The story of how Swahili became Africa’s most spoken language

Posted on Mon 07 March 2022 in Africa • Tagged with Swahili, African Bantu, Mogadishu, Somalia, Sofala, Mozambique, African Union, AU, Uganda

Tanzanian leader Julius Nyerere, a Swahili advocate. Keystone/Getty Images

John M. Mugane, Harvard University

Once just an obscure island dialect of an African Bantu tongue, Swahili has evolved into Africa’s most internationally recognised language. It is peer to the few languages of the world that boast over 200 …


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Ethiopia's troubled history provides clues to why an all-out civil war is possible

Posted on Wed 11 November 2020 in Africa • Tagged with Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, Tigray, Tigray People's Liberation Front, Oromo

A man enters a polling station for Tigray’s regional elections, which Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed deemed illegal. EDUARDO SOTERAS/AFP via Getty Images

Francesca Baldwin, University of Reading and Heike I Schmidt, University of Reading

Ethiopia’s government, under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, is carrying out a military offensive …


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