I find it peculiar that George Clooney is getting credit for “his satellite project” revealing that there are troops lined up in the Abyei border area. Now, I normally think Andrew Meldrum does good work. But this paragraph in his Global Post piece is, to me, telling: An estimated 55,000 Sudan army troops have been […]
David Kato, one of the gay men whose picture appeared on the front cover of the Ugandan tabloid Rolling Stone, an anti-gay newspaper, was brutally beaten to death with a harmer in his home in Kampala late Wednesday, 26 January 2011. The Associate Press is reporting that a suspect is in custody, and that the […]
Nelson Mandela has spent the last couple of days in Johannesburg’s Milpark hospital recovering from a collapsed lung. South Africans and many of the rest of us anxiously await confirmation of reports that Madiba will be fine could be released as early as tomorrow.
Last night President Obama gave his State of the Union Address. It was a fine speech as far as such things go. It came as no surprise that domestic affairs dominated the speech given the nature of the economy in the United States and the general stalemate over a range of domestic politics that has […]
Well, a country’s gotta have role models, right? It appears that the opposition leader in Gabon, Andre Mba Obame, decided that Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo provides a model for all aspiring leaders and declared himself president today. This despite the fact that (admittedly disputed) official election results in August 2009 went to Ali Bongo, son […]
Allegations are flying that Ebrahim Rasool, former Premier of the Western Cape, lost his post because the ANC is concerned about Muslims having too much interest in politics. The allegation, from Rasool himself, was uncovered through Wikileaks. This one does not pass the smell test. For one thing, Rasool is now the South African Ambassador […]
Last week Adam Hochschild reminded us that one of the great “what ifs” in post-World War II history is what might have happened had Patrice Lumumba lived to lead the newly independent Belgian Congo. Instead, he was killed by his rivals who took control, and were eventually supplanted in another coup four years later and […]
People in South Sudan continue to celebrate the recent vote that apparently is running 99-1 for secession. But the vote and the concomitant celebrations should be seen as a beginning point and not an endpoint. Nothing from here on out will be quite so morally or politically simple as the act of going to the […]
My colleagues over at the Global Food Security blog write today about a new African Union initiative known as the “African Food Basket” that aims to make African countries food secure five years from now. The author of the post points out that achieving food security has been difficult in recent years, with drought and economic […]
South Africa plans to launch its own developmental aid agency this year, The South African Development Partnership Agency. Maybe some of my readers who are more directly involved in development can give some of their perspectives, but this seems like both a good (if imperfect) and a savvy idea. If the ideal aid involves local […]
My editor here at the Foreign Policy Association has written a fine book for the FPA “Headline Series,” The Quest for African Unity: 50 Years of Independence and Interdependence. You should track down a copy and visit his African Union blog here at FPA.
Words are out that on the behalf of the South African President Jacob Zuma, the principal mediator representing SADC, envoys arrived in Zimbabwe to patch up a way forward. All bluff making it as if something is being done, but in reality nothing is happening! Neither is the Southern Africa regional bloc’s strategy of appointing […]
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