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Independent analysis, commentary and investigations on Africa, the Great Lakes Region and international accountability.
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humanitarian news and analysis
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Beyond the body counts: Why murder rates matter to humanitarians
NEW YORK, 8 May 2015 (IRIN) - Murder statistics can speak volumes about a country and help guide humanitarian intervention. That's the idea behind the Homicide Monitor, an online data visualisation tool launched this week. We delve beyond the headline figures. Read report online |
| Noul hits, but Philippines learns the lessons of Haiyan
MANILA , 11 May 2015 (IRIN) - Powerful Typhoon Noul slammed into the the Philippines late Sunday, but the damage was less severe than some had feared. Officials say lessons learned in the wake of the Typhoon Haiyan disaster had proved effective and people had this time heeded warnings and moved to safety. Read report online |
| Psychologists stay home: Nepal doesn't need you
LONDON, 11 May 2015 (IRIN) - Following the earthquake in Nepal, psychologist Alessandra Pigni recalls her experiences in humanitarian aid: she reminds Western do-gooders that affected populations are resilient and that pathologising suffering after a traumatic event may get in the way of healing and recovery. Read report online |
| Bringing drones down to earth
KATHMANDU, 12 May 2015 (IRIN) - Disaster coverage now seems incomplete without amazing drone footage of the damage, accompanied by effusive media reports on the technological wizardry of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and their humanitarian application. But is that really the story? Here's a look at the evolution needed for them to better fulfill their potential. Read report online |
| Help at last for Sri Lanka war widows
VAVUNIYA, 13 May 2015 (IRIN) - Sri Lanka's new government is finally addressing the plight of women made widows by the country's long and bitter civil war. The fighting may be over, but a staggering number of families in the north of the country, where the fighting was fiercest, are now headed by single women who are struggling to make ends meet. Read report online |
| All at sea: what lies behind Southeast Asia's migrant crisis?
OXFORD, 15 May 2015 (IRIN) - The plight of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers from Myanmar and Bangladesh, left adrift without food and water for nearly a week, has all the hallmarks of a full-blown humanitarian crisis. Yet despite statements of concern from governments, aid agencies and human rights groups, there is little sign of a coordinated plan to address the issue. Read report online |
| Kept afloat by hope - the endless odyssey of the Rohingya
KUALA LUMPAR, 18 May 2015 (IRIN) - Faizal Ahmad has just spent six months at sea, in an open boat crammed with 450 people, praying that Allah would deliver him to safety and a future free of persecution. Read report online |
| Philippines strives to end recruitment of child soldiers
MANILA, 20 May 2015 (IRIN) - The Philippines government has taken steps to make good on its pledged to stop the use of child soldiers by all official and non-state armed groups. But the apparent surrender of an 11 year-old boy who has been fighting with the communist New People's Army for the past six years, shows the practice is still widespread among the country's insurgent militias. Read report online |
| Glimmer of hope for Southeast Asia's migrants
OXFORD/KUALA LUMPUR, 20 May 2015 (IRIN) - Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed to provide temporary shelter and assistance to thousands of migrants still stranded at sea in Southeast Asia, but they have stopped short of offering to find their boats and bring them ashore. Read report online |
| The identity crisis frustrating Nepal's quake survivors
MAILUNG , 21 May 2015 (IRIN) - Mento Ghale did what any parent would do when Nepal's 25 April earthquake struck her village of Mailung: she grabbed the children and got them out of the house as quickly as she could. Read report online |
| Why bin Laden's thoughts matter
LONDON, 21 May 2015 (IRIN) - Osama bin Laden's recently released writings on humanitarian aid were treated with skepticism and scorn by many observers. Here's why you should pay attention. Read report online |
| IRIN's Top Picks: Siege gardening, Scientology and aid pledges
DUBAI, 22 May 2015 (IRIN) - Welcome to IRIN's reading list. Every week our global network of specialist correspondents share some of their top picks of recent must-read research, interviews, reports, blogs and in-depth articles to help you keep on top of global crises. Read report online |
| Which way is up? Flatpacks alone can't solve global shelter crisis*
BELGRADE, 25 May 2015 (IRIN) - IKEA's new flatpack shelter partnership with the UNHCR is well and good, but how about reforming the process as well as the product? Now that could make a more profound difference, Paul Currion argues in his latest column. Read report online |
| An 'almost impossible job' - 10 tips for the UN's next humanitarian boss
LONDON, 26 May 2015 (IRIN) - Former UN humanitarian chief John Holmes has a few words of advice for the next person to take up the job, British politician Stephen O'Brien. Read report online |
| Grief not justice for Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan
OSH, 26 May 2015 (IRIN) - Five years after ethnic riots roiled Kyrgyzstan, not only has the minority Uzbek community found little to no justice for the hundreds killed but it finds itself increasingly blamed and marginalised as Kyrgyz nationalism takes hold. Read report online |
| Lives at risk as Nepal earthquake funding dries up
NUWAKOT, 26 May 2015 (IRIN) - There was an outpouring of emergency funding in the immediate aftermath of the Nepal earthquake. But one month on, lives are at risk as the money dries up. With monsoon rains expected within weeks, relief efforts are expected to become even more challenging in a country where many villages are accessible only by foot: Read report online |
| The struggle for survival across Ukraine's frontline
LUHANSK, UKRAINE, 28 May 2015 (IRIN) - Ukraine's frontline cuts across the east of the country like a jagged scar. Despite a February ceasefire, the fighting hasn't stopped. In March and April, Kristina Jovanovski had rare access to rebel-held areas to investigate the humanitarian disaster that has unfolded on Europe's doorstep. Read her exclusive report on why aid isn't getting through. Read report online |
| Lucky escape for Rohingya boys who took the bait
SAY THA MAR GYI, MYANMAR, 29 May 2015 (IRIN) - For thousands of Rohingya living in squalid camps and suffering discrimination in Myanmar, the chance to escape to a new life is a tempting one. But many end up in jungle camps, held for ransom, or stranded on boats at sea. Maung Zaw Lin and Maung Tin Shwe took the traffickers' bait. Find out what happened to them: Read report online |
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Africa Realities Media is independent. Your support helps us expose injustice, challenge silence and produce evidence-based analysis on Africa and the Great Lakes Region.
Africa Realities Media offre un espace aux écrivains, chercheurs, experts, activistes, voix communautaires, militants, analystes et personnes ayant une expérience vécue qui souhaitent contribuer à des contenus réfléchis, responsables et courageux sur les changements nécessaires dans la région des Grands Lacs, ainsi que sur les réalités politiques, économiques, culturelles et sociales africaines souvent ignorées, minimisées ou mal représentées.
Nos articles et vidéos visent à ouvrir le débat, renforcer la sensibilisation, encourager la pensée critique et favoriser une réflexion plus profonde sur les réalités vécues par les populations africaines. Nous voulons aider les peuples de la région des Grands Lacs à mieux comprendre leurs droits, notamment leurs droits humains, leur droit au développement, leur droit à la dignité, à la sécurité, au bien-être et à une vie meilleure.
À travers nos contenus, nous cherchons également à rappeler aux décideurs, aux institutions publiques, aux acteurs régionaux et internationaux, ainsi qu’aux responsables politiques, leur devoir de transparence, de responsabilité et de redevabilité envers les populations qu’ils prétendent servir. Notre objectif est de contribuer à une culture de vérité, de justice, de participation citoyenne et de protection égale pour tous les peuples africains.
Why We Exist
Many abuses facing African people are committed by African states, ruling elites, armed groups, military forces and security services. But these abuses are often sustained by international silence, Western lobbying, trade interests, migration deals, mineral access, diplomatic partnerships and unequal global accountability.
Africa Realities Media exposes that system.
Lived Experience Matters
Survivors, displaced communities, refugees, families affected by repression, journalists, activists, women, young people and diaspora voices are not passive subjects. They are knowledge holders.
Their experiences must shape policy, advocacy, journalism and public debate. The people closest to injustice are often closest to the solutions.
Our Principle
Africa Realities Media is rooted in one principle: African lives deserve equal truth, equal justice and equal protection.
Popular Posts
How Paul Kagame Uses Diplomats' "Bury Your Head in the Sand" Strategy as a Green Light to Continue Rwanda's War in the DRC Africa Realities Media | 17 July 2026 The purpose of this article is to expose a deliberate and systematic strategy: Paul Kagame's years-long practice of creating events — diplomatic dinners, RPF party meetings, genocide commemorations, international business forums and RPF Bureau Politique addresses — to which he invites foreign ambassadors and the world's business and political elite for one purpose: to explain, justify, and defend Rwanda's military invasion of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Everybody who follows this region knows the strategy now. The same narrative. The same arguments. The same defiance. At one event he tells the Trump Administration to go to hell. At the next he says those sanctioning him will leave power and he will remain. At the RPF Bureau Politique of 17 July 2026, he tells ambassadors that the on...
T he FDLR Pretext Collapses Under the Weight of Documented Plunder Introduction: A Battle That Tells the Truth When Rwandan-backed RDF/M23 forces fought with extraordinary ferocity to seize and hold Rubaya — a remote mining town in North Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo — the stated justification was security. Kigali's consistent public line has been that its military presence in the DRC is a response to the threat posed by the Forces Democratiques de Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR), an armed group whose leaders include individuals linked to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. This narrative has been accepted, qualified, or left insufficiently challenged by Western governments and multilateral institutions for over a decade. The Battle of Rubaya strips that narrative bare. What unfolded in Rubaya was not a counter-insurgency operation against genocidal remnants. It was a sustained military campaign — reinforced by the Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF), prosecuted at sign...
http://www.inyenyerinews.org/amakuru-2/rwandas-major-john-sengati-assassinated-in-gitarama-rwanda/ Rwanda's Major John Sengati assassinated in Gitarama, Rwanda May 12, 2013 by Rwema IT Webmaster Leave a Comment By: Jennifer Fierberg Rwandans are saddened by the death of Major John Sengati who was assassinated in Gitarama (appx 50km from Kigali) on May 10th, 2013. John Sengati was a retired Major, and ADC to Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa from 1993 to 2001. After Gen Kayumba went to UK to further his studies, Major John Sengati was appointed Commanding Officer (C.O.) of Garrison Force that was in charge of the security to VIPs under the Ministry of Defense. Around 2007, he went to study at Kigali Institute of Technology (KIST) while he was still an active member of the RDF. According to local reports , in 2009 Major Sengati's land was redistributed in Karama to local residents. Around 2010 he was forced to retire from the army, because he was considered to be loyal and ...
The FDLR Myth: How Rwanda Weaponises a Diminished Threat to Justify Occupation Investigation Exposes Contradictions in Rwanda's Security Narrative For over a decade, Rwanda has justified its military presence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo by citing threats from the FDLR, a Hutu militia group linked to the 1994 genocide. But an investigation into FDLR's actual capabilities, Rwanda's military operations, and patterns of violence reveals a narrative that does not match reality. The FDLR threat, whilst real, has been systematically exaggerated and manipulated to justify objectives that have nothing to do with the militia group. Introduction The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) occupies a central position in Rwanda's justification for military intervention in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. For more than two decades, Rwandan authorities have portrayed the militia group as an existential threat requiring sustaine...
ANALYSIS AND INVESTIGATION Introduction: The Myth and the Man Behind the Myth There is a version of Paul Kagame that exists in the conference halls of Davos, in the pages of Western magazines, in private hotel meetings in London, Paris and Washington, and on the sleeves of European football shirts. In this version, Kagame is a visionary. A builder. A disciplined African moderniser. A leader who pulled a broken country from the ashes of genocide and turned it into what admirers often call the “Singapore of Africa”. In this version, Rwanda is clean, efficient, safe, investment-friendly and orderly. Kagame is presented as the African leader the West wants to believe in: controlled, polished, pro-market, security-focused and comfortable in elite Western spaces. Then there is the Rwanda that many Rwandans, exiles, journalists, opposition figures and human rights organisations describe. In this Rwanda, YouTubers and online commentators are jailed for what they say. Critics die in custo...
Ndabona mu bo Francois Hollande avugana n'abo Kagame wenyine niwe utarimo. Nimwisomere namwe: http://www.slate.fr/story/90909/hollande-telephone-politique-etrangere#xtor=RSS-2 From: "Samuel Desire sam4des@yahoo.com [Democracy_Human_Rights]" <Democracy_Human_Rights@yahoogroupes.fr> To: DHR <Democracy_Human_Rights@yahoogroupes.fr>; Rwandalibre Group <rwandalibre@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Tuesday, 12 August 2014, 21:08 Subject: *DHR* A qui François Hollande téléphone-t-il? Et qui reçoit-il à l'Elysée? A qui François Hollande téléphone-t-il? Et qui reçoit-il à l'Elysée? [VISUALISATION] http://www.slate.fr/story/90909/hollande-telephone-politique-etrangere#xtor=RSS-2 Envoyé par : Samuel Desire <sam4des@yahoo.com> ...
Kigali wants Washington to punish Congo too. But a ceasefire that leaves the occupier in place is not peace; it is occupation without noise. African lives are not worth less. African deaths are not normal. Western interests must never become a licence to kill African people. Introduction: A Familiar Complaint On 29 June 2026, Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Olivier Nduhungirehe, sat before the cameras of France 24 and declared that his country was “disappointed by the increasingly biased US mediation” in the conflict with the Democratic Republic of Congo. He asked why sanctions had targeted only Rwanda. He called the measures unfair, one-sided and counterproductive. Weeks earlier, President Paul Kagame had told Jeune Afrique that sanctions and threats were insults thrown at Rwanda, and accused Washington of exerting heavy pressure on Rwanda while treating the DRC more delicately. The grievance sounds reasonable until you remember where you have heard it before. Since 2022, the Kr...
Dans cet article, Africa Realities Media utilise le terme « crimes géopolitiques » pour désigner les actions menées à travers la puissance militaire, l’intervention transfrontalière, les groupes armés par procuration, l’influence politique, l’exploitation minière et les alliances internationales qui produisent des massacres de masse, des déplacements, la destruction institutionnelle et une instabilité durable au-delà des frontières nationales. Là où ces actions constituent des crimes de guerre, des crimes contre l’humanité ou un génocide, ARM réclame des enquêtes et des poursuites devant la Cour pénale internationale. Le premier article de cette investigation a identifié le problème : Paul Kagame a construit un réseau mondial puissant d’amis politiques, d’alliés institutionnels, de partenaires commerciaux et de lobbyistes rémunérés qui le promeut, le défend et le protège à l’échelle internationale. Cet article examine les conséquences de ce réseau : comment son inf...
This article identifies the central obstacle to accountability for Paul Kagame’s actions in Rwanda and the Great Lakes region: the powerful global network of political leaders, former presidents, diplomats, philanthropists, religious figures, businesspeople, international institutions, sporting organisations, advisers and paid lobbyists that has promoted, legitimised, defended and protected him for three decades. This is a problem-identification article. It asks why Kagame has remained internationally influential and protected despite serious and extensively documented allegations concerning Rwanda’s military actions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, political repression, extraterritorial operations, mineral exploitation and the treatment of political opponents, journalists and critics. The answer is that Kagame has built an international network that gives him political access, diplomatic protection, commercial partnerships, institutional legitimacy, favourable media coverage, ...
Kagame’s Global Protection Network: Lobbying, Silence and Western Complicity: From 1990 to 2026. More at: https://www.africarealities. com/2026/07/the-empire-of- kagames-global-friends.html
Why Africa Realities Media Is Different
Africa Realities Media speaks to Africa and to the developed world. Many abuses facing African people are committed by African states and ruling elites, but they are often protected by international silence, lobbying, public relations, trade interests, migration deals and unequal global accountability. While governments pay lobbyists to present a good image abroad, ordinary African people continue to face violence, hunger, disease, poverty, repression and exclusion. We challenge the normalisation of African suffering and demand equal truth, equal justice and equal protection.
Pourquoi Africa Realities Media est différent?
Africa Realities Media s’adresse à l’Afrique et au monde développé. De nombreux abus subis par les peuples africains sont commis par des États africains et des élites dirigeantes, mais ils sont souvent protégés par le silence international, le lobbying, les relations publiques, les intérêts commerciaux, les accords migratoires et une responsabilité mondiale inégale. Tandis que des gouvernements paient des lobbyistes pour présenter une bonne image à l’étranger, des Africains ordinaires continuent de faire face à la violence, à la faim, aux maladies, à la pauvreté, à la répression et à l’exclusion. Nous contestons la normalisation de la souffrance africaine et exigeons une vérité égale, une justice égale et une protection égale.
Policy and Systems Change
Our work is designed to trigger debate, discomfort and action. We do not only expose injustice; we work for policy and systems change.
We want governments and institutions to address the root causes of inequality, disadvantage, discrimination, exclusion and barriers affecting African people. We believe lasting change must be shaped by people with lived experience.
Exposing Injustice in Africa
Africa Realities Media is an independent African accountability platform based in London. We report, analyse and challenge the systems that shape African suffering, silence African victims and protect abusive power.
We are not here to repeat diplomatic language. We are here to ask the questions that are often avoided: why are African deaths treated as normal? Why are African victims given less urgency? Why are governments that imprison, exclude, displace or kill their own people protected when they serve powerful international interests?
Africa Realities Media gives space to writers, researchers, experts, activists, community voices, campaigners, analysts and people with lived experience who want to contribute thoughtful, responsible and courageous content about the changes needed in the region, as well as the political, economic, cultural and social African realities that are often ignored, minimised or misrepresented.
Our articles and videos aim to encourage debate, raise awareness, stimulate critical thinking and support reflection. We seek to help people in the Great Lakes Region understand their rights to human rights, development and wellbeing, while also encouraging decision-makers to be more transparent, responsive and accountable.
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