2018 was another fascinating year in Africa.
As usual, politics dominated much of the news on the African continent.
The power struggle created in Zimbabwe by the ouster of Robert Mugabe in late 2017 was finally settled in August when Emmerson Mnangagwa was elected as Mugabe’s successor.
In the Horn of Africa, longtime enemies Ethiopia and Eritrea re-established diplomatic ties.
And on the final weekend of 2018, voters in DR Congo held peaceful elections to replace Joseph Kabila who is stepping aside, for now, after nearly 18 years in office.
2018 gave Africans plenty of reasons to celebrate. According to the U.N. Children’s Fund, female genital mutilation dropped sharply across the continent. Following China’s ban on ivory, demand and prices fell by half and poaching rates also dropped significantly, this according to the World Wildlife Fund. Congolese gynecologist, Dr. Denis Mukwege won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to eliminate rape as a weapon of war.
Africa also dealt with its share of tragedies. Among them, another deadly Ebola outbreak in DR Congo, the deaths of 257 people in a military plane crash in Algeria and a dam burst in Kenya which killed nearly 50 people and left hundreds more homeless.
2018 saw dozens of celebrities and political figures from around the world demanding “Justice for Noura”. Noura Hussein, a 20-year-old Sudanese woman forced into marriage, was sentenced to death for killing her husband as he tried to rape her. International outcry eventually led Sudanese officials to overturn the death sentence in June. However, she still remains in jail facing a manslaughter charge.
Nigeria’s World Cup football kits were a big hit off the pitch. The Super Eagles’ play on the field…not so much. Africa’s World Cup woes continued as no team reached the knockout stage. Eventual winner France did have a number of African players, which did give African sports fans something to celebrate.
Kenyan marathoners continued to dominate the sport as Mary Keitany won her fourth NYC Marathon. In doing so, she joined Norway’s Grete Waitz as the only woman to win more than three. In September, Eliud Kipchoge set a new world marathon record of 2:01:39 in winning the Berlin Marathon.
And Africa lost some of its most respected and revered leaders, jazz legend, Hugh Masekela, Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and the forever-beloved Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, to name a few.
A lot more happened around Africa over the past 12 months, all worthy of mentions but we couldn’t list them all.
We, however, would like to appreciate our audience and their help in making 2018 worthwhile for us.
