A while back the Sunday New York Times had a front-page article (now archived, so you may need to pay to read it) on some remarkable successes that farmers in the Niger Delta have enjoyed. Chido Makunine of the African News Network provided a perceptive summary and assessment of the piece soon after it appeared. I particularly agree with […]
In our zeal to embrace alternative sources of energy, including biofuels, let's keep in mind that there may be very real human costs. And not surprisingly those human costs will be felt by the most vulnerable. The most vulnerable often live in Africa. IRIN points out a recent report arguing: The rush to produce biofuels, driven by the […]
At The New York Times Naruddin Farah, a Somalian writer who lives in Cape Town, provides some insight into the situation in Somalia from the vantage point as an insider-outsider who was tapped as a short term emissary between his native country's two main warring factions. He is not optimistic that peace will take […]
Under ordinary circumstances a discussion of the possible successors to Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe would be an affirmative thing. Mugabe's murderous regime has to go. And similarly, a discussion of a possible successor who has shown the temerity to challenge Mugabe frontally would ordinarily represent serious progress. Alas, the most likely successor to Mugabe will […]
In today's test match South Africa pummeled a depleted England team missing up to 30 of its top players due to injury, illness, and the absence of players from last week's Heineken Cup champonship game. The final score was 58-10. Notwithstanding England's weakened status, this triumph seems to validate South African optimism on the state […]
There has been a perplexing story unwinding in South Africa over the course of the last few weeks. The Springboks are gearing up for their World Cup run later this year. The start has been promising — two South African teams, the Bulls and the Sharks, made the finals of the Super 14 with […]
Dr. Mannavar Sivakumar, chief of the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) agricultural meteorology division, argues that Africans need to be more aware and “proactive” on the issue of climate change: “He said it was ‘critical’ for Africa, which forecasters predict will be the region worst affected by changing weather patterns, to get its act […]
At Real Clear Politics Peter Brookes, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and columnist for The New York Post, diagnosis our acute case of the Niger Delta Blues. We now import more oil than ever from Africa — moreso even than the Middle East, according to Brookes, though such numbers tend to be volatile […]
Over at The Boston Globe Derrick Z. Jackson reminds readers that among Jerry Falwell's many loathsome views, the recently departed openly and unrepentantly supported Apartheid South Africa. While it may not be especially edifying to dance on a man's grave, there also are few reasons to celebrate Falwell's life in which hatred was couched in a flatulent and warped version of Christianity. […]
China's role in Africa will continue to grow in the coming decades. There are many reasons for this, not the least of which is China's voracious appetite and need for oil. But the Chinese have shown little interest in issues related to human rights, which they always shrug off as being a matter of internal […]
With the chaos in Zimbabwe and the utter catastrophe that is Sudan, it is easy to let the evergreen of African nightmares slip across the transom unnoticed. But rest assured, the Democratic Republic of the Congo still stands astride Africa's Big Men like a colossus. The DRC may temporarily find itself displaced in this dubious game, […]
(Tokyo Sexwale Pictured With Nelson Mandela.) Tokyo Sexwale is an ANC Stalwart, former premiere of Gauteng, and multimillionaire businessman. The chairman of Mvelaphanda Group has been in the news a great deal lately. He recently drew headlines for joining the Washington, DC-Based Brookings Institution's International Advisory Council (IAC). The IAC is a “group of 24 […]
Tensions between Australia and Zimbabwe are reaching unprecedented heights as the Aussies are unexpectedly taking global leadership in isolating Robert Mugabe's thugocracy. First Australia decided to cancel its cricket tour in Zimbabwe in September. Now the Australian government has announced that it is going to fund Mugabe's opponents to the tune of $18 million Australian, […]
Crossposted from dcat. There is probably no better major newspaper in America when it comes to the issue of Northern Ireland than The Boston Globe. That probably should come as no surprise given Boston's affinity for and association with the Irish. The Globe's editorial this past week on the ongoing transitions in Northern Ireland, in […]
In recent weeks there have been several travel articles on South Africa. Cape Town and its environs , of course, are always popular, as recent articles in The New York Times and Washington Post reveal. But the country's hinterlands are also popular. The Eastern cape, one of my regular stomping grounds, is a wonderful and often-overlooked part […]