African Studies
Utafiti: Journal of African Perspectives
Call for Papers: Utafiti is inviting you to submit your manuscript – any topic in the humanities - for consideration in the next issues.
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This journal promotes critical and worldly debates with Africa at the centre.
New Series: Africa Futures / Afrique Futurs
Published in association with the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), Africa Futures features cutting-edge research that critically reflects on some of the big questions relevant to imagining Africa’s future as a place.
Listen to our podcast on Africa and Climate Change
Robin Attfield talks about how Africa finds itself vulnerable to drought but also the flooding of its coastline, among other untoward environmental effects of climate change and civil war.
The political situation in Djibouti remained stable, and President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh and his ‘Union pour la Majorité Presidentielle’ (ump) coalition dominated the political realm with little space for opposition or civil society activities. However, it seemed that Guelleh’s son-in-law, Djama Elmi Okieh (dubbed ‘Djama Speed’), was no longer a candidate to succeed him. The Afar-inhabited North, where the ‘Front pour la Restoration de l’Unité et de la Démocratie’ (frud) had been active in previous years, was relatively calm due to an Ethiopian military presence but, in October, a demonstration in Tajourah was violently dispersed by security forces. In August, China inaugurated its first naval base on African soil near the town of Obock, with a capacity to station up to 10,000 troops. The start of the new Djiboutian-Ethiopian Railway’s regular commercial operation connecting Djibouti’s port with Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, was delayed, and some other large infrastructure projects progressed more slowly than expected. The country was affected by prolonged drought conditions, and the humanitarian situation remained dire, with 200,000 people dependent on food aid.