The new semester has begun and I have less than an hour before the first meeting of my graduate seminar in Modern African History. I have time to roll off a few stories that warrant some discussion: Former Zambian President Frederick Chiluba has been acquitted of using his country’s treasury like his own personal bank […]
I’m going to wade into the controversy surrounding South African 800 meter runner and newly crowned world champion Caster Semenya. By now the story has made the rounds globally, with its equal parts prurience and controversy and politicization causing both track & field and Africa to draw attention in circles that ordinarily pay little attention […]
Two examples from South Africa of people getting ahead of themselves: Some South Africans, including Local Organizing Committee chair Irvin Khoza, fear that South Africans are not catching World Cup fever. This strikes me as a pretty groundless concern. I was in South Africa during the Confederations Cup and saw plenty of spirit and came […]
At the Council on Foreign Relations Bronwyn Bruton, a CFR International Affairs Fellow in residence, argues that the United States needs to ensure stability in Ethiopia as part of its strategy for dealing with the crisis in Somalia, where rebels just rejected a plea for peace during Ramadan. The interconnectedness of regional politics in Africa […]
The good news: Nigerian rebel leaders from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) followed through on their agreement to hand over weapons this weekend in exchange for an amnesty from the government. The bad news: Not all of the rebels agreed, and at least one faction of MEND not only rejected […]
Texas in Africa and G. Zachary Pastal of Africa Works have a go at this Thomas Friedman column from last Sunday that I could only be bothered to call “particularly incoherent.” I did argue earlier in the week that Frieman’s larger point might be fine — that more and better cell phone and internet access would […]
Scattered stories that have crossed the transom of my scattered mind, with brief commentary as appropriate: Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, argues in the Washington Post that the key to a successful United States relationship with the democratic Republic of the Congo is the development of a serious security relationship. In […]
My blogging colleague Lisa Gambone has been doing fine work over at the FPA War Crimes Blog where African affairs cross her transom quite regularly. Please check out her work.
Just a couple of loose ends from Hillary Clinton’s just-completed Africa trip: The Washington Post’s Mary Beth Sheridan sheds a spotlight on how women’s issues were central to the Secretary of State’s mission: “Clinton’s just-concluded 11-day trip to Africa has sent the clearest signal yet that she intends to make women’s rights one of her […]
This IRIN report on the lack of enforcement of laws that are on the books serves as a pretty good reminder that the rule of law is contingent upon both the existence of the laws but also the will and the infrastructure to enforce that law. One of the ironies of Apartheid-era South Africa is […]
After nearly twenty recession-free years, South Africa’s economy just experienced its third quarter of negative growth. Still, given that South Africa was late to feel the global economic crunch and that the contractions have been somewhat modest compared to what some might have expected, hopefully South Africa will benefit from recovery soon. The country certainly […]
I have not yet seen District 9 but I am excited to see what by all accounts is a pretty good sci-fi thriller with serious metaphorical Apartheid overtones and real South Africa connections. I would welcome any opinions in the comments and will write a review when I do catch it.
Land reform is a problematic issue in southern Africa’s formerly white-dominated settler colonies. On the one hand, reform is clearly necessary and justified. On the other hand, well, look at Zimbabwe as a case study of how not to handle land redistribution. For years Robert Mugabe used the threat of land reform as a cudgel […]
It has been a tough couple of days for NGO’s in Mauritania and Somalia. In Mauritania the Peace Corps has withdrawn its volunteers after an uptick in violence in the West African nation. In southern Somalia still-unidentified gunmen attacked a World Food Program headquarters at Wajid district in the Bakool region. Al-Shabab Islamists are suspected […]
Lots of other stories have crossed my desk today and over the weekend. here are a few, with brief commentary as apropos: Responding to various allegations of irregularities in the run-up to Gabon’s election, Bruno Ben Moubamba, one of 23 presidential hopefuls, is undergoing a hunger strike to demand that the election be postponed. Usually […]