Top-ranking columnist Gideon Levy has been working for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz since 1982. In his weekly column, which often focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he is a fierce critic of the right-wing establishment.

Indian-born writer Amitav Ghosh is not going for Asian exoticism in his novels. Rather, the novels of Ghosh – every inch a gentleman – are packed with historical details to highlight his observations of the world. He concludes: "If you separate trade from any sense of morality and responsibility, you get a completely deranged system."

On March 18th 2013, Bosco Ntaganda walked into the American embassy in Kigali and requested to be delivered to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. The ICC had  issued an international warrant against him in 2008 and for war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2003, which he committed in 2002 and 2003 as a warlord in Ituri. T ...

In October 1990, after Fred Rwigyema's death on the third day the struggle to conquer Rwanda, Paul Kagame took over the command over the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and led it to victory in July 1994. He became Vice-President and Minister of Defense in the transitional government installed after the Rwandan genocide. In March 2000, President Past ...

Tunesia's prime minister, Hamadi Jebali, announced that he will resign Saturday if his proposals for a cabinet of technocrats and early elections are not accepted. This brings the polarisation, that came to light after the assasination of opposition leader Chokri Belaid, to a head.

I was invited to visit Musaga by a woman who has lived and worked in Bujumbura for several months – in the Centre Artisanal de Musaga (CAM), where seventy women had started a project to produce clothes, pottery and jewelry. My friend's contribution had been to start a social restaurant. "Come and enjoy one of our meals," she had said, "you can eat ...

The civil war in Burundi now lies several years behind us. Since November 2003, when the CNDD-FDD integrated the transitional institutions, the rebels and the regular armed forces integrated their troops into a new national army. The country has had two elections which brought back majority rule. But this remains fragile. Burundi has made impressiv ...

Congolese-Australian journalist Eric Mwamba went on a search to find the secret behind the riches of the Congolese elite. Many of his witnesses prefered staying anonymous for fear of their lives – which looks like a kind of Congolese omerta. John Vandaele selected Mwamba’s strongest observations and added some personal touches.

From my café terrace in The Hague’s pleasant street bustle I immediately spot him. Boniface Mwangi sticks out with his polo shirt in black, green and red, the colours of the Kenyan flag. Apart from that, the two-time winner of the CNN Africa Photojournalist Award (2008 and 2010) is an inconspicuous figure. He shows signs of fatigue that s ...

You wake up one morning, and the world has turned upside down. From one day to the next, the mortgage on your house has doubled, the loan for your car tripled. Theatre director and civil activist Gunnar Sigurðsson (53) turned virtue out of necessity and filmed a documentary about the Icelandic crisis. Four years on, he looks back and ahead.

Few people merit to be called a “pioneer” more than committed ecologist Sunita Narain. Her research on India’s water policy and on the division of responsibility between rich and poor in dealing with climate change has changed the course of history more than once.

Ghanaians went to the polls on Friday 7th and Saturday 8th December 2012 to elect an executive President  and 275 Parliamentarians for a four year term January 2013 to December 2016. Less than 48 hours after the voting was closed, the caretaker President  H.E. John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was declared a wi ...