Dismantling Africa, one nation at a time
4 November 2021 By Gwynne Dyer Something is going wrong in Africa. Nigeria and Ethiopia, the two most populous countries on the continent, are both stumbling towards disintegration. There are now 54 sovereign African countries, which really ought to be enough, but in a few years there could be 60. Ethiopia is closer to the […]
ICJ judgment creates tough decisions for future relations of Kenya and Somalia
16 October 2021 By Brian Mukhwana and Wafula Okumu Kenyan troops watch the sea around Kismayu. An immediate withdrawal of the Kenyan military from Somalia could be interpreted as surrender, but continued presence could expose the troops to terrorist attacks and spur a Kenya military surge in Somalia. PHOTO | FILE The decision on the […]
What Sudan and South Sudan stand to gain by reopening their border
21 September 2021 By Luka Kuol Residents hang from a bus and hold a South Sudanese flag in the disputed Abyei region of Sudan. ALI NGETHI/AFP via Getty Images The border between Sudan and South Sudan is set to be reopened after 11 years. This follows the two countries reaching an agreement in August to end […]
Zim to miss AU’s 2023 border mapping deadline
19 September 2021 By Nqobani Ndlovu ZIMBABWE is lagging behind in mapping the country’s borders in line with the African Union Border Programme (AUBP), with only 20% having been demarcated since 2011. The AUBP was adopted in 2007 under the theme Preventing Conflicts and Promoting Integration with ambitious goals of “delimitation and demarcation of African […]
African Cross-border informal trade hits $93b yearly
05 September 2021 By Sulaimon Salau Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has disclosed that Africa’s cross-border informal trade now worth about $93 billion (about N46.5 trillion) yearly.Osinbajo, in a message delivered at a ‘Roundtable on Industrialization in Africa’ organized by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) to celebrate its Golden Jubilee, said the African Continental Free […]
ICJ Sets Date for Ruling on Kenya-Somalia Maritime Boundary Dispute
23 September 2021 By The Maritime Executive Image courtesy ICJ The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is set to make a ruling on the longstanding maritime dispute between Kenya and Somalia, a development that is expected to have far-reaching ramifications on the use of Indian Ocean waters claimed by the two nations. Somalia’s Deputy Prime […]
Algeria cuts diplomatic ties with Morocco over ‘hostile actions’
24 Aug 2021 Algeria is cutting diplomatic relations with Morocco, Foreign Minister Ramdane Lamamra said, accusing its neighbour of “hostile actions”. Morocco and Algeria have had strained relations for decades, mainly over the issue of Western Sahara. “Algeria has decided to cut diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Morocco from today,” Lamamra said at […]
AU PSC reaffirms principle of inviolability of borders
21 August 2021 The Peace and Security Council of the African Union (PSC) has reaffirmed the intangibility of borders inherited at independence during the settlement of border disputes in the African continent, said a statement issued Friday. In a communiqué sanctioning the work of its 1024th meeting held at ministerial level, the PSC reiterates “the […]
EAC member states in pilot project for cross-border Comesa digital payments
24 August 2021 By Bob Karashani Tony Blair, former UK prime minister, Rwanda President Paul Kagame and Howard Buffett, CEO, Howard G. Buffet Foundation at the World Economic Forum in Kigali in 2016, themed “Connecting Africa’s Resources through Digital Transformation”. PHOTO | AFP Comesa is recommending adoption of a digital payment system that supersedes similar […]
Sudan, South Sudan to reopen borders after 11 years
23 August 2021 By Garang Malak South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit and Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok shake hands on September 12, 2019 in Juba, South Sudan. PHOTO | AKUOT CHOL | AFP Sudan and South Sudan have agreed to open their borders after 11 years.This was announced after a meeting between South Sudan’s […]
Would redrawing of regional borders make Uganda happy?
24 August 2021 By Joachim Buwembo We Ugandans love history. This love for things past almost led us to war with Kenya in 1976. Our gallant president then, the one and only Field Marshal Idi Amin, had directed all Ugandans to read a certain book that detailed how “our” territory was grabbed by the British […]
Need to uphold principle of intangibility of borders inherited at independence
20 August 2021 Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Community Abroad, Ramtane Lamamra, on Thursday stressed the necessity to scrupulously respect the principle of intangibility of boundaries inherited at the time of independence in the settlement of border disputes in Africa, the ministry said in a statement. The statement by Lamamra was made at […]
How to turn Nigeria into true federation
August 18, 2021 By Jerome-Mario Utomi THERE are many reasons Nigeria must take the present call for restructuring seriously. It is in the long-term interests of all the ethnic nationalities in Nigeria to restructure Nigeria into a true and sustainable federation. It is, however, clear that there is at present no love lost politically between […]
Is the Nile Dispute In Fact Moving Toward a Dénouement?
August 17, 2021 By Gregory Copley Ethiopia is at a strategic tipping point, with significant consequences for the stability of the lower Red Sea maritime route (and much more). However, it may be premature to assume that it would soon break up as a federation in the manner of the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s, […]
Northern Corridor gets $4.4m for trade projects
17 August 2021 By Anthony Kitimo There are plans to put up 67 roadside stations to serve as rest points for truck drivers in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and the DR Congo. PHOTO | FILE | The Northern Corridor secretariat has a $4.4 million budget for the 2021/2022 financial year to implement and […]
Ambazonian, Biafra etc: Does suppressing agitations for separation mean bottling the bomb?
17 August 2021 By Olusegun Akinfenwa Secession related crises are fast becoming omnipresent in Africa and have led to the fragmentation and division of many nations. The unrest usually comes with devastating impacts largely responsible for the continent’s current economic and social retardation. From Nigeria’s Biafra to Cameroon’s Ambazonian, and Ethiopia’s Tigray, the daily heightened […]
Nigeria, Benin plan new commission to solve cross-border challenges
17 August 2021 By Editor Seme border Irked by the lingering challenges affecting cross-border trade between the two countries, members of the private sector in Nigeria and the Republic of Benin are making arrangements to establish Nigeria-Benin Commission to create a smooth trade corridor. Several factors are affecting smooth regional trade among West-African nations, […]
Border disputes? Let’s make boundaries irrelevant without changing them
17 August 2021 By Shivshankar Menon South Asia is composed of old nations in new states where nationalism is still a work in progress. Every boundary has cross-border ethnicities. These factors make our boundaries contested. File photo of Indian and Chinese troops disengaging from the banks of the Pangong lake area in Eastern Ladakh | […]
Boundary disputes: Osun govt inaugurates 11-man committee
August 11, 2021 By Francis Ezediuno The Osun State Government has inaugurated an 11-man Osun State Boundary Commission to tackle the boundary disputes within and outside the State. The committee, according to the government, will be saddled with the mandate to amicably settle all boundary disputes within the State, as well as Osun and contiguous […]
Sudan-Ethiopia ties worsening
09 August 2021 Sudan orders its envoy to Ethiopia home for consultations after government spokeswoman in Addis Ababa rejects Sudanese initiative to mediate a ceasefire in Tigray war and accuses it of occupying Ethiopian territory. More than 60,000 people have also fled Tigray and taken refuge in Sudan Sudan said Sunday it ordered its envoy […]
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project and Political Conflict
10 August 2021 By Jacob Richard Bergeron In 2011, Ethiopia started construction on a dam along the Blue Nile River that the government coined the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project, GERD. Projections predict the dam’s cost around $5 billion, which was around 7% of Ethiopia’s GDP in 2016. Egypt and Sudan lodged formal complaints against GERD’s […]
How migrants are being used as weapons
8 August 2021 By Ian Birrell The pandemic has crushed the global tourism industry, with thousands of flights cancelled and millions of holidays postponed – but in one part of the world not normally considered a travel hotspot, there has been a surprising surge in visitor numbers. Belarus, led by Europe’s last dictator and which has […]
Dying to reach Europe: The Atlantic crossing
09 August 2021 By Emma Wallis These migrants made it to the Canary Islands from Morocco but many more die at sea. Perhaps nearly 2,000 in 2021 alone | Photo: Javier Bauluz / AP A tally of the numbers of migrants who die or go missing during their journeys is impossible to establish definitively, since […]
Dar’s turn to eat Mombasa’s lunch as Rwanda looks south for trade across borders
07 August 2021 By Berna Namata, Ange Iliza and Anthony Kitimo Rwanda has diverted most of its cargo- exports via the Port of Dar es Salaam. PHOTO | CYRIL NDEGEYA Rwanda and Tanzania have moved to reshape East Africa’s trade and logistics, with Rwanda being the latest landlocked country to divert its cargo traffic from […]
Making sense of boundary disputes in India’s Northeast
07 August 2021 By Pradip Phanjoubam In order to understand the clash between Assam and Mizoram place, we have to go back to the British colonial government’s outlook to frontier management Express Illustration: Amit Bandre Much has already been said about the atrocious clash between Assam and Mizoram police on July 26 that left six policemen […]
Removing Cross-Border Trade Barriers Affecting Small-Scale Women Entrepreneurs
13 June 2021 Cross-border trade has broad poverty and development ramifications, especially for low-skilled women in border areas. It contributes to income, provides jobs, and empowers women across Africa. Because women’s empowerment is a key factor for economic and social development, making cross-border trade easy for small-scale traders is essential for supporting women. Cross-border trade is a female-intensive […]
Boundary dispute: Northeastern states’ borders to be demarcated though satellite imaging
01 August 2021 The inter-state border disputes have come under fresh focus recently after five Assam Police personnel and a civilian were killed in clashes along the Assam-Mizoram border Locals near damaged security force vehicles after clashes last night on the Assam-Mizoram border at Lailapur in Cachar district, on July 27, 2021. PTI file The […]
Cameroon: Ambazonian Secessionist Agitations And Political Balancing
29 Jul 2021 By Toyin Falola Postcolonial conversations around African politics have proven that current political issues and trends in Africa are topics of continental and transnational discourse. Several political scientists have researched the causes and effects of political infractions, which are the basis for economic and cultural retardation in many African countries. The economists […]
Ethiopia’s Somali and Afar regions Feuding Over Boundary
27 July 2021 Dawit Endeshaw and Giulia Paravicini An internally displaced Ethiopian girl walks back to her village Sariir in Somali Region, Ethiopia January 13, 2020. REUTERS/Giulia Paravicini The local government in Ethiopia’s Somali region said on Tuesday militia from the neighbouring region of Afar had attacked and looted a town, the latest flare-up in […]
Inter-State Boundary Turns Fatal
27 July 2021 Phabin Kalita Six Assam cops were killed and around 80 people, including officials, were injured in firing by Mizoram police and alleged Mizo intruders along the inter-state border in Cachar’s Lailapur on Monday as a boundary dispute festering for 25-odd years escalated into full-blown violence involving security forces and civilians on either […]
India Border Clash Turns Deadly
July 27, 2021 By Hari Kumar and Emily Schmall Two Indian states have been arguing since the 1980s over where exactly the line falls on a 193-square-mile strip of land dividing them. On Monday, guns and hand grenades came out. Gunfire and grenades exploded along a stretch of dense tropical forest in India’s northeast on Monday in a […]
Why Migrants Organize Perilous Mass Crossings Into Melilla, Spain
27 July 2021 By ARI SHAPIRO, ASHLEY BROWN & MIGUEL MACIA All Things Considered ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: Let’s visit a city now that sits on the northern edge of the African continent. Melilla is technically an autonomous city of Spain. The land is legally part of Europe. But it is surrounded by Morocco, across the sea from the Spanish […]
The genesis of the Assam-Mizoram border dispute
27 July 2021 By Explained Desk Assam-Mizoram border dispute: The violence spotlights the long-standing inter-state boundary issues in the Northeast, particularly between Assam and the states that were carved out of it. Visual of violence at Assam-Mizoram border. (Twitter @himantabiswa) At least five Assam Police personnel were killed after the old boundary dispute between Assam […]
Demarcating the Armenia-Azerbaijan Border Through International Mediation, Not Violence
25 Jul 2021 By Sossi Tatikyan What was posed as a border demarcation issue further threatens regional stability in the South Caucasus. The current context of mounting military action is not sustainable; the process must revert back to international norms. But first, it is necessary to lay out where we stand today with a chronology of […]
Modelling the effect of a border closure between Switzerland and Italy on the spatiotemporal spread of COVID-19 in Switzerland
24 July 2021 By Mathilde Griméea, Maria Bekker-Nielsen Dunbarb, Felix Hofmannb and Leonhard Held We present an approach to extend the Endemic-Epidemic (EE) modelling framework for the analysis of infectious disease data. In its spatiotemporal application, spatial dependencies have originally been captured by a power law applied to static neighbourhood matrices. We propose to adjust […]
The Case for Open Borders Is Laid Out in the Book ‘Build Bridges, Not Walls’
23 July 2021 BY WILL MEYER Borders “are a direct result of colonialism and maintain a neo-colonial worldview.” HERIKA MARTINEZ The iconic abolitionist activist Angela Davis once wrote that “walls turned sideways are bridges.” This creativity and openness to our fellow humans — this bridge-building — is what we need to do to address the unfolding crises of […]
Ethiopian dam dispute: Is Tel Aviv fishing in troubled Nile waters?
24 July 2021 By Al Waght News Several thousand years after the Abrahamic religions’ story about the Nile River, Israelites, and Egypt, the three are meeting each other again in North Africa. An artery to Egypt, the Nile is constituted of the two Blue Nile and White Nile rivers. Blue Nile is a rich […]
Can Israel help tensions surrounding the Nile?
24 July 2021 By NEVILLE TELLER The long-running dispute is between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. It all revolves around the waters of the Nile. FISHERMEN WORK on the Nile River on the outskirts of Cairo last summer. (photo credit: MOHAMED ABD EL GHANY/ REUTERS) On July 8, a disagreement between three African nations that has […]
Sudan closes border crossing with Ethiopia after disappearance of commander
24 July 2021 Clashes erupted late last year between Sudanese and Ethiopian forces over Al-Fashqa. (File/AFP) Sudan closed its border with Ethiopia on Saturday following the “disappearance” of a commander who was in the area pursuing Ethiopian militias off, local media Sudan Tribune reported. Captain Bahaa El-Din Youssef was pursuing Ethiopian militias who “kidnapped three Sudanese children from within the […]
Heavy fighting kills 20 in region bordering Tigray
23 July 2021 By AFP At least 20 civilians have been killed and tens of thousands displaced in “heavy fighting” between rebels and pro-government forces in Ethiopia’s Afar region, which neighbours war-hit Tigray, an official said on Thursday. The sustained clashes in Afar highlight the potential for Ethiopia’s eight-month-old conflict to expand well beyond Tigray, where […]
UK “Borders Bill” criminalises asylum-seekers
23 July 2021 Julie Hyland UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government’s Nationality and Border Bill has passed its second reading in parliament by 366 votes to 265. The Bill criminalises asylum-seekers and migrants, overturns the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention and significantly strengthens the power of border agencies. Its reading coincided with the government’s […]
More than 200 migrants scale fence into Spain’s Melilla enclave
22 July 2021 Crossings come months after other Spanish enclave of Ceuta witnessed influx of arrivals amid Madrid-Rabat dispute. Melilla and Ceuta – a second Spanish enclave also on Africa’s Mediterranean coast – are popular crossing points for migrants and refugees seeking a better life in Europe [File: Jesus Blasco de Avellaneda/Reuters] More than 200 […]
UK border rules are harsher for Africans
22 July 2021 Taimour Lay A Ghanaian business owner wants to visit London for a conference. A Ugandan student is awarded a scholarship at Oxford University. A political activist from Zimbabwe seeks humanitarian protection. A Sudanese girl stranded in Greece dreams of joining her refugee brother in Birmingham.Every year, just like these people I have […]
The Different Types Of Boundaries & How To Protect Them
22 July 2021 By Stina Sanders Boundaries. If you’ve not heard the word in your therapy sessions, you’ll have seen it shared across social media. It’s the current buzzword which emphasises the importance of protecting our own physical and emotional space while encouraging others to do the same. The idea of setting boundaries is this: by expressing what […]
Harmonisation of Regulatory Framework, Key to African Trade Integration
22 July 2021 By Emma Okonji Experts in regional trade from across Africa and Europe have called for harmonisation of regulatory framework across the 54 African countries that are driving the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA), in order to have successful trade integration among member state. They advised policy makers to develop clear regulatory […]
The Egypt-Sudan Border Dispute
22 July 2021 Sudan borders Egypt to the south, with both countries having a coastline along the Red Sea. The two countries share a 1,276 kilometers long border that runs eastwards from Gabal El Uweinat, a tripod area on the Sudanese-Egyptian-Libyan border, along the 22nd parallel north. The border follows a straight line from the tripod to Lake Nasser then […]
Anambra’s Aguleri-Umuleri in Renewed Boundary Dispute
July 21, 2021 By Vincent Ujumadu There is a renewed land dispute between Aguleri and Umuleri, both in Anambra East local government area, with a 95-year old man, Elder Nnake Chibuzo leading his Ikenga Umueri community in a protest against Aguleri. The two communities have been engaged in a protracted land dispute that led to […]
What is Karman Line? How does it define space travel?
Jul 20, 2021 By DNA Web Team With Jeff Bezos set to follow Richard Branson to the edge of space, here’s what it means and how the boundary between Earth and space is defined. Pic courtesy: Richard Gatley/ Unsplash The billionaire space travel month will see a second private endeavour as the wealthiest of the […]
Where does space begin? Here’s everything you need to understand about Karman Line
19 JULY 2021 ‘Karman Line’ is named after Theodore von Karman, a Hungarian-American mathematician, aerospace engineer, and physicist. he was the first person to attempt to derive such an altitude limit. But what is Karman Line, and what is the debate around ‘space’ and ‘not space’? Find out here. The Karman Line, the most commonly […]
Regional economic spillovers from the South Sudanese civil war: Evidence from formal and informal cross border trade
March 2020 By Jakob Rauschendorfer and Ben Shepherd This paper examines the impact of the South Sudanese civil war on trade in East Africa. In a first step, we employ a gravity model to examine the impact of civil conflict on the trade of neighbouring countries in a general sense and conduct a counterfactual simulation […]
Ethiopia’s controversial mega-dam
8 July 2021 By AFP Ethiopia’s controversial mega-dam construction on the upper Nile River has caused a decade of regional tensions. Ethiopia’s construction of a massive dam on a tributary of the Nile River, which the UN Security Council meets about on Thursday, is raising regional tensions notably with Egypt, which depends on the Nile […]
Borders
10 July 2021 ART: QUARTZ/DANIEL LEE. PHOTO: REUTERS/HANNAH MCKAY Borders are arbitrary lines on a map, but they have real impact on where we live and work, and the ways we trade and transact. How porous or rigid they are is determined mainly by policy, sometimes geography, and occasionally by sheer human will. Tax […]
Traveling to an African country? Here’s what you need to know
14 July 2021 By Tim McDonnell REUTERS/MOHAMED ABD EL GHANY To draw in tourists, Egypt dropped its Covid-19 testing entry requirement for travelers with proof of vaccination. The coronavirus pandemic has been harsh for Africa’s $50 billion tourism industry, with the fall-off in foreign visitors likely to knock out more than 6% of countries’ GDP on average in 2021, according to the UN.Last […]
COMESA: Tug of War on Extraterritoriality and the Saving Grace of Regional Law
14 July 2021 Willard Mwemba In summary This article highlights the nature of jurisdiction vested upon selected national competition authorities and the limitations on the jurisdiction vested upon them. It explores the various theories and case law that have arisen in various regions in respect of the extraterritorial application of competition laws. It advocates for […]
North Korea Hastens Construction of Border Walls and Fences
8 July 2021 By Ha Yoon Ah As North Korea builds concrete walls and high voltage wires along the entire China-North Korea border, military units and labor brigades tasked with the construction recently received an order to complete their work by Oct. 10, or Party Foundation Day. A source in Yanggang Province, speaking on condition […]
Jatalong: A remote village caught in the vexed Assam-Meghalaya boundary row
July 10, 2021 By Princess Giri Rashir Ri-Bhoi District Congress visited Jatalong, a remote village along the disputed areas of Assam and Meghalaya, on Friday. This is what they found Jatalong: A remote village caught in the vexed Assam-Meghalaya boundary row Shillong: The vexed inter-state boundary row between Assam and Meghalaya continues to have an […]
Looming Water War Over Dam Construction on the Nile River
12 July 2021 Egypt is threatening war with Ethiopia over management of Nile River water. The dispute has been going on since 2011, when Ethiopia began construction of its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Egypt has a much larger and better equipped military than Ethiopia and spends twenty times as much each year on its […]
Geographies of unease: Witchcraft and boundary construction in an African borderland
13 July 2021 By Cherry Leonardi, Elizabeth Storer and Jonathan Fisher Abstract African borderlands – such as those between South Sudan, Uganda and Congo – are often presented by analysts as places of agency and economic opportunity, in contrast to hardened, securitized borders elsewhere. We emphasize, however, that even such relatively porous international borders can […]
A New Water Paradigm for Sub-Saharan Africa
Summer 2021 By Djiby Thiam To make clean water and sanitation truly accessible to local communities across the continent, African institutions must take the lead in understanding the specific challenges and opportunities they face. Picture Taken from Luchelle Feukeng: Published on October 16 2019 by Afrik21 In recent years, African leaders have come together to promote initiatives […]
UN ready to promote ‘win-win solution’ for Blue Nile dam project
July 10, 2021 By Newsroom The United Nations stands ready to support Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan in efforts to resolve their decade-long disagreement over the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), senior officials told the Security Council on Thursday. UN Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, reported that recent negotiations under the African […]
Walking the wall: Revisiting a brutal barrier to migrant dreams
23 MAY 23 2021 By KEVIN C. PYLE Kevin C. Pyle is an artist and illustrator and the author of several graphic novels and nonfiction books, including “Migrant: Stories of Hope and Resilience.” Source: Los Angeles Times
Ethiopia’s controversial mega-dam
8 July 2021 Ethiopia’s controversial mega-dam construction on the upper Nile River has caused a decade of regional tensions (EDUARDO SOTERAS/AFP/File) Ethiopia’s construction of a massive dam on a tributary of the Nile River, which the UN Security Council meets about on Thursday, is raising regional tensions notably with Egypt, which depends on the Nile […]
Africa’s ‘Big States Crisis’ Has Deep Historical Roots
7 July 2021 By Howard W. French One of the most important problems in modern African history is also among the most widely misunderstood. For decades, both journalists and scholars have lamented that Africa’s borders were drawn up by outside powers, beginning with Europe’s so-called Scramble for Africa, between 1881 and World War I. This […]
Concern For Migrants At Europe’s African Land Borders
12 Nov 12 2019 Alasdair Lane Clinging desperately to the truck’s undercarriage, it’s hard to imagine the boy’s terror. What horrors drove him to the Spanish border, we’ll never know. The 13-year-old dropped under the lorry’s wheel, and his tiny body was crushed. Another life lost in Europe’s unremitting migrant crisis; but not, like most, […]
Self-determination, Secession and International law
July 6, 2021 By Mujib Dada-Qadri What astonishes me most about secession and self-determination as controversial topics is the fact that virtually all countries of the world have threats or agitations for secession; it doesn’t matter whether the country is economically prosperous or not. The fundamental reason why it remains one of the most controversial […]
Fracturing states in Africa are redrawing colonial maps
5 July 2021 By J. Brian Atwood © Getty Images The Ethiopian state of Tigray is the latest region to attempt to break away from the central government of an African nation. The Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front retook the capital city of Mekelle last week, setting off celebrations by civilians suffering at the hands of the Ethiopian military. The […]
Economic Integration in West Africa Starts with Road Corridors
29 JUNE 2021 With both hands firmly gripping the steering wheel, Massata Cissé exudes the confidence of strong-willed women, and her love for the road is reflected in her broad smile. A truck driver for more than 30 years, Cissé, whose handle is “Maman Africa,” is truly an exceptional woman. “Just over 30 years ago […]
Lamenting the Algeria-Morocco border closure
5 July 2021 By Maher Mezahi COPYRIGHT AFP The main crossing between Morocco and Algeria is called Zouj Beghal, which translates as “Two Donkeys”. Legend has it that a pair of donkeys were harnessed to a yoke in Morocco and ordered to march eastwards until they effectively traced what would end up being the […]
South Africa might turn into a circus if the borders are removed for free foreign entry?
4 July 2021 By GlobCapacity The free entry of any foreign citizen into a different country in the same continent should not be something to be taken lightly Unfortunately here in South Africa there are borders but those borders are not entirely respected by neighbouring countries or citizens And the neighbouring countries with little respect […]
Borderlands in West Africa are ungoverned: why this is bad for security
1 July 2021 Ernest Toochi Aniche, Chris Changwe Nshimbi & Inocent Moyo Sahel landscape In many parts of the African continent borders are porous. People cross them to visit their kin and for economic reasons such as herding, farming, fishing, hunting and trading. They are also spaces in which human smuggling, human trafficking, gun-running, terrorism […]
The Ideology of the Border
1 July 2021 By Felipe de la Hoz Brendan O’Connor’s Blood Red Lines examines how disparate right-wing groups organized around a shared world view he calls “border fascism.” A section of the US-Mexico border wall, between San Diego and Tijuana, 2021. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images) John Tanton isn’t a household name; […]
Egypt has no objections to any Ethiopian dam but wants fair deal, says minister
July 01, 2021 By Mohamed Abu Zaid Egypt has no objections to any dam in Ethiopia and supports its development, but wants a fair deal on filling and operating it, the Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel-Ati said on Thursday. Ethiopia is pinning its hopes of economic development and power generation on the […]
Ethiopian group asks for academics’ support in dam dispute
1 July 2021 Esther Nakkazi Members of an advisory council to the Ethiopian government have called on university leaders and academia from all over the world to reject “outdated and unfair colonial treaties” as grounds for settling the dispute over the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). The call was made by scientists, scholars and […]
Border Security Market Forecast
May 2021 The border security market was valued at US$ 144,271.21 million in 2020 and is projected to reach US$ 69,750.88 million by 2028; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.85% during 2020-2028. The advantage of using such vehicles during wars is to avoid humiliation in case the aircraft is shot down, […]
Joint Ghana-Togo technical committee to resolve boundary disputes
28 June 2021 Minister for National Security, Albert Kan Dapaah Minister for National Security, Albert Kan Dapaah, has charged the Ghana Boundary Commission, to initiate the establishment of a Joint Ghana-Togo Land Technical Committee to resolve all existing land boundary issues between the two West African States. The Ghana Boundary Commission in April 2021, begun […]
Tunisia cracks down on migrants after deal with Europe
28 June 2021 By Rédaction Africanews Tunisia’s defence ministry said Sunday that its navy had rescued 178 migrants who were trying to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to reach Europe. Two bodies were recovered and 178 migrants rescued during three operations off Tunisia’s south coast, a ministry statement said. The migrants, who the ministry said […]
Migrants who want to come to UK ‘may be sent to processing centres in Africa’
28 June 2021 Harrison Jones Priti Patel is expected to bring in new laws allowing asylum seekers to be sent abroad for processing next week – with faraway Rwanda reportedly under consideration as a possible location. Britain has never had an offshore immigration processing centre before and it remains unclear where any site would be, despite […]
Fuel Smuggling: Nigerian Porous Borders and Security Agencies
27 June 2021 After months of playing the ostrich, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation has finally acknowledged the danger of persistent smuggling of petroleum products across the country’s borders and the role bad eggs in the security agencies play in and resistance of border communities to government’s efforts to shutting down the thriving black market. Chris […]
Uti Possidetis and Nigerian Fulani Herders’ Claim of Terra Nullius: The Truth about the Untruths
27 June 2021 By Bola A. Akinterinwa There is an emerging debate on the principle of uti possidetis on the social media platform of the Nigerian Society of International Law, which is quite interesting in light of Nigeria’s current insecurity imbroglio. Uti possidetis is a major catalytic agent of Nigeria’s insecurity from the perspective of […]
Ondo, Osun move to resolve boundary disputes
24 June 2021 By Segun Giwa The governments of Ondo and Osun States on Thursday held a meeting designed to resolve disputes brewing along their borders. The meeting, attended by the Ondo State Deputy Governor, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa, and the Osun state Attorney General, Mr Olufemi Akande, who represented his Deputy Governor, Mr Benedict Alabi. […]
Resolving Ghana/Togo maritime boundary dispute-Parties happy with progress
25 June 2021 By Della Russel Ocloo The government of Ghana has expressed satisfaction with the progress of work made in efforts at resolving the maritime boundary dispute between Ghana and Togo. According to the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel Abu Jinapor, the provisional arrangements made towards a temporary management of the […]
The Kazungula bridge gives SA an ‘alternative route’ to Zambia
2 May 2021 By Tom Head The Kazungula Bridge between Botswana and Zambia is almost ready to open for business, and it is set to revolutionise travel in Southern Africa. Photo: Botswana Government From next Monday, motorists looking to cross the Zambezi River will have more than one major route to choose from, as the […]
Why Africa’s newest super-bridge is in the continent’s weirdest border zone
25 June 2021 By Frank Jacobs The Kazungula Bridge connects Zambia and Botswana, barely missing Namibia and Zimbabwe. The new bridge in all its glory. The small island just across is Xacumba, the easternmost tip of Namibia. The town on the right is Kazungula in Zambia. The picture is taken high above the Zambezi where […]
Ethiopia’s Great Renaissance Dam Risks Diplomatic Blowup
25 June 2021 Laura-Maï Gaveriaux Built by Ethiopia, the massive Dam project is fueling tensions with Sudan and Egypt. The second filling, set to take place next month, risks making the area even more explosive. KHARTOUM — A sandstorm throws a thick red fog on Khartoum, making the Sudanese capital look like something out of a Martian chronicle […]
Self-Determination and Secessionism in Somaliland and South Sudan: Challenges to Postcolonial State-building
By Redie Bereketeab Published in 2012 This paper analyses the notion of self-determination and secession by adopting a comparative perspective on two case studies, namely Somaliland and South Sudan. Somaliland declared its independence in 1991 following the collapse of the Somali state. Since then, Somaliland has been making relentless efforts to secure recognition from the […]
The Implication of Cross Border Trade Disputes between Uganda and South Sudan on Regional Integration
By Tamburo Michael Renz 25 June 2021 South Sudan’s restoration of peace, combined with better security, led to tremendous trade growth with Uganda. An examination by South Sudan and the neighbors of trade values and volumes found that Uganda was the primary trading partner in South Sudan. The main objective of the research was to […]
Containing the Volatile Sudan-Ethiopia Border Dispute
24 June 2021 What’s new? Ethiopia and Sudan are locked in a dangerous standoff over al-Fashaga, a swathe of fertile borderland from which Khartoum evicted thousands of Ethiopian farmers in December 2020. Clashes between the two countries’ troops have claimed dozens of combatant and civilian lives. Why does it matter? Fragile political transitions in both countries are […]
Ghana-Togo Maritime Boundary Negotiations Meeting ongoing in Accra
GNA, 23 June 2021 Mr Samuel Abu Jinapor, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, has opened the Seventh Round of the Joint Ghana-Togo Maritime Boundary Negotiations Meeting in Accra. The three-day meeting aims at resolving, amicably, the outstanding issues on the delimitation of the maritime boundary between the two neighbouring countries. Mr Kokou Edem Tengue, […]
South Africa destroys cartons of illegal and illicit cigarettes
The Citizen, 23 June 2021 By Marizka Coetzer (marizkac@citizen.co.za) According to Sars customs data, the export value of tobacco products increased from R14.24 billion in 2019 to R15.87 billion in 2020. Cartons of illicit cigarettes were turned into confetti yesterday when the South African Revenue Service (Sars) destroyed illegal products seized at various borders in South […]
The maritime tussle between Kenya and Somalia – and what happens next
June 23, 2021 Patrick Muthengi Maluki Kenyan coastal fishermen based at Lamu near Somalia demand to be heard in the court dispute over Indian Ocean maritime boundary in March 2021. Photo by Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images) Following a maritime boundary dispute, Somalia instituted proceedings against Kenya at the International Court of Justice in August 2014. The […]
River Nile dam: Egypt new African allies
BBC News, 24 June 2021 IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES Egypt is trying to strengthen its diplomatic and military clout in Africa amid an escalating dispute with Ethiopia over the building of a huge dam on a tributary of the River Nile, writes Egypt analyst Magdi Abdelhadi. The Egyptian Geographic Society, established in 1875, houses some valuable […]
Japan-South Korea 300 years dispute over Dodko Islands
Many South Koreans consider a trip to the Dodko Islands a civic duty. Photographs by Tim Franco ByAlexandra Genova Published November 14, 2018 The Dokdo Islands are the center of a diplomatic dispute between South Korea and Japan that goes back more than 300 years./Photograph by Tim Franco Though the Dokdo—meaning ‘Solitary Island’ in Korean—are […]
Breathtaking Transboundary Natural Resource
Virunga National Park, DRC Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Virunga National Park is located in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, within the Albertine Rift Valley. It includes a lush landscape that ranges from the Semliki River Valley to the Rwenzori Mountains, Mount Nyiragongo, and Nyamuragira. The presence of […]
What’s a border anyway? Part I
June 22, 2021 By Sam Ratner A view of a steel wall at Evros river, near the village of Poros, at the Greek-Turkish border, Greece, Friday, May 21, 2021. Credit: Giannis Papanikos/AP What actually constitutes the state? When we say that a state has done something — or even that a state exists — who or […]
Belgian farmer accidentally redraws international border
May 4, 2021 By Amanda McGowan download A Belgian farmer casually relocated a historic marker stone while out tending to his property. Turns out, in the process, he accidentally moved the site of the French-Belgian border. Host Marco Werman has the story. Source: PRI
Nature bites back: Animals push human boundaries
JUNE 22, 2021 Animals and humans are increasingly coming into close contact, as when an elephant burst into a house in Thailand. The pandemic and climate change is testing as never before the delicate balance of human co-habitation with the natural world. As an Australian prison is evacuated after it was overrun by the plague […]
Ghana’s NCCE launches research report on violent extremism in 10 Border Regions
By GNA June 10, 2021 The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has launched a research report on violent extremism in ten border regions of Ghana which identifies youth unemployment as a risk to national security. The research, titled: Risk or threat Analysis of Violent Extremism in Ten Border Regions of Ghana, conducted by the […]
Federal Court Permits Warrantless Device Searches at U.S. Border
By Mark Rasch June 10, 2021 With the weather getting warmer, and vaccinations against COVID-19 increasing, we are likely to see an increase in travel — including international business travel. But for individuals and companies seeking to protect their data privacy, a recent ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit […]
The Persistence of Borders in a Globalized World
By Bruno Tertrais World Politics Review, June 22, 2021 A new border wall stretches along the landscape near Sasabe, Arizona, May 19, 2021 (AP photo by Ross D. Franklin). Back in 1990, when the Soviet bloc was crumbling into new nations, Kenichi Ohmae, a Japanese organizational theorist and management consultant, had the audacity to suggest […]
Failed delimitation of constituencies: why and what next for Zambia’s constitutionally driven delimitation process
By Editor June 22, 2021 The issue of Constituency delimitation is a hot topic of discussion for democracy advocates who believe in the principle of representative democracy and the guarding of it by the number of seats and votes allocated to each community or region through their members of parliament who participate in decision making […]
Heliosphere boundary of the solar system traced
by Explica .co June 21, 2021 Recently it became known that scientists are able to trace the boundary of the solar system heliosphere. This is great news, as it provides insight into the forces that sculpt the bubble of our solar system from the outside. The aforementioned is important, because astronomers have been able to determine […]
Is the Namibia-Botswana Border Treaty Contentious?
New Era, 2021-06-18 By Staff Reporter We wish to respond on the issue relating to the Namibia-Botswana Border Treaty as follows: The Mafwe and the Mayeyi traditional authorities in the Zambezi region wrote in The Namibian dated 17 May 2021 showing their concerns about the border treaty of 2018 between Namibia and Botswana. The chiefs […]
Ivory Coast witnesses surge in jihadist activity
BY CALEB WEISS June 16, 2021 Map of jihadist attacks inside Ivory Coast since 2016. Map made by Caleb Weiss for FDD’s Long War Journal. Since late March of this year, northern Ivory Coast has been subject to a substantial increase in jihadist attacks. This includes the country’s first known instances of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). […]
Africans do not yearn for Europe
By Oriol Puig 15 Jun 2021 The recent events in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta may have suggested otherwise, but (most of) Africa does not yearn to come to Europe, writes Oriol Puig. The recent events in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta may have suggested otherwise, but (most of) Africa does not yearn to come to […]
Border closures are harming Togo’s economy
By Emile Kouton AFP, June 16, 2021 A very quiet Togo-Benin border crossing at Hillacondji When the global pandemic forced Togo’s government to close its land borders, taxi driver Kossigan lost his lucrative business ferrying people across the frontier. Now like many others who lived off frontier trade, he is still waiting for the Togo’s […]
Ceuta & Melilla to be Fully Included by Spain in its Schengen Area
Spain is planning to include its African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in the borderless Schengen Area, the Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez revealed at the beginning of this week, on Tuesday, June 16. Her statements came after the Spanish Secretary of State for the European Union, Juan González-Barba said a week ago, on June […]
A Farmer Moved a 200-Year-Old Stone, and the French-Belgian Border
By Anna Schaverien Published May 5, 2021Updated May 7, 2021 A marker that was moved seven feet into French territory by a farmer in Belgium might have changed the countries’ border forever if not for a sharp-eyed group of friends. A stone, carved with the year 1819, marks the border between France and Belgium. It was recently moved […]
Africa beyond borders: Botswana and Zambia jointly built a bridge to boost trade activities
Eye Gambia, May 4, 2021 Richard Kwame Krah With the growing campaign for African unity, more and more countries keep taking collective actions to open connections with each other and trade with ease. With Africa Beyond Borders, we track initiatives or projects on the continent that promotes integration; in this version, we take a look […]
Imagine a World Without Borders
Imagine a World Without Borders BY TODD MILLER Yes! Magazine, MAY 4, 2021 IMAGE BY JAPATINO/GETTY IMAGES Walls and fences at national borders enforce inequality, racial divides, and climate catastrophe. But most of them began as invisible lines in the sand. For decades, Todd Miller has reported on borders and the conflicts they create. In his […]
When will the U.S.-Canada border reopen?
What we do know: It’ll be fully-vaccinated Canadians only who can skip the quarantine, and there will still be plenty of checks and balances. What we don’t know: Almost everything else. After 15 months of near total shutdown, there are millions of Canadians anxious to see family they have missed, take a long-delayed vacation or […]
Rwandan army abducts Ugandan soldier at border
Nation, June 15, 2021 By Daily Monitor What you need to know: The capture of the soldier comes in the wake of frosty relations between the neighbouring countries that deteriorated in February 2019 when Rwanda shut its major border with Uganda. Ugandan officials have reported that Rwanda on Saturday took into custody a Ugandan soldier […]
Kenya-Ethiopia Opens One-Stop-Border-Post
Addis Abeba – Moyale, June 08/2021 – Today marks the start of Moyale Border operating as a One Stop Border Post (OSBP), as the Government border regulatory officials from Kenya and Ethiopia came together to commence operations. This means that, the border regulatory officials clearing traffic, cargo and persons from both Ethiopia and Kenya will now […]
Celebration of African Border Day
Addis Ababa, 7 June 2021: The African Union and its Member States are celebrating the 11th edition of the African Border Day under the theme, “Arts, Culture and Heritage: Levers for Building the Africa We Want”. This statutory commemoration is held in the context of the implementation of the African Union Border Programme (AUBP), which aims to […]