News

Beijing has scrapped import tariffs on goods from 53 African countries, in what it calls an unprecedented act of economic solidarity. The figures are striking. But an analysis of who exports what — and at what rates — reveals a more complicated picture. For Africa to convert market access into economic transformation, far more than a tariff change will be …

New figures from Europe’s statistical agency show that first-time asylum applications in the EU fell by more than a quarter last year. The headline numbers conceal a more complex picture — one in which Africans fleeing conflict, persecution and poverty remain significantly represented, particularly among the unaccompanied children making dangerous journeys to Europe. The number of people seeking asylum in …

By Isaac Arko Inkum* I write to express my thoughts on the tragic story of a young pregnant woman who died in a hospital in Ghana recently because nurses on duty failed to attend to her promptly. Sadly, both the young woman and the baby she carried lost their lives. This incident, along with many others, has raised serious concerns …

I write as a Ghanaian lawyer to express my concerns about recent developments in South Africa. Mainstream and social media have been inundated with videos of some South Africans verbally confronting citizens of other African countries living in South Africa. These actions demonstrate an unwelcoming and troubling attitude towards fellow Africans who live and work in the country. In one …

Swiss voters will head to the polls on 14 June to decide on Europe’s most controversial immigration referendum this year: a constitutional initiative that would place a hard ceiling on the country’s population. The proposal, titled “No to Ten Million Switzerland,” was launched by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), Switzerland’s largest political force. It seeks to ensure that the …

A delegation from Germany has travelled to Madagascar to assess the destruction caused by Tropical Cyclone Gezani and to support ongoing humanitarian relief efforts in the African country. The visit, led by Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg and Monsignor Wolfgang Huber, president of the Catholic mission agency Missio Munich, comes two months after the powerful storm struck Madagascar’s east coast …

Germany’s courts and authorities are sending a clear message: foreign nationals who commit serious crimes can lose their right to stay in the country and face deportation. A recent court ruling in Karlsruhe has renewed debate over how far Germany may go in removing foreigners — especially Syrians — from the country. Germany’s Administrative Court in Karlsruhe has issued a …

The Third International Sudan Conference in Berlin, co-hosted by Germany and the African Union, together with the European Union, France, the United Kingdom and the United States, mobilised historic levels of humanitarian funding and gave Sudanese civilian voices their biggest international platform yet. But with neither warring party present, a durable end to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis remains as …

By Felix Dappah, The African Courier  In a move that has set Spain apart from virtually every other government in Europe, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s administration has formally launched a mass regularisation programme for undocumented migrants, opening application windows on 16 April 2026 for online submissions and 20 April for in-person filings. The application period runs until 30 June 2026. …

Germany has long wrestled with its identity as a nation shaped by migration. Now, new data from the Federal Statistical Office — known by its German acronym Destatis — has put a sharper number on just how profoundly that transformation has taken hold: more than one in four people living in the country has an immigration history. According to the …

A war thousands of kilometres from Africa is threatening to push millions of the continent’s people deeper into poverty. Four leading multilateral institutions have issued a joint warning that the ongoing conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran poses a serious economic threat to African countries — and that the damage could worsen significantly the longer the fighting continues. …

Germany saw a steep fall in first-time asylum applications in the opening quarter of 2026, even as a separate category of claims — follow-up applications from Afghan nationals — jumped to extraordinary levels, according to new data from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). Between January and March, a total of 21,617 refugees submitted an initial asylum application …

On the third anniversary of the outbreak of the Sudanese civil war on 15 April, the German government will host an international conference on Sudan in collaboration with France, the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union (EU), and the African Union (AU). Representatives of the United Nations, humanitarian organisations and Sudanese civil society are expected to attend the …

– SPECIAL REPORT – Three years after the guns first sounded in Khartoum on the morning of 15 April 2023, the Sudanese people remain trapped in what the United Nations has declared the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. On its anniversary on 15 April 2026, the German capital is playing host to the third International Ministerial Conference on Sudan — an …

Germany is sending an important diplomatic signal on its future engagement with Africa as Chancellor Friedrich Merz is set to receive Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, at the Federal Chancellery on 14 April. The planned meeting, which precedes a major international conference on Sudan in Berlin the following day, is being closely watched by business …

A sense of anticipation is building across Africa as Pope Leo XIV prepares to embark on his first major international journey since becoming pontiff last year — a multi-country visit that is already being seen as both symbolic and strategic. The visit, scheduled from 13 to 23 April, will take the pontiff to four countries — Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and …

The United Nations General Assembly has taken a significant symbolic step in confronting one of the darkest chapters in human history. On 25 March 2026, the Assembly adopted a resolution recognising the transatlantic slave trade as “the gravest crime against humanity,” a move widely welcomed by advocates of historical justice and reparative action. The occasion was the UN Plenary to …

COMMENTARY By Amal Abbass* On 25 March 2026, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans and racialized chattel enslavement as the “gravest crime against humanity.” Though non-binding, the resolution explicitly links historical recognition to reparative justice, including apology, restitution, compensation, institutional reform and the return of cultural property. This article argues that …

Germany’s upper house has approved legislation to implement the EU’s reformed Common European Asylum System, bringing faster border procedures, stricter Dublin transfers, and new detention-like centres for migrants who must leave Germany — with rights organisations warning of serious consequences for vulnerable people. Germany has taken a decisive step towards one of the most significant tightenings of European asylum law …

A growing number of African nationals are being drawn into Russia’s war against Ukraine. What investigators, journalists and governments have pieced together is a troubling picture of systematic deception. Young men targeted in countries where unemployment is high and poverty is prevalent are lured with the promise of well-paid civilian jobs and then coerced into military service on some of …