elections and is trying to transform its image before the national elections of 2019. (February 14): Jacob Zuma steps down as president.[6] (February 15): South Africa swears in Cyril Ramaphosa as new President. He was an anti-apartheid activist and a trade union leader. During South Africa’s transition to democracy, he acted as the ANC’s main Chief Negotiator. Later he became a successful businessman.[7]
Jacob Zuma: South African leader’s rise and fall: video (02:33)
March 28 – Egypt
Egypt ends a three-day voting in a presidential election, casting 97 percent of the vote for current President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. Despite the government’s threat to fine those who would not vote, turnout was only 41 percent, six percentage points lower than in 2014.[8] Al-Sisi stood virtually unopposed after his challengers have been either arrested on bogus charges, or attacked, or pressured to drop out. The opposition withdrew and called to boycott the poll, saying the conditions did not allow for a fair contest. The only challenger, Moussa Mustafa Moussa, who first supported Sisi’s reelection, registered at the last minute as an opponent. The opposition dubbed him as Sisi’s puppet. In 2013, General Sisi led the military’s overthrow of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi. Since then, he has been criticized for human rights abuses that include arrests, torture, and killings of the opposition and protesters.[9]
More about torture and disappearances in Egypt under President Sisi
The Shadow over Egypt
April 19 – Swaziland
Swaziland’s King Mswati III renames the country as the Kingdom of eSwatini.[10] Swaziland is Africa’s last absolute monarchy with King Mswati III as a ruler since 1986. He governs by decree, does not allow opposition, and controls the media. With 28 percent unemployment, it has a weak and deteriorating economy and suffers from severe poverty. Twenty-eight percent of its population is HIV/AIDS positive, the world’s highest rate. Main industries include soft drink concentrates, coal, forestry, sugar processing, textiles, and apparel, but many Swazis migrate to South Africa for work.[11]
Swaziland: A kingdom in crisis
April 25 – Rwanda
Rwandan authorities uncover four mass graves in the Gasabo district outside the capital Kigali that date back to the Rwandan genocide on 1994 and are believed to contain between 2,000 to 3,000 bodies. The authorities open an investigation to find and prosecute the perpetrators.[12] Rwanda genocide of 1994 was a planned campaign of mass killings committed by extremists from among Rwanda’s majority ethnic Hutu population who planned to kill the Tutsi minority and anyone who opposed those genocidal intentions. More than 800,000 civilians were killed the course of 100 days.[13]
Background on Rwandan genocide: 100 days of slaughter
May 28: Democratic Republic of Congo
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) reports a new Ebola outbreak, with 45 cases and at least 26 deaths.[14] Working with international partners, the DRC Ministry of Public Health began an experimental ring vaccine for people with potential exposure to Ebola in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus. Ring vaccination is a strategy to inhibit the spread of a disease by vaccinating only those who are most likely to be infected.[15] Some of the challenges in providing the vaccines are unreliable electricity supply in the DRC, which is required to vaccine storage, as well as transporting it to the country’s remote rural areas.
Ebola is an infectious disease that causes internal bleeding and is often fatal. It spreads rapidly through contact with small amounts of bodily fluid. It is believed to be spread by fruit bats and transmitted to humans eating wild animal’s meat.
About Ebola
June 14 – Uganda
Ugandan inventor Brian Gitta creates a device called Matibabu that tests for malaria that challenges the old method requiring drawing blood that has also proven to be unreliable. Gitta’s method clips onto a patient’s finger and a sensor using a red beam of light detects changes in the color, shape and concentration of red blood cells – all of which are affected by malaria. The diagnosis is ready within minutes. The Matibabu method does not require a specialist to operate. Brian Gitta has won the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Africa Prize for the Matibabu device.[16]
Matibabu Malaria App (Video: 3:08 min)
July 9 – Ethiopia / Eritrea
Ethiopia and Eritrea sign a peace agreement that officially ends the 1998-99 war between the two countries and reestablishes trade and diplomatic relations, as well as cultural ties and transport and telephone links. Even though this step marks huge progress, it is not clear what will happen with the border dispute or when the Ethiopian troops will withdraw from the disputed territory.[17]
July 30 – Zimbabwe
Voters in Zimbabwe vote in their first general and presidential elections since Robert Mugabe was ousted in November 2017 after 30 years in power. He was replaced with his former ally Emmerson Mnangagwa who represents Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party in this election. On the other side is ZANU-PF’s long-time rival, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Nelson Chamisa. The parliamentary election results show ZANU-PF winning by a landslide with 122 seats out of 210 available, while the MDC wins 53. But the presidential results are delayed, which causes deadly street riots and people accusing the government of trying to rig the results to benefit the incumbent and the party in power. The government sends out troops to disperse demonstrations.[18]
(August 3): According to released presidential poll results, current President Emmerson Mnangagwa has received 50.8 percent of the vote (winning the election outright), while his opponent Nelson Chamisa – 44.3 percent. The 21 other candidates took up the remainder votes. The turnout was announced to be 80 percent. The opposition says the results are fake and expressed its doubt in such a high turnout.[19]
September 1 – Africa
More than 100 migrants die and 276 are rescued off Libya’s coast when one of the rubber vessels carrying the migrants towards Europe deflates and sinks in the Mediterranean Sea. The rescued are taken back to Libya to a detention center.[20] According to the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM), by the end of July, 2018, 55,001 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea mostly via Spain, Italy, and Greece. That total compares to 111,753 at this time last year, and over 250,000 at this time in 2016. At the same time, in 2018 alone, 1,504 men, women and children died while crossing the Mediterranean.[21] These migrants who flee wars and poverty come mostly from Sub-Saharan African countries such as Nigeria, Mali, Sudan, Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia, Ivory Coast, Guinea, and Senegal. Some of these migrants are kidnapped in Libya for ransom or slave work in other North African countries.[22]
Migrant slavery in Libya
September 13 – South Sudan
South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, and rebel leader Riek Machar sign another peace agreement in an attempt to end the country’s devastating five-year civil war. The previous attempt at peace collapsed in 2016, with Machar being forced to flee the country. This time both sides promise to implement the deal fully. In this power-sharing deal, the two rivals agree to establish a transitional government in the next eight months and general elections in the next three years. Kiir will remain the president while Machar the vice-president. The two sides also agree to a unified armed forces with the president as their commander-in-chief.[23]
Background on South Sudan and President Salva Kiir
October 5 – Democratic Republic of Congo
Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict”.[24] Denis Mukwege is a physician who devoted his practice to helping the victims of sexual violence committed in the context of a long-lasting civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He has repeatedly condemned impunity for mass rape and criticized the Congolese government and other countries for not doing enough to stop the use of sexual violence against women as a strategy and weapon of war. Nadia Murad is a member of the Yazidi minority in Iraq who was abducted by the terrorist Islamic State (IS) and held as sex slave. After escaping, she established an organization opposing violence against women and committed to helping victims of mass atrocities.[25]
More about the Nobel Peace Prizes
October 25 – Ethiopia
Ethiopia’s parliament elects Sahkle-Work Zewde as the country’s first female president who at the moment is also the only female head of state in all of Africa. A week before her election, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed formed his cabinet with half of the ministerial posts given to women. President Sahle-Work has served previously as an ambassador, head of peace-building in the Central African Republic (CAR) at the United Nations, as well as the UN representative at the African Union.[26]