What happens when journalists investigate their own communities or colleagues? At #AIJC25, @thecontinent.org's @simonallison.bsky.social and Christine Mungai discussed the emotional and ethical challenges of reporting stories that are deeply personal.

The year in music, as selected by DJ Darlyne Komukama, a curator of the Nyege Nyege Festival.

@thecontinent.org on the killing of protesters in #Tanzania "There used to be a real brake on behaviour like this – leaders knew that certain lines, if crossed, would trigger aid cuts or diplomatic isolation. Now, ..., that restraint has vanished. What we saw ... is ... the product of that vacuum."

Ooh year-end movie roundup from @thecontinent.org

It’s the end of the year, so @thecontinent.org’s Africans of the year edition for 2025 is here! 🎉 So many great Africans.

That also means.... I got to pick my top 5 African reads of the year 👏🏾 Books from Goretti Kyomuhendo, @willthisbeaproblem.bsky.social, @wordsweaver.bsky.social, @hofrench.bsky.social, and Oyinkan Braithwaite are on the list!

The year in movies, as chosen by Wilfred Okiche, The Continent’s film critic.

The year in news: Matters escalated and escalated, and we tried our hardest to breathe through the smoke of everything burning around us.

All Protocol Observed Welcome to Issue 224 of The Continent We celebrate people whose purpose and passion shine through a tumultuous 2025, embodying Khalil Gibran’s words that “work is love made visible.” Meet our Africans of the Year: bit.ly/224_TC

Bigger fish to fry: A porter carries fish from a beachside market in Mogadishu. Somalia’s capital is bootstrapping itself out of the ashes after decades of war, terrorism and disjointed cycles of US military deployment and withdrawal. Photo: Tony Karumba/AFP

Photo essay: It often feels like everyone's out for themselves – but in Shao, Nigeria, matrimonial rites unite more than just the newly wed.

In Nairobi, on the last Saturday of the month, three dozen people hand over their phones. It’s the first rule of the Serenity Social Club’s Disconnect event – a day of no screens or digital notifications. In their place are yoga, pottery, crocheting, conversations with strangers – or even just naps.

South Africa beat India 2–0 in an away Test series for the first time in 25 years — a landmark win at Eden Gardens and a crowning moment for captain Temba Bavuma, who’s long had to silence critics and racists questioning his place at the top.

Kenya’s appeal court has paused a defamation case against the BBC over its 2015 Secret Bribes of Big Tobacco exposé, a move that could reshape how Kenyans obtain evidence from abroad. The suit was filed by National Assembly speaker Moses Wetang’ula.

Malawi sent 80 armed police to search ex-president Lazarus Chakwera’s home for four missing German Shepherds — legally classified as police officers — but were denied entry. A court says the dogs may be in his “illegal possession”.

At the African Union-European Union summit in Luanda last week, Kenyan President William Ruto urged his peers to shun charity, but also proposed increasing the continent’s Peace Fund to $1-billion. It currently sits at about $610-million.

This cover by @wynonamutisi.bsky.social. Cozy edition this week. Get it while it's chill.

Zimbabwe is the most recent African country to abolish the death penalty, bringing the total to 24 - for now. Ahead of #HumanRightsDay, we explore how many citizens across 37 countries say capital punishment is never justified. See our latest in @thecontinent.org for more. #VoicesAfrica

Before all that fame and history-making, Danai Gurira was a high schooler in Harare, acting in the local theatre scene. Her return to those roots may well be her most impactful production.

All Protocol Observed Welcome to Issue 223 of The Continent In this dumpster fire of a year, we’re still finding what’s worth saving — sport, art, community, and joy across Africa. Read it here: bit.ly/223_TC

Fuji is the album Adekunle Gold has been building his entire career. In this case, “fuji” works as a double entendre. Gold says it’s an acronym for “finding uncharted journeys inside” (don’t ask), but what he really wants to embody is the popular genre of Yoruba music that evolved in the 60s.

Recently for @thecontinent.org : On Oyinkan Braithwaite's excellent Cursed Daughters. Download this issue (221) here: www.thecontinent.org/_files/ugd/2... 💙📚

Lifeline: A sponge farmer in Zanzibar tends to her crops near Jambiani. Each day women enter the tide to tend their allotments after climate change and overfishing upended their former work at sea. Photo: Marco Longari/AFP

Days after we published her essay about reporting from Gaza amid Israeli attacks on journalists, a Palestinian reporter was injured by an explosive dropped from an Israeli drone as she walked with her family. Seven weeks into the Gaza ‘ceasefire’, Ansam Al-Kitaa writes for us again.

A new study highlights how many Egyptian women struggle to name sexual violence in marriage, citing social norms, legal gaps, and religious interpretations. Researchers urge clearer recognition and criminalisation of marital rape to better protect survivors and support their rights.

Leaders of M23 – the paramilitary group occupying large parts of eastern DRC – have suspended their mayor of Goma, Julien Katembo, for 15 days after he ordered troops to beat civilians for absconding from mandatory community service.

Are 16 days of activism against gender-based violence enough? Our survey data suggest not, given how many Africans say men are "sometimes" or "always" justified in physically disciplining their wives. Read our latest piece in @thecontinent.org for more. #VoicesAfrica #16DaysOfActivism #StopGBV

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu declared a nationwide security emergency on Wednesday and ordered the recruitment of 20,000 additional police personnel, which will bolster forces to 50,000. Tinubu also directed officers to redeploy from guarding VIPs to conflict zones.

General Horta N’Tam, Guinea-Bissa’s army chief, has been sworn in as the country’s new head of state after the military seized power and arrested President Umaro Sissoco Embaló, halting a disputed election where both Embaló and Fernando Dias claimed victory.

The African Union’s predecessor accepted colonial borders, despite their injustices and contradictions. Many Africans never embraced that bargain and the faultline continues to shape politics, including in Lesotho today.

All Protocol Observed Welcome to Issue 222 of The Continent Lesotho’s arrest of a former South African navy officer has reignited a long-simmering border dispute, as the Basotho Covenant Movement pushes historic territorial claims — echoing similar struggles across Africa. bit.ly/222_TC

At Gioto dumpsite on the outskirts of Nakuru, Rahab Njeri and her colleagues bend over a mound of waste. They are sorting through a bale of discarded items in search of old VHS cassettes. The women are weavers who will make kiondos from the black magnetic tape in the cassettes.

Drip or drown: Models get ready backstage during Gambia International Fashion Week in Banjul last week. The annual creative showcase was established in 2023 by acclaimed Gambian designer Ismaila Jallow. Photo: Muhamadou Bittaye/AFP

These past two years have seen protests across the continent. Kenya. Mozambique. Morocco. Madagascar, where the entry into the fray of the security services, Sudan 2019-style, even sent the president into exile. These protests have to do with anger – rage – at our broken social contracts.

Blind football is a five-a-side game played with a ball fitted with jingles so players can track its movement by sound. Spectators must stay silent during play so athletes can hear the ball, the field, and each other.

African Parks runs conservation sites all over the continent. Former staff describe the organisation’s operations as a ‘shitshow’ of toxic mismanagement and lawlessness.

At least 26 people were injured recently when a dispute about a well turned violent in Goskoro, a rural community north of Mao in western Chad. This confrontation was just the latest in a growing wave of deadly conflicts between farmers and herders over such water points.

Militants from Islamic State West Africa Province say they captured and executed Nigerian Brigadier General Musa Uba after ambushing a military convoy in Borno State.

It's happening: The G20 is finally in Africa. But are African voices getting heard in global organisations? What about at the African Union and in regional bodies? Read our latest piece in @thecontinent.org to see what citizens across 38 African countries have to say. #VoicesAfrica #G20

Coincidentally, the new issue of @thecontinent.org, Africa's leading news magazine, has an excellent analysis of Nigeria's deteriorating security situation. continent.substack.com/p/the-kids-a...

At least @thecontinent.org calls it what it is…

In Kebbi State, gunmen stormed a school, killing two guards and abducting at least 26 students, just hours after soldiers who’d received intel left the premises. It’s part of a grim pattern: mass kidnappings have become a criminal business model.

I'm in this week's issue of @thecontinent.org with some reporting from Tarkwa, among others. The Goldbod is making its mark but until we get rigorous traceability, there will be questions about the environmental price we pay for its economic gains. Full issue here: www.thecontinent.org

All Protocol Observed Welcome to Issue 221 of The Continent Nigeria’s security crisis deepens: 26 girls abducted in Kebbi State, more kidnappings elsewhere, and a top general killed — symptoms of a long-running, underfunded, corruption-riddled breakdown. More inside: bit.ly/221_TC

For many people, Agadez is known as a place of passage – a waypoint for hundreds of thousands of African travellers on a hopeful journey across the Mediterranean. For others it's more than that.

Samia Suluhu Hassan rose from Zanzibari technocrat to Tanzania’s presidency as a calming consensus-builder. But after consolidating power, her first electoral test ended in brutal repression and deadly unrest, putting the nation at its most dangerous crossroads in decades.

Delegates from 190 countries are meeting in Belém, Brazil, for the 30th climate negotiations, or COP. A decade ago, in Paris, they agreed to take global heating seriously. But the world in which they are gathering today looks nothing like the one envisioned back then.

Egypt has wrapped the first phase of voting for 568 parliamentary seats, but analysts warn it may pave the way to extending President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s term beyond 2030.

Zambian president Hakainde Hichilema came under attack on Saturday when angry residents of Chingola pelted his podium with stones. The president was in the mining town in the Copperbelt Province for what was meant to be a surprise solidarity visit.