The world – including Australia, home to a large South Sudanese diaspora – is watching the spiralling violence and humanitarian crisis in the country with concern, worry and dread.
EPA/George Mindruta
The recent civil conflict in South Sudan, which has led to the deaths and injury of thousands of people, rising tension between tribal groups and political instability, might at first instance appear far…
It seems that South Sudan is falling apart amidst political conflict, but what is actually behind the violence?
EPA/Phillip Dill
Over the past few weeks, crisis has gripped the world’s newest nation, South Sudan, after an internal political conflict spilled into violence which has left thousands dead. So far, there have been reports…
Peacekeeping in South Sudan means grappling with deep ethnic divisions.
Ben Curtis/AP
Against a backdrop of continuing ethnic violence, delegations from South Sudan’s warring factions have arrived in Ethiopia to try to negotiate a settlement to the crisis that has riven Africa’s newest…
We salute you: UN Security Council stands in tribute to Nelson Mandela.
The death last night of Nelson Mandela serves as a reminder of the enormous potential of African leaders to bring positive and lasting change to the continent. It is a reminder also of the obligations…
Former South African president Nelson Mandela has died, but it will take the nation he united - South Africa - some time to come to terms with his passing.
EPA/Kim Ludbrook
Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa, has died at the age of 95. The fears of South Africa, the nation that once was deeply divided in its perceptions of Mandela, have now been realised…
A former child soldier following his rescue from the LRA.
Inmediahk
The government of the Central African Republic claims to be in talks with one of the world’s most enigmatic African guerrilla leaders, Joseph Kony. But Kony has entered talks before with no intention of…
Elephant ivory seized from poachers in Garamba.
Flickr: ENOUGH Project
Daniel Stiles, International Union for the Conservation of Nature
Elephant and rhino poaching in Africa have been rising; the Western black rhino has just been declared extinct. Demand in Asia, particularly China, for these animals’ tusks and horns has been identified…
Royal interest in tigers has cut both ways through the years.
S. Taheri
On the face of it the British royal family’s commitment to wildlife conservation is unmistakable. Perhaps the most well-known work is that of Prince Charles, who in May co-hosted a meeting on illegal wildlife…
Stop “discounting the future”, work co-operatively, shake up national and international institutions, and fight short-termism were among the calls in a new study released yesterday. With the world’s richest…
As humans, we point all the time. It’s an action we do almost without thinking: even one-year-old infants use pointing and understand what pointing means when an adult does it for them. It’s a really simple…
President Jacob Zuma’s party remains the dominant force in South Africa despite a number of political and social changes.
EPA/Kim Ludbrook
As part of my work for the University of Sydney and the Australian government, I’ve visited South Africa seven times since retiring from politics in 2006. Each time something new has happened, and what…
A couple of these and a nice chianti.
Severin Tchibozo
Protein is a shrinking part of the diets of humans and animals. The deficiency is spreading rapidly across the world, but is particularly pronounced in Africa, even though many sources of protein can be…
As a virologist working in the Gambia, the idea of a portable microscope that uses fluorescent imaging and can be attached to your smartphone to detect viruses and bacteria in the field sounds amazing…
An international team of forensic scientists from all disciplines is investigating Kenya’s mall attack.
EPA/Dai Kurokawa
The entire world witnessed last month’s horrifying terrorist attack on the Westgate mall in Nairobi, Kenya. Now forensic experts from Interpol, US, UK, Germany, and Canada have joined Kenyan law enforcement…
The deadly attack on a Nairobi shopping mall demonstrates that a lack of security in Somalia has a direct impact on Kenya.
EPA/Kabir Dhanji
The Somali-based Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab’s weekend attack on the upscale Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi - which has left at least 60 people dead - poses a significant security threat not just…
Amid the chaos, a survivor is carried out of Westgate Mall.
EPA/Kabir Dhanji
At 9.30am on Saturday I drove past the Westgate Mall on my way to the National Museums of Kenya. I needed a coffee after a late night, and contemplated stopping but for no particular reason I drove on…
An innovative approach to mobility in Uganda.
The Advocacy Project
Disabled people are severely marginalised and among the poorest in developing countries. Having a disability increases the risk of poverty, and being poor also increases the risk of getting a disability…
Accused: Kenya’s deputy president William Ruto in the dock at the ICC this week.
ICC-CPI
The first of what are arguably the two most important trials in the short history of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have begun. Kenya’s deputy president, William Ruto, stood in the dock this week…
The disposal of computers and other electronic and electrical goods, e-waste, is a growing global problem. In 2011, the world threw away 41.5m tonnes of electrical equipment, and this is expected to rise…
Neither laws nor guns are stopping the poachers.
Grø Åmert/Flickr
Rhinos, elephants and the big cats like lions and tigers are all at risk of extinction as a result of a resurgence in the illegal trade of their body parts. Newspapers in recent days have been filled with…
Anthropologue et démographe, professeur émérite au Muséum national d’histoire naturelle et conseiller de la direction de l'INED, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)