The current outbreak of Ebola in the eastern Congo province of North Kivu is taking place in a war zone, with rival militias and rebel groups inhibiting health workers responding the crisis. This is the tenth Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since the disease was first discovered in the country in 1976 and has the potential to become the deadliest.

The South African Independent Electoral Commission has announced that national elections will occur on a Wednesday between May 7 and the end of the month in 2019. The three leading parties will be the governing African National Congress (ANC), led by current state President Cyril Ramaphosa; the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), led by Mmusi Maimane; and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led by Julius Malema.

Nigerians will go to the polls for their general election in February 2019. In line with its mandate, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reminded candidates that they are prohibited by law from campaigning before November 18, which marks ninety days before election day for federal offices, which is scheduled for February 16.

This update represents violence in Nigeria and related to Boko Haram in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger between November 2 to 9.

On November 4, two days before Biya’s inauguration, seventy-eight students, the principal, and two staff members were kidnapped from a Presbyterian school near Bamenda, in the Anglophone part of the country. On November 7, officials reported that the seventy-eight students were freed the day before, as was a staff member. As of November 8, the principal, a teacher, and perhaps more children, were still in captivity.

The report shows that the majority of Africans experiencing high levels of food insecurity, 107 out of 143 million, live in countries experiencing or affected by conflict. Eleven out of the twelve countries in conflict are experiencing the highest level of food insecurity. It is clear from the report that conflict appears to be at the root of food insecurity.

This update represents violence in Nigeria and related to Boko Haram in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger between October 27 to November 2.

In the article, author Adenike Olanrewaju describes the emergence of publications Genevieve Magazine, Exquisite Magazine, Today’s Woman, and Glam Africa. With an increasingly cosmopolitan elite, Olanrewaju writes, “luxury brands are eager to establish firmer footholds there.”

Between October 27 and 30, protesters from the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), a Shia religious organization led by the pro-Iranian Sheikh Ibrahim el-Zakzaky, clashed with security services in and around Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. The IMN reported that Nigerian security services had killed at least forty of its members during the marches.