Tomorrow will mark Desmond Tutu's 77th birthday and he continues to crusade for justice both in South Africa and globally. Tutu is no stranger to controversy, but when all is said and done he has been a vital figure in his time, the central moral voice within South Africa during the last years of Apartheid […]
The financial meltdown has its apparent epicenter in the United States, but both because of the ripple effects from the American economy and larger factors of a globalized economy, the crisis is best understood as a worldwide issue. And Africa is not exempt and may be more vulnerable than much of the rest of the world. South […]
Some of Robert Mugabe's avaricious henchmen realize that they had better get while the getting is good. Invasions of white-owned farms appear to be on the upswing, presumably because a legitimate power-sharing agreement will bring with it the end to the free lunch for that tiny minority that has enriched itself through its connections with […]
Zimbabweans have seen so much over the years that wariness comes more naturally to most of them than optimism. IRIN reports on the short joyride from joy to cynicism that characterizes Zimbabwe as the negotiations for a unity government that even if successful will be a long time in alleviating the ZANU-PF-imposed suffering of the masses. There […]
Kgalema Mothlante will have his work cut out for him over the course of the next few months. He will have to stanch the exodus from the ANC, including the increasing likelihood that a breakaway faction will form a new party. He will have to placate Zuma's most ardent supporters, such as the vocal elements […]
The mood about the negotiations in Zimbabwe whiplashes between blinkered optimism and dire pessimism almost daily. The latest is that the negotiations are dead in the water with the sticking point continuing to be the composition of the cabinet. Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF continue to deny that stalemate has set in, but Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC […]
Given the levels of political unrest throughout Africa there is something almost quaint about the straightforward avarice of the pirates off the Somali coast who admit in an interview that their primary motivation is money. [Somali pirates in small boats hijacked the Faina, a Belize-flagged cargo ship owned and operated by Kaalbye Shipping Ukraine, on […]
Security forces in Nigeria have arrested nearly 450 suspected militants involved with the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) in the oil rich Niger Delta, though a number of prominent members of MEND avoided capture. The militants had agreed to a cease fire on September 21 but before that had engaged in […]
Whatever happens with the ongoing negotiation impasse in Zimbabwe, there are social realities that no agreement will be able to reconcile. Even if the process of forging a unity government proves successful, that will mark a beginning of a long slog, not a triumphal endpoint. Hunger is rampant throughout the country with the food crisis […]
Brief comments about three separate but interconnected stories: I am not the only one who wonders if Jacob Zuma might not have overplayed his hand and created a situation the unintended consequences of which might be to prevent him from taking over as South Africa's president in 2009. Patrick Laurence speculates similarly in a piece […]
The Foreign Policy Association has published my latest piece, “A Tale of Two Countries: Change and Crisis in Zimbabwe and South Africa.” Writing commentary on volatile events taking place in real time is always fraught with peril, and in this case I wish I had continued my consistently more pessimistic outlook on Zimbabwe, but on […]
[Morgan Tsvangirai, seated, and Robert Mugabe when it seemed an agreement might be at hand. Times of London.] In a move that should surprise absolutely no one, the Zimbabwe negotiations have fallen apart and just about all of the blame belongs on the shoulders of Robert Mugabe. It was only a matter of time. […]
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