As Pope Leo XIV visits, Africa’s often interrelated crises of armed conflict, poverty and displacement have been worsened by the withdrawal of development and humanitarian aid by the United States and other donor nations.
Tawanda Karombo
Tawanda Karombo covers finance, tech, development and church issues in sub-Saharan Africa.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Thousands have been displaced by violence in Mozambique. Catholics say what’s needed is aid—not outside troops.
Educators and humanitarian workers in Mozambique are expressing mixed feelings about a deployment of multinational forces to confront an intensifying Islamist insurgency in Mozambique.
Posted inDispatches, Faith
The African priests brewing beer (and auctioning pigs) to keep their churches afloat amid Covid-19 crisis
Poverty is profound around with “hungry people…knocking at the parish gates” on a daily basis because of Covid-19.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Zambia is first African country to default on debt during Covid. It may not be the last.
Jesuits in Africa are calling on the Catholic Church to press for better repayment terms on debt across the region.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Child prostitution in Zimbabwe spikes amid two other crises: Covid-19 and hunger
There are more young girls selling their bodies as Zimbabwe’s economic difficulties continue, in a broad collapse now exacerbated by the pandemic. The city is experiencing a spike in social vices like child prostitution and domestic violence.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Can the church do more to ease political tension in Zimbabwe?
Many hope the church will repeat that activist role as political divisions depress the economy and the living conditions for average Zimbabweans, and as a severe drought threatens a hunger crisis for millions this year.