The news on AIDS from Africa is rarely good, and southern Africa usually offers the grimmest tidings. Nonetheless, the feedback from what is being billed as “the most representative HIV/AIDS meeting ever held in” South Africa hints that perhaps things will improve. The meeting, opened in Pretoria today, and will debate the new HIV/AIDS national strategic plan for […]
One of the major reasons why this blog, putatively devoted to South Africa, has so emphasized Zimbabwe thus far is that beyond the obvious significance of Zim right now, the country also represents South Africa's biggest foreign policy challenge. It is too facile to assert that South Africa is doing nothing as so many obeservers have […]
The International Crisis Group has posited a possible solution to the Zimbabwe stalemate. Their outline has garnered the general support in principle of both factions of the divided Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Zimbabwe's major opposition party, as well as members of President Robert Mugabe's own Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) whose dissatisfaction with the status quo is growing. The plan […]
Over the course of an interview in the Mail & Guardian Zwelinzima Vavi, the secretary general of the Congress of South African Trade Unions asserted that his organization wants to re-establish itself as a more powerful player within the African National Congress’ tripartite alliance of COSATU, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the ANC […]
At The Mail & Guardian Virginia Tilley, a chief research specialist at the Human Sciences Research Council, speculates about Africa's, and especially South Africa's, role in a potential war against Iran and in the “War on Terror” generally. Her conclusions are probably not what the Bush administration would want to hear: Renewed crisis in Somalia […]
Swanee Hunt, director of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and chairwoman of The Initiative for Inclusive Security, published an op-ed piece in today's <i>Boston Globe</i> praising the progress Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, “Ma Ellen,” has made in Liberia in her first year as that country's president: Despite 14 years of […]
The Proteas, South Africa's cricket team, are readying themselves for the World Cup, which starts this month in the West Indies. Although a number of teams see themselves in contention to win the final in late April, the South Africans have been playing well and have a good chance to pull off a victory. If […]
Although the mandate of this blog is primarily to deal with South Africa, I plan to take a catholic view of my responsibilities and will regularly feature news and commentary from the rest of Africa. Consider my approach to represent a coupling of the Pan-Africanist dream with the fact that South Africa does not exist […]
Whether you are a neophyte to South Africa or an experienced hand you’ll find this article in The Economist to provide a useful primer on the current state of affairs in South Africa on matters ranging from crime to the economy to the always-fascinating political climate. For links to and analysis of Thabo Mbeki's recent State […]
<script type=”text/javascript”> var gaJsHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://www.”); document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src=’” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”)); </script> <script type=”text/javascript”> try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-12241540-3”); pageTracker._setDomainName(“.foreignpolicyblogs.com”); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}</script> My name is Derek Catsam and I am thrilled to serve as a blogger and writer for the Foreign Policy Association’s “Great […]