January 7 – Gabon
Military coup attempt
Five junior officers take over Gabon’s national radio station claiming they seized power in a military coup. They call on people to protest and soldiers to take control of the transport system, ammunition reserves and airports. All five military rebels are arrested.[1]
Since its independence from France in 1960, Gabon has been ruled by the Bongo family, but the 2016 elections sparked unprecedented protests by the opposition with accusations of fraud. The court, however, upheld his win and President Bongo is supposed to stay in power until 2023. Gabon has abundant natural resources and is a major oil producer. Despite that 34 percent of its 1.8 million people live in poverty with unemployment at around 25 percent.[2]
January 15 – Kenya
Attack by al-Shabab
Several heavily armed gunmen from the Somalia-based Islamist Al-Shabab militant group attack an upscale Dusitd2 hotel and office complex in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi killing 21 civilians, including a U.S. citizen. While one of the attackers blows himself up, the remaining terrorists make their way into the complex opening fire and throwing grenades. After several hours of fighting, the Kenyan security forces kill the gunmen. In recent years, Al-Shabab has attacked Kenya on several occasions for its involvement in the Somali Civil War.[3]
Who are Somalia’s al-Shabab?
January 24 – Democratic Republic of Congo
Elections
The Democratic Republic of Congo swears in Felix Tshsekedi as its new president. His opponent Martin Fayulu accuses him of electoral fraud and making a deal with outgoing President Joseph Kabila who will exert power from behind the scenes. Fayulu’s appeal for a recount was rejected. Other reasons that Tshsekedi might not be able to rule independently is that the army and police are all appointees of the old regime and he lacks the parliamentary support as his party performed poorly in the elections.[4]
Brief history of why DRC should be one of the wealthiest countries and what went wrong. (Video: 4:54 min)
Congo, a River Journey
Five things to know about the nation that powers mobile phones
February 19 – Tanzania
Illegal ivory trade
Tanzania sentences a Chinese national Yang Fenglan to 15 years in prison for illegal ivory trade. Nicknamed “Ivory Queen”, Yang, for over a decade, operated a major smuggling ring of elephant tusks from Tanzania to China where there is a huge black market for imported ivory products. She is responsible for smuggling $2.5 million worth of tusks from some 400 elephants.[5] Eastern Africa – the region most affected by poaching – has lost almost 50 percent of its elephant population in the last decade. This number is event larger in Tanzania itself reaching over 60 percent.[6]
More on the situation of elephants in Tanzania
February 23-24: Nigeria
Elections
Nigeria is holding general elections to elect its next President, Vice President and members of National Assembly. President Muhammadu Buhari wins the most votes and is reelected for his second term. The next runner-up (out of 73 candidates), Atiku Abubakar, questions the outcome of the election and vows to sue over the results. The election was marred by political violence with at least 53 people killed. Buhari’s critics accuse him of autocratic tendencies. Buhari is a former general who was one of the leaders of a military coup in the 1983 that overthrew a democratically elected government. He was first elected a president in 2015. His supporters point out that he took some positive steps to crack down on the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram and to tackle graft by establishing a presidential advisory committee against corruption and the development of a national anti-corruption strategy among others.[7]
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation (203 million people) and largest economy[8], faces a range of problems including power shortages, corruption, longstanding ethnic and religious tensions, and an economic slowdown. Nigeria is Africa’s leading oil producer but corruption and mismanagement hampers development. According to Transparency International, Nigeria remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world with a score of 27 out of 100.[9]
Nigeria election 2019: Mapping a nation in nine charts
Five things about Nigeria: The superpower with no power
March 31 – Algeria
President Bouteflika steps aside
Algeria’s 82-year old ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announces major changes in his cabinet after weeks or protests and demonstrations across the country calling for his resignation. Although the protests forced him to drop his candidacy for a fifth term in the April elections, he is retaining his title as defense minister. Bouteflika has been in power since 1999, but in 2013 he suffered a stroke and has not been seen publicly since. He won elections in 2014 despite doing no personal campaigning.[10] The ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) was the only legal party ruling Algeria since gaining independence from France in 1962. In 1989, other parties were legalized, but the opposition has been fragmented and divided.[11]
(Apr 2): Algeria’s ailing 82-year old president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who stayed in power for the last 20 years, steps down amid weeks of peaceful demonstrations calling for his resignation. Seventy-seven year-old Speaker of the House Abdelkader Bensalah takes over as an interim president and promises to hold new elections within the next 90 days. The protesters see him, however, as part of the old structures and vow to stay on the streets until more radical changes are made.[12]
April 11 – Sudan
President Omar al-Bashir deposed
After months of anti-government protests, Sudan’s military topples President Omar al-Bashir after 29 years in power. The demonstrations began as a protest against a rise of costs of living, but quickly turned into a call for the president to step down. The army announces a three-month state of emergency during which the constitution will be suspended. It also says that after a two-year transitional period elections will be held. President Bashir, former army officer himself who seized power in a military coup in 1989, is imprisoned and General Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan is named as head of the transitional military council. The main organization behind the protests, the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), says that the coup represents the same type of government with different faces, and urges people to continue demonstrations until the civilian rule.
Omar al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), for war crimes and for crimes against humanity in Sudan’s western Darfur region.[13]
Omar al-Bashir ousted: How Sudan got here
History of military coups in Africa
April 22 – Egypt
Constitutional changes
In a referendum, Egyptians approve the changes to the country’s constitution that will allow President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi stay in power until 2030. Sisi is due to stand down in 2022, when his second four-year term ends. But the amendments lengthen his current term to six years (until 2024) and allow him to stand for one more term. Egypt’s National Election Authority says the participation was 44.3 percent and 88.8 percent of those approved the changes. The Parliament that is dominated by Sisi’s supporters approved the amendments earlier this month.
The constitutional amendments also expand the military’s power allowing it to intervene in politics and give Sisi more power over the judiciary, including a selection of the chief justice and the public prosecutor threatening its independence. Egypt’s opposition dismisses the referendum as a sham saying the government suppressed the freedom of peaceful opposition to the changes.[14]
May 7 – Namibia
Drought
Namibia’s President Hage Geingob declares a state of emergency in response to a severe drought in the country. This allows the government to release funds and mobilize the agency to buy food, water, transport livestock to and from grazing areas, and provide other necessary assistance. Namibia is rich in mineral resources, but is also drought-prone and has to import 70 percent of its food from neighboring South Africa.[15]
Namibian Farmers Adapt to Changing Climate (video 04:17 min)
June 6 – African Union / Sudan
Sudan suspended in the AU
The African Union (AU) unanimously suspends Sudan’s membership and urges its military to transfer power to a civilian authority. The AU also calls for an independent investigation into killings of the opposition pro-democracy protesters. There are numerous reports that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary unit is roaming the streets of the capital, Khartoum, targeting civilians. The feared RSF is known for its brutality and atrocities in the Darfur conflict in 2003. Recent talks between the opposition and the interim military council have ended with no agreement.[16]
June 18 – Egypt
Death of former President Mohammed Morsi
The 67-year-old former president of Egypt, Mohammed Morsi, collapses in court and dies. He was Egypt’s first democratically elected president who was removed from office by a military coup in 2013. Since then he was in detention. His family has raised questions about his treatment in prison. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is calling for an independent inquiry into Morsi’s death.[17]
Egypt’s Mohammed Morsi: A turbulent presidency cut short
July 14 – Democratic Republic of Congo
Ebola virus
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) confirms its first case of the deadly Ebola virus in the city of Goma, south of the epicenter of the previous Ebola outbreak. The concern is that in the city of two million people and a major commercial hub, the disease might quickly spread. More than 1,650 people have died since the outbreak of Ebola in the eastern part of the DRC a year ago (mostly in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri), where about 12 new cases are reported every day. However, with the help of the United Nations, the authorities claim they are prepared and can contain the spread of the disease in Goma. Almost 3,000 health workers have so far been vaccinated against the disease in Goma.[18]
Background: Ebola spreads rapidly through contact with even small amounts of bodily fluid of those infected – or indirectly through contact with contaminated environments. Patients who contract Ebola virus suffer gruesome symptoms and often die. The areas of Ituri and North Kivu provinces affected by Ebola are characterized by poor infrastructure, political instability and ongoing conflict involving scores of armed militia groups and community mistrust of national authorities and outsiders. The outbreak of Ebola five years ago in West Africa claimed more than 10,000 lives.[19]
Ebola outbreak in five graphics
July 17 – Sudan
Power-sharing agreement
After weeks of deadly protests, Sudan’s interim military government sign a power-sharing agreement with the opposition. According to the deal, the ruling council will consist of five civilians, five military figures, and an 11th civilian, who will be picked by the 10 members. For the first 21 months, a military general will be in charge of the council; after that the power will be handed over to the civilian council for the next 18 months, followed by elections.[20]
Background: When in December 2018 Sudan’s former President of 30 years, Omar al-Bashir, imposed emergency austerity measures, his move met with mass months-long protests. In April 2019, the military overthrew the president and established an interim ruling council. However, demonstrations continued, demanding the military transfer the power into civilian administration. In response, a paramilitary group under the command of the ruling council moved in to quell the protests, which resulted in a massacre and more protests. This forced the junta to open talks with the opposition.
July 25 – Africa
Migration to Europe
About 115 migrants drown in the Mediterranean Sea during an attempt to cross it from the coast of Libya to Europe. The Italian coast guards were able to save 132 migrants. Although the number of migrant journeys has declined dramatically since 2017, still thousands attempt to cross the Mediterranean to Europe on flimsy boats every year, with Libya being the main departure point. The decline is due to the deal made by Italy with Libya to stop migrants from leaving the Libyan coast. Also, the Italian coast guards return the migrants found at sea back to Libya.[21] The UN refugee agency reports that this was the deadliest shipwreck in the Mediterranean so far in 2019, with 164 migrants losing their lives in the first four months of 2019. These migrants come mostly from Africa and the Middle East.[22]
Migration to Europe in charts
July 29 – Ethiopia
National Green Legacy Initiative
In a single day, people in Ethiopia plant more than 353 million trees as part of the national Green Legacy Initiative. The project aims to combat climate change and deforestation. The program has been dubbed Green Legacy. The goal of the initiative is to grow 4 billion trees in the country this summer by encouraging every citizen to plant at least 40 seedlings. According to Dr. Dan Ridley-Ellis, the head of the center for wood science and technology at Edinburgh Napier University, “Trees not only help mitigate climate change by absorbing the carbon dioxide in the air, but they also have huge benefits in combating desertification and land degradation, particularly in arid countries. They also provide food, shelter, fuel, fodder, medicine, materials and protection of the water supply.”[23]
October 11 – Ethiopia
The Norwegian Nobel Committee awards the Nobel Peace Prize to Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. He has been recognized for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation. In 2018, he signed a peace deal with neighboring Eritrea after the war between the two countries that lasted from 1998 to 2000 followed by the 20-year-long military impasse. He has also been involved in peace processes in other African countries, including helping to broker an agreement between Sudan’s military leaders and civilian opposition after months of protests. At home, he freed thousands of jailed opposition activists and allowed exiled dissidents to return home. He also increased the participation of women in government by appointing several to prominent positions.[24]
More about Abiy Ahmed
All Nobel Peace Prize winners
December 11 – The Gambia
Genocide inquiry
A West African country, The Gambia, on behalf of dozens of other Muslim countries, brings Myanmar to the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ) calling for it to stop the genocide of its Rohingya minority and on the United Nations to protect this minority from further persecutions. The claims of atrocities against the Rohingya include systematic mass murder, rape and burning their villages to the ground. Myanmar’s leader and the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi defends her country and the military against these allegations, arguing that the country is tackling extremist Rohingya militants who attack government security posts.
To rule that Myanmar is guilty of genocide, the ICJ has to prove that the country acted with intent to destroy the minority population. But even then, it has no power to enforce the ruling; however, the guilty verdict could lead to sanctions and have economic consequences.[25]
Aung San Suu Kyi: The democracy icon who fell from grace
How a genocide was investigated