michelawrong

Journalist and author of four non-fiction books on Africa, plus a novel.

[michelawrong @michelawrong]

@GilesStogdon I enjoyed it at the start, but it then became far too complicated for its own good, and simply non-credible. The casting choices were also strange and annoying.

[Lindsey Hilsum @lindseyhilsum]

Cyril Hilsum obituary: physicist who developed displays used in iPhones. Wonderful obituary of my father @thetimes

https://t.co/F6mZRWkz05

[michelawrong @michelawrong]

@AnnahAshaba Then I did my job, I guess!

[Kenneth Roth @KenRoth]

As the Ethiopian military resumes airstrikes in Tigray, worries mount that it will also resume its indifference to civilian life as show in the last round of armed conflict. https://t.co/3zyIqOmi1c

[Critical Threats @criticalthreats]

NEW | The Ethiopian military (ENDF) has largely repelled the rebel offensive in northern Ethiopia and launched a counteroffensive along three axes toward the TPLF–controlled Tigrayan regional capital, Mekele.

The Alliance for Survival rebel coalition has simultaneously launched a drone strike campaign across Ethiopia, including the capital, Addis Ababa, to degrade and stretch Ethiopian forces and demonstrate its ability to expand the conflict across the country. 🧵

[Martin Plaut @martinplaut]

What happened in Bishoftu over the weekend? Ethiopia’s evolving drone warfare: the federal military may no longer have an uncontested monopoly over the use of unmanned aircraft in the country. Even relatively small, short-range drones, can pose a new security challenge

https://t.co/6fCKoDrFGB

[Kristof Titeca @KristofTiteca]

What an images.. Rubaya's coltan deposits are estimated to provide 15% of the global tantalum supply. Since April 2024, it's controlled by M23.

[Reuters Africa @ReutersAfrica]

The NBA has closed its only elite training academy in Africa, current and former officials told Reuters, less than a decade after it was launched in Senegal to prepare promising young African players for professional leagues in the US and elsewhere. https://t.co/vh9KP7ljfb

[Tom Gardner @TomGardner18]

Fair-minded and thoughtful account of the multiple misteps that led Tigray to where it is now:

[JT @tomozeus]

I’ve been skeptical of this mediation effort from the start. Five former presidents need to deliver more than a regional tour. Without a concrete result, they risk further eroding the AU’s credibility and influence in eastern DRC.

[Murithi Mutiga @mutigam]

War has returned to northern Ethiopia, thanks to elites who did not have the courage to give peace a chance.

My analysis here in this new @CrisisGroup podcast. https://t.co/oHilEmImuP

[Cameron Hudson @_hudsonc]

A good analysis of what went wrong with Pretoria that led to the current state of conflict in Ethiopia and what the tactical challenges will be for all sides moving forward. https://t.co/tKZ7k4xmfw

[michelawrong @michelawrong]

Good to see the Pulitzer Center featuring this project I worked on with Kenyan journalist James Okong'o. This article in The Continent was just part of a longer investigation... https://t.co/aZq5IIi34R

[Cameron Hudson @_hudsonc]

ICG's answers to every crisis is always urgent diplomacy. Agreed. But at least from the US side, the devil is in the details. Since Ethiopia isn't located in Latin America, it's hard to see Secretary Rubio taking any interest. Deputy Secretary Landau has been to Addis and he is an appropriately senior figure, but likely stretched too thin to devote the time and attention to Ethiopia that this moment needs. New Assistant Secretary Garcia has also been to Addis but appears more interested in making sure US companies build Addis' new airport and the deal for Boeing sales goes through than in mediating a new ceasefire. And senior advisor for African and Arab affairs, Massad Boulos, is both stretched too thin, but more importantly, has a huge credibility problem in Africa after his mishandling of the Sudan mediation and pushing through questionable deals in both Congo and Libya. The US Ambassador in Ethiopia has made modest attempts to quell growing tensions over the past several months but recent statements suggest that he and Washington are no longer neutral parties seeking to quell violence, but are more interested in securing an outcome that benefits Abiy and their commercial arrangements. So who will lead this vaunted diplomacy to mediate an end to current fighting? My guess is that the US, having already picked a side in this conflict, will talking publicly about the need for restrain and may even attempt to constrain the Tigrayans and Eritreans, but is likely to do little to constrain the Ethiopian Government's response, thus creating few guardrails for a total war scenario. https://t.co/lipB1WQgBi

[michelawrong @michelawrong]

Kjetil Tronvoll on the new, long-announced war in Ethiopia. Well worth listening to in full despite Youtube's annoying adverts. Criticism of the AU, which never fails to disappoint whenever Ethiopia is involved,are entirely merited. Future scenarios grim. https://t.co/5fgc3xcB17

[Martin Plaut @martinplaut]

What’s triggered the latest violence in Ethiopia?
Al Jazeera, Inside Story with Faisal Roble, Jervin Naidoo and Martin Plaut
https://t.co/WWjDa19h7A

[Lauren Blanchard @LaurenBinDC]

Some recent foreign statements on unfolding developments in Ethiopia seem to treat what happened yesterday in Tigray in a vacuum, somwhow divorced from what has transpired since August and over the past year-plus. Doing so risks being read as a green light for what may follow. 🧵

[michelawrong @michelawrong]

Mark Doyle - whose distinctive voice was familiar to a generation of Africans who relied on the BBC to cover their continent - has gone. https://t.co/5PknJdvxzK

[michelawrong @michelawrong]

Citizen Lab, in Toronto, plays a priceless role exposing the sinister influence operations governments secretly use to mould and manipulate public opinion. This one was run by an Israeli firm working on behalf of the Angolan government. https://t.co/9PUvDsFqul

[The House of Kongo @MvembaDizolele]

Few African leaders continue to stir as much debate as Mobutu Sese Seko. Nearly three decades after his death, his legacy remains deeply contested, raising enduring questions about history, memory, nationalism, and the future of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In this episode of The Africa Program Podcast, I speak with @NzangaMobutu, son of the late Congolese president and curator of the landmark 2025 exhibition Mobutu: Une Vie, Un Destin at the National Museum of Kinshasa. Together, they explore why a new generation of Congolese is revisiting one of the country's most influential and controversial leaders.

The conversation traces Mobutu's evolution from journalist and soldier to head of state, examining his role in shaping post-independence Congo during the Cold War. Nzanga reflects on the exhibition's effort to present a fuller picture of his father's life, including his diplomacy, the policy of Authenticité, nation-building, education, and the international forces that influenced the country's trajectory.

The episode also explores the politics of historical memory, the challenges of documenting contested histories, and the importance of African voices in telling Africa's own story. Nzanga discusses the process of researching his forthcoming book, the response to the exhibition from young Congolese and political leaders, and why understanding Mobutu requires understanding the broader history of the Congo and the global dynamics of the Cold War.

A thoughtful discussion on history, leadership, and the enduring legacy of one of Africa's most consequential political figures, and why how a nation remembers its past

Mobutu Sese Seko's Legacy Three Decades Later with Nzanga Mobutu https://t.co/uO8aXkyjGh via @YouTube