So, yeah, that was a long one!
Blogging is usually rather irregular (unless you are very disciplined, or do it for a living), but a pause of 2 years and 5 months is something pretty big for any blog. And it deserves a bit of an explanation. In fact, I am sure that most of the people reading this (if there is any) actually thought this was a dead blog. Another one for the virtual cemeteries.
But no. Not yet in any case.

The reasons for such a long pause are many (some good, others not so). The fact is that life has changed quite a bit for me in the intervening period. Since July 2012, when I last posted here, a great deal has happened: I got married to M (the love of my life, with whom I have been together for over ten years now); I changed jobs and moved countries as a result (I stopped working for FRIDE in Madrid after getting a job in the European Parliament and moved to Brussels); I traveled to some African countries (many of them for the first time): Mali, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, South Africa; we adopted a dog (Max, a lovely Jack Russell); went to back to Waterford in Swaziland where it all (my interest in Africa, my relationship with M) started ten years ago. And plenty more, as you can imagine!

All these changes – especially the professional ones – meant that I did not know whether, or how, to continue blogging. So I stopped. Yet, I kept thinking that I would re-start at some point, so I did not delete the site. And it seems that now I am ready to retake On Africa (I hope this is not an ill-fated New Year’s resolution!). Nonetheless, the changes of the past two and a half years, will undoubtedly be reflected in On Africa. I will also slowly tweak things here and there (starting with this new layout) to fine-tune the blog visually and adapt it to this new period.

So, what to expect from On Africa now?
Well, the truth is that I am not really sure, although I have some ideas. For starters, more frequent updates and posts! Also, the blog will continue to look at issues arising from or related to some or all of the countries in Africa. Nonetheless, the blog may have a less political focus (I do this this during my day job, so it is good to keep things separate – this blog reflects purely personal views). Instead, I would like to include more cultural notes; some general reflections on society, technology, economy, etc in Africa, and (hopefully!) a lot more posts on ideas and debates that are emerging and important for the future of Africa and beyond. Because I am now even more convinced that Africa will be able to provide answers not only to the challenges facing its own societies, but also to many important global questions. So, we better start paying careful attention!
On Africa hopes to become my humble contribution to this.