1. The dumbest paragraph by Thomas Friedman you will ever read in your life:

You can learn everything you need to know about the main challenges facing Africa today by talking to just two people in Senegal: the rapper and the weatherman. They’ve never met, but I could imagine them doing an amazing duet one day — words and weather predictions — on the future of Africa.

2. Quick Thoughts on President Donald J. Trump and U.S. Foreign Policy in Africa

3. African public figures mentioned in the Panama Papers

4. Corruption under apartheid South Africa 

5. An East African Geopolitical dilemma: Which pipeline route makes most sense for Uganda?

6. Kenya is at peak Tanzania envy 

7. Did European colonialism benefit Africans? (a weird number of people keep googling this question each year. The post is from 2012).

8. “The International Community”

9. Alex de Waal on the African Academy

10. Everything that is wrong with voluntourism in developing countries

Many thanks to the thousands of you that read this blog every month.

Happy New Year!