In the latest developments in Zimbabwe, ZANU-PF, which now admits to losing to Morgan Tsvangirai, albeit in a plurality that forced a runoff, may delay the next round of voting for a year. During that time, of course, Robert Mugabe will remain entrenched in office and will use the interregnum to consolidate his rule. By […]
At the Council on Foreign Relations Andrew Meldrum, a Nieman fellow at Harvard University and former Zimbabwe correspondent for the Guardian, discusses (via podcast) the Zimbabwe crisis and South Africa's role in it.
As complex as the situation is in Zimbabwe, we do know that there will be a runoff election. President Robert Mugabe has accepted the results and is preparing for the runoff. His opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai, however, appears to maintain his view that a runoff is invalid and that he won the count outright. He may […]
I would like to think that I have been as active a voice about the crisis in Zimbabwe and as critical toward Robert Mugabe as anyone writing over the past few years. And yet moral outrage is not a sufficient stance to take to write effectively about Zim, even if a soupcon of outrage may […]
Jacob Zuma's reputation appears to be enjoying a fairly significant renaissance. He has even made Time magazine's list of the “100 Most Influential People,” an irredeemably silly exercise that nonetheless is an indicator of Zuma's rise as a potentially serious player not only in South African politics, but perhaps continent-wide and globally. Now if only […]
As a follow-up to yesterday's post on press freedom I would encourage you to read Guy Berger's column, “Role Models for a Free Press,” in the Mail & Guardian. A free and open media does not just happen naturally, as events across the globe sadly show on a regular basis and as Berger reveals in […]
The United States military, targeting al Qaeda militants, has killed at least ten in a bombing mission in the town of Dusamareb. Among those apparently killed was Aden Hashi Ayro, military commander of al-Shabab, the military wing of an Islamist insurgent organization tied to al Qaeda.
Leaked results from Zimbabwe indicate that Morgan Tsvangirai and the Movement for Democratic Change outpolled President Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF by 47% to 43% in last month's election. If these results hold the stage will be set for the expected runoff between Mugabe and Tsvangirai. And if they do hold, Tsvangirai will be unable reasonably to […]
Current crime and fears of crime, coupled with the contentiousness of the apartheid past (and the opposition to it) seem to be encouraging a debate over the role of guns in South African society. Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya explores the questions involved in this column at the Mail & Guardian.
In this Sunday's travel section The Washington Post published an “African Safari Special” (follow the links for safaris in individual countries). It is easy to reduce Africa, as so many tourists do, simply to the chance to see animals at game reserves. nonetheless, safaris also represent a significant tourist lure to the continent.
Is there reason for optimism that Robert Mugabe is on his way out in Zimbabwe? J. Stephen Morrison and Mark Bellamy, writing at CSIS Africa Policy Forum, seem to think so. Their argument is apparently predicated on the recent escalations of military violence against civilians representing the last throes of a desperate regime rather than […]
Freedom House has released its annual survey (and accompanying “critical tools”) on press freedom around the globe. For the sixth straight year press freedom has deteriorated worldwide with Africa among the worst regions. In Sub-Saharan Africa the Freedom House tallies indicate that 23 countries rate as “not free, ” with Eritrea as the worst (and […]
Zimbabwe's state-run (Mugabe Tested, Mugabe Approved!) newspaper The Herald reports that the recount in 23 contested constituencies is nearly complete and that the four leading candidates (or their seconds) will be invited to witness the announcement and see the data. Let us assume that The Herald is playing it straight, which is not something we can […]
Zimbabwe is not the only African country in which journalists are under siege. Any place where the politics are constriced by authoritarianism or merely by the encroachments of paranoid leadership the members of the media run the risk of being jailed. Just the latest example comes from Uganda, where three journalists (including the editor) from the magazine […]
Mauritania is a poor country that produces only 30% of its own food. Meanwhile the global cost of food is skyrocketing. Naturally the result is food scarcity and the impoverished, as they always do, suffer disproportionately. And Mauritania is not alone. Much of Africa is feeling the squeeze of this global crisis of food underproduction coupled with […]