Morgan Tsvangirai is back in Zimbabwe and is ready to return to work after time spent in South Africa after his wife’s tragic death in a car crash. He returns to some modestly good news. Prices of goods bought in the US dollar, newly established as the formal currency, actually dropped in January for the first time in ages.
The global economic crisis is being felt in Zambia’s copper mines. It seems reasonable to extrapolate that the mining industry across the continent will suffer from the economic meltdown. Naturally the multinational companies that run the mines will tighten their belts with the local workers the ones who end up getting squeezed out.
China has agreed to replace a Nigerian telecommunications satellite free of charge. The original satellite had been made in China and failed after 18 months. This seemingly routine transaction carries with it all sorts of undercurrents that reveal the increasingly interdependent relationship that has been developing between China and Africa.
Muammar Gaddafi, the chairman of the African Union, wants the AU to lift the sanctions on Mauritius that it placed on the country after its military coup last year. The member states of the AU seem reluctant to comply. If this conflict (independent of the merits of either side) signals that Libya’s strongman will not be allowed free reign, that will be a good thing. It would be an apt irony if Gaddafi’s cartoonish and self-serving vision of Pan Africanism smashed up against the desires and demands of the rest of the continent.
The biggest controversy in South Africa in recent days has involved the ANC government rejecting the Dalai Lama’s visa request and thus preventing him from entering the country for a peace conference that will also promote the 2010 football World Cup. Spokespersons for the ANC maintain that the Dalai lama’s presence would be a distraction that would draw attention from the World Cup. The decision has infuriated many, and has divided the ANC.
Kenya appears to be teetering on the brink of stability again. Pambazuka News has extensive coverage of the state of affairs there.
France wants to reaffirm its role as an important player in African affairs, with a specific eye toward Francophile Central Africa. Greater engagement is always a fraught role for a former colonial power to want to play. Nonetheless, Paris wants to play a greater role in peacekeeping and investment. President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plans are meeting with an array of opinions in the French press.
Finally, the political divisions in Madagascar still continue to vex. Ditto Somalia. I would not bank on the status quo in either country changing anytime soon.