G20: Cementing a Southern Alliance (...) Major developing countries are again preparing to stand together on critical issues at the G20 heads of government meeting in Pittsburgh Sep 24-25.
But Southern solidarity may need to move beyond the strategic common front presented at such summits to include a strengthening of...
Time to Stop Meddling in Somalia Recently, U.S. policy in Somalia hit a new low, with the shipment of 40 tons of arms to a government on the verge of overthrow, if not nervous collapse. Worse still, last Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with the president of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG),...
Clinton in Africa: Does Washington Really Care? Speaking in Accra, Ghana, last month, President Barack Obama declared, "The 21st century will be shaped by what happens not just in Rome or Moscow or Washington, but by what happens in Accra, as well." (...)
On the heels of Obama's trip to Ghana, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton...
Would a United States of Africa Work? The United States of Africa remains a constant theme - the great dream cherished from the earliest days of pan-Africanism.. For many political leaders, the failure of the post-colonial state is the root cause of the marginalisation and upsurge in violence that is plunging whole swathes of Africa...
Liberia Debates Race-Based Citizenship A clause in Liberia's constitution requiring black ancestry in order to hold citizenship has spurred debate on the nature of foreign ownership of land here, and in Africa in general. Many Liberians insist that the clause must be changed, decrying their country for being the only "legally...
Madagascar: A Greek Tragedy That Will Hurt Investment (...) Watching the tenure of President Marc Ravalomanana of Madagascar come to an end resembled seeing a ball of twine unravel as it rolled unimpeded down a slope. Or to use another metaphor, like watching a Greek tragedy in all its acts, the central figure a president-king who became blind to...
Zimbabwe: No Silver Bullet to Revive Economy (...) [Zimbabwe's] revised budget by Finance minister Tendai Biti on Wednesday is a forlorn admission that the unity government does not possess the silver bullet to put this economy back on the rails.
The government has come up with a new economic blueprint called the Short Term Emergency...
Africa, Business Destination Togo is like much of West Africa — small, poor and an occasional producer of sensational soccer players—but for the bank. Lomé, Togo's capital, is home to Ecobank, a 21-year-old pan-African retail and corporate bank that, according to CEO Arnold Ekpe, employs 11,000 people in...
Africa Policy: Don't Expect a Revolution Barack Obama may differ little from George Bush in his approach to Africa
It might seem obvious that American policy towards Africa would change under America’s first African-American president. But while the new man seems set to break with his predecessor in many other foreign-policy...
We Must Crouch Like an Asian Tiger The last 10-Year Review of the [South African] government issued by the Presidency – under former president Thabo Mbeki – made some key findings.
In the first instance the review confirmed that South Africa had made great progress in consolidating democracy and redirecting...
Rwanda's Move into Congo Fuels Suspicion KIGALI, Rwanda -- With thousands of Rwandan troops fanned out across eastern Congo's green hills, many residents and international observers are questioning what is really behind the operation in the mineral-rich region and how long it is likely to last.
The official explanation, offered by...
Zimbabwe: How Deal with Tsvangirai Saved Mugabe PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe (pictured) was saved from what could have been an embarrassing tongue-lashing at the just-ended African Union summit after striking a last minute deal with MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai to form an inclusive government.
(...) [A] number of AU leaders were...
African Union Gov't, Still a Long Way to Go People may not be surprised to see again the delay of immediate establishment of an African union government though the 12th African Union (AU) Summit had dedicated its first day to discuss the issue.
(...) African leaders made a day-long fierce debate on the union government, without...
A New Plan for Darfur By any measure one might care to use, the situation in Darfur continues to deteriorate. Caught in the diplomatic vacuum created by the appalling events in Gaza, the region seems to have been relegated to a second or third order agenda item at best. (...) Violence on the ground has escalated...
Zimbabwe: Tsvangirai and the Stern Challenges of Change (...) [T]here is no better set of words to capture the challenge that Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC face at this juncture. Machiavelli said, “It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to...
