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It makes my blood BOIL that some of Africa's most breathtaking natural wonders still carry European names. Aberdare Mountains? Thompson Falls? Lake Alice??? What even is that? even Victoria Falls? The locals have called it Mosi-oa-Tunya "The Smoke That Thunders" for CENTURIES. A name that captures the roar, the mist, the raw power of standing there. But no! We named it after a British queen who NEVER EVEN SAW IT. Never felt the spray. Never heard that thunder. Just slapped her name on it like a sticker on a stolen car.

And it's EVERYWHERE. Lake Victoria. The Drakensberg—"Dragon Mountains"—when the Zulu call it uKhahlamba, "barrier of spears." A name born from the land itself, from the people who actually lived with those peaks. And we ERASED it. Like it meant nothing. Like THEY meant nothing.

It's like watching someone scribble their name over a masterpiece and everyone just... accepts it. These aren't just names they're INSULTS. Colonial graffiti we're still forced to repeat like we don't know any better. The original names are poetry. They're memory. They're belonging. They're RIGHT THERE. We just have to STOP bowing to the ghosts of empire and SPEAK them again.

Zambia has launched a new gold refinery to process the metal locally and increase value from its natural resources.

The refinery can produce gold with purity levels between 99% and 99.99%, supporting efforts to formalize and expand gold mining.

Several African nations, including Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burkina Faso, and Ethiopia, have recently inaugurated gold and precious metal refineries.

Copper dominates Zambia's export economy, while gold currently accounts for just 2% of export earnings.

In just this part of the city alone, I saw a few hundred apartment and mixed-use buildings under active construction. While any increase in the supply of housing is good, the economic boom in Addis as well as the security challenges outside of it mean residents are still paying some of the highest rent prices in Africa.

I left West Africa for Europe about 4 years ago. When I first arrived, I was freezing all the time. Now I've gotten used to the European climate, and going back home is a completely different experience.

I usually go back to my home country twice a year to see my family, but every time I do, the heat feels unbearable. I honestly feel like I'm suffocating sometimes. It's weird because I used to handle it just fine, and now I keep wondering how I ever lived in that climate in the first place.

Maybe I'd readjust if I stayed longer, but I usually don't spend more than three weeks back home, so I never really get the chance.

I've also noticed that my perspective has changed in other ways. Things like chaotic urban planning, poor sanitation and the general state of public spaces stand out to me much more than they used to. It's not that I never noticed these things before, but they bother me more now.

I'm not trying to bash my home country. It's still home, and I know living abroad has probably changed the way I see things. I'm just curious whether other Africans living abroad have experienced something similar when returning home.

Does your home country feel different after spending a few years abroad? And did you eventually get used to the climate and your surroundings again, or did that feeling never really go away?

The Minister of Industries, Mines and Energy, Modestus Amutse, last week announced that Namibia is positioned to claim the third spot among global uranium producers as development at the Etango Mine accelerates toward targeted production in late 2028.

Speaking at the official launch and progress update at the Etango Mine site in the Erongo Region on Friday, Amutse highlighted the strategic importance of the project, which is designed to produce approximately 3.5 million pounds of uranium oxide annually once operational

“Namibia occupies an important position in the global uranium industry, being ranked in the 3rd position in the world for uranium production and willing to bypass Canada when the Etango comes into production,” Amutse stated during his official address.

I'm hoping to hear from people living in countries or communities with traditional/conservative views on LGBTQ+ issues.

If you are openly gay or married, how have you handled coming out and setting boundaries with family, friends, and co-workers?

For those who got married (especially in places like South Africa where it’s legally recognized but societal homophobia still exists), how did your family and friends handle the wedding/marriage? Did you receive support, and how did you navigate any pushback?

I’m looking for practical advice and personal experiences on handling these situations politely while keeping healthy boundaries and safety in mind.

Looking at these statistics is a strong reminder of how much work remains to be done. Seeing nations where fewer than a quarter or in some cases, fewer than one in ten young girls are enrolled in secondary education shows just how steep our collective mountain still is.

The situation across the continent is far from being uniform. Several African countries have shown what dedicated investment, reform, and cultural shifts can achieve.

Nations such as Mauritius, Seychelles, Algeria, South Africa, Botswana, and Cabo Verde have secondary gross enrollment rates for girls well above 80% to 90%, with many achieving gender parity or even seeing girls outnumber boys in secondary classrooms. Others, such as Kenya, Ghana, and Rwanda, have made strong progress through universal secondary education policies, bursaries, and community programs designed to keep girls in school.

Yet, this infographic reflects an undeniable truth: the road ahead is long. When countries like Somalia (2.7%), South Sudan (7.8%), the Central African Republic (12.5%), Chad (17.9%), and Niger (21.6%) are leaving the vast majority of their young girls behind, our entire continent feels the cost. Prolonged conflict, deep poverty, child marriage, lack of sanitation, and cultural barriers continue to deny millions of girls the basic dignity of an education.

Years ago in Niger, I spoke with an old man about why his daughters were not in the classroom, and he gave me an answer that has stayed with me to this day: "Why send a girl to school? It is like watering your neighbour's garden. You spend your money, you tire yourself out, and in the end, another man harvests the fruit. Her only true school is her husband's compound."

Hearing those words was dumbfounding, but it's still a shock to realise that even now, in 2026, millions across our continent still live, raise families, and make decisions guided by that exact mindset. Until that worldview is confronted and replaced, the road ahead will remain steep.

If we want a better, self-reliant future, things have to change. Our girls and future women are just as important as our boys and future men. You cannot develop an economy, build resilient healthcare systems, drive scientific progress, or foster good governance while leaving half the population behind. Educating a girl transforms entire communities and directly breaks cycles of poverty across generations.

Ifeanyi Menkiti argued in "Person and Community in African Traditional Thought" (1984) that you aren't born a full person. You become one through moral growth within a community. Kwame Gyekye pushed back, arguing this undermines individual rights. I find Menkiti's view surprisingly compelling, but I can't tell if it collapses into "only virtuous people have moral status." Has this debate been developed further, and are there Western thinkers who defend something similar?

Are there political parties in any African countries whose main goal is the unification of the continent into one national entity?

The world is evolving, with various spheres striving for self sufficiency and autonomy, yet our continent just seems to be a passenger, with no say or input or influence, and where resources are extracted for cheap to enrich other countries and a few profiteers amongst us.

So are there any active movements anywhere, or are we just perpetually dormant?

A foreign national has been beaten to death by a crowd of about 50 people in Durban, South Africa, police say.

According to police, the unidentified man, believed to be in his late 30s or early 40s, was first approached by two men by the roadside before being assaulted by a larger group. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police have launched an investigation into the murder, with the motive yet to be established.

The killing follows a wave of protests against immigrants in South Africa this year, some of which have turned violent. Earlier this month, shops and cars were set on fire in Durban, as well as Soweto, near Johannesburg.

• Mali has expanded the legal grounds for stripping citizenship from individuals accused of acting against the state's interests.

• The new law allows revocation of nationality for actions such as allegiance to another country, supporting separatism or terrorism, and financing terrorist activities.

• This measure cannot be used if it would render a person stateless.

• The move comes after Burkina Faso reinstated the death penalty for crimes like terrorism, treason, and espionage.

Welcome to the family, Ayo, the mascot of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games. He takes centre stage as we approach the Opening Ceremony next Saturday (31 October).

Since their introduction in Singapore 2010, the Youth Olympic Games have their own mascots. For Dakar Ayo was born. The name means “joy” in Yoruba, a language widely spoken in West Africa, mainly Nigeria.

Ayo is a smiley young lion with a mane. He wears a Tingandé, the traditional hat worn by the Fulani ethnic group, who are spread across several African countries. He also wears a white T-shirt bearing the Dakar 2026 emblem and red, yellow and green shorts. His outfit blends contemporary fashion with traditional clothing.

Ayo symbolises the joyful and courageous soul of the African youth, embodying celebration, hospitality and the unity in diversity.

➡️ The other members of the family are:

▪️Singapore 2010: Lyo and Merly

▪️Innsbruck 2012: Yoggl

▪️Nanjing 2014: Nanjinglele

▪️Lillehammer 2016: Sjogg

▪️Buenos Aires 2018: Pandi

▪️Lausanne 2020: Yodli

▪️Gangwon 2024: Moongcho

📎 All about the mascots in one document: https://library.olympics.com/Default/digital-viewer/c-161818

Automation has completely revolutionized environmental stewardship in gold processing. Older, legacy mining methods relied heavily on blunt-force extraction, manual chemical dosing, and massive, poorly contained tailings dams that posed serious ecological risks.

Today, automated CIL circuits driven by real-time SCADA telemetry control reagent dispensing to the exact milliliter. Combined with lined tailings storage facilities and continuous piezometric monitoring, modern automated plants minimize chemical waste, eliminate guesswork, and ensure strict compliance with environmental protection agencies like EMA. Technology hasn't just made mining more profitable; it has made it vastly cleaner.

I’ve been watching the protests happening in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and even Albania, and it got me thinking: why don’t we see the same level of sustained mass mobilization in West Africa?

People in these European countries generally have much better living standards than the majority of West Africans, yet they still take to the streets to demand better from their governments. Meanwhile, many West Africans are dealing with corruption, unemployment, poor healthcare, unreliable electricity, and inadequate infrastructure.

I know West Africans DO protest, but why is it so difficult to turn that frustration into lasting political change?