Africa's Growing Dispute Resolution Landscape

Africa's dispute resolution landscape has long been dominated by litigation, but the use of alternative mechanisms such as arbitration and mediation is becoming more prevalent.

South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt and Rwanda all have established arbitration centres, with Cairo and Johannesburg considered the most popular arbitral seats on the continent, according to a 2020 survey run by the SOAS University of London.

Mediation is also starting to gain traction in countries such as Kenya, which recently introduced mandatory court-annexed mediation as part of its broader alternative dispute resolution framework. This gives the courts discretionary powers to send certain disputes to a mediator and will help to reduce backlogs in the court system.