We are blessed to have lived in the days of Dr. Alex Magaisa. The greatest Zimbabwean public intellectual of our time. He was a good man; a genuine man. Alex was supposed to see a different Zimbabwe. His life's work was for that Zimbabwe.

Courting Justice for Yahya Jammeh Era Crimes Sitting comfortably in Equatorial Guinea, exiled from his land and protected by Africa’s longest serving leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Yahya Jammeh left destruction back home. His ruinous 22-year rule in The Gambia left scars, many still fresh, and visible in everyday life. In some cases – many cases, the destruction is irreparable. Today, the Gambia is pursuing an ambitious transitional justice process, with a milestone being the approval by the Authority of the Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS of the creation of a special Gambia-domiciled ECOWAS-backed Special Tribunal, a hybrid court to try those responsible for the gravest crimes identified through the country's truth commission process. In April 2013 Mahawa Cham, an exiled former Gambian parliamentarian, alongside a prominent businessman, Saul Ndow, was lured from Senegal, captured and transported to The Gambia, never to be seen again. A member of Jammeh’s notorious elite paramilitary hit squad, known as the "Junglers," later made unconfirmed and unverified confessions of participating in the murder of the two and burying them at a farm. The Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) officially concluded in 2021 that Cham was summarily executed during Jammeh’s dictatorship and recommended the investigation and prosecution of perpetrators. The Government of The Gambia accepted the TRRC’s recommendations. Then prosecution did not come. Seeking Justice, eight members of Cham’s family, with the support of the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) and our friends at the African Network against Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances (ANEKED) approached the ECOWAS Court of Justice in Abuja, Nigeria. Following months of discussion, in July we signed a settlement agreement with the Government of The Gambia, and on the 5th of October 2026, the ECOWAS Court adopted the amicable settled as a judgment by consent. The Government of The Gambia has committed to investigating and prosecuting the unlawful disappearance and killing of Mahawa Cham within one year of the date of settlement, to compensating Cham’s family at a figure already agreed to by the parties and approved by the Court, and to exhume and surrender the mortal remains of Cham to his family for proper burial. IHRDA and ANEKED will remain enganged with this matter until full implementation of the judgment. Caption: The Solicitor General and Legal Secretary of The Gambia, Hussein Thomasi, and I flank the children of Mahawa Cham after signing the amicable settlement, 20 July 2026. My colleagues Awa Gai, Abdulmalik Bello, Michael Nyarko and Sirra Ndow who all played key roles were also in the room.

With devastating wit, mischief and jocularity, Professor @ChidiOdinkalu examines the tripple entente of bribes, sex and voodoo in the Nigerian diplomatic service, in a review of the book Diplomatic Bedlam. Now, I have no evidence for this, but something tells me many countries in my continent stand guilty as charged! Happy reading. fij.ng/article/bribes-bimbos… – at Arnavutköy, İstanbul

In the dining hall of New College, Oxford, a portrait hangs prominently of the fabled late Zimbabwean writer Dambudzo Marechera. Commissioned by the college and created by artist Nina Mae Fowler, the striking monochrome portrait commemorates the acclaimed and iconoclastic author. Marechera originally attended New College on a scholarship in the mid-1974s after being expelled from the University of Rhodesia for anti-colonial student protests. His turbulent relationship with Oxford ultimately led to his expulsion from New College in 1976. A short career notwithstanding, Marechera is one of the most important figures in the cultural history of post-Colonial Africa. "Someone of coruscating intelligence, a natural rule breaker and a brilliant writer, his time at Oxford was stormy and eventful", says New College. In 1987, he died in Harare, all too young, still defiantly refusing to accept any labels or attributions of belonging. In 2020 German literary academic Flova Veit-Wild finally published 'They Called You Dambudzo' a memoir of her encounter with Dambudzo, including their "intense, personal and sexual relationship". I'm still searching for the book! – at Gambia

Same old clueless folks recycled across generations, appointed under unconstitutional constitution amendments, which amendments have extant legal challenges before the courts. It's gangsterism masquerading as governance by these ‘constitutionalists’ from Kwekwe.

I'm a self-declared advocate for free movement and open borders for Africans in Africa. Sadly, only 4 of 55 AU member states have ratified the 2018 Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons - Mali, Niger, Rwanda and São Tomé and Príncipe - far short of the 15 needed for it to enter into force. Today, only Benin, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda and Togo grant visa-free access to all Africans. But I'm hopeful: the Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville) and Chad have both announced visa-free entry for Africans starting 2027. Others claim to be visa-free but still require paid travel-authorization applications - visas by another name. Free movement is how the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, and Africa's broader integration project, will actually succeed. It's how skills, capital, goods and services move. Sub-regionally, ECOWAS, SADC and EAC have made real progress with free-movement regimes. But a protocol on paper and consistent enforcement at the border are two different things. Cabo Verde has, regrettably, become a case in point. There is what appears to be a pattern of discriminatory, abusive treatment of African travelers at entry. On behalf of five Nigerian travelers subjected to this, we've at @IHRDAfrica filed a case against Cabo Verde before the ECOWAS Court of Justice, alleging violations of the African Charter and the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement - freedom of movement, non-discrimination, dignity, liberty and more. The irony: Cabo Verde is itself an ECOWAS member, bound by the same Protocol meant to guarantee its neighbors visa-free, non-discriminatory entry. The complaint isn't really about visa eligibility - it's arbitrary, opaque decision-making by individual immigration officers, with African travelers facing harsher scrutiny than travelers from outside the continent.