tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28793303578212807572011-12-02T00:35:40.373Znews + analysis of african affairsAaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.comBlogger1011100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-25470838211737963832010-01-05T21:21:00.009Z2010-01-05T23:23:51.777Z

Andrew Sullivan, on his Atlantic blog The Daily Dish, pointed yesterday to the NYT's a-bit-slow-on-the-uptake account of Uganda's pending anti-gay legislation. The proposed law, the Anti-homosexuality Bill, 2009, introduced in Parliament following a conference last March addressing the "gay agenda," held by three American evangelical activists, could impose the death penalty for "aggravated

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-7978664234594853822010-01-03T13:56:00.011Z2010-01-03T15:03:43.536Z

Well kids, seeing as it's now 2010, I figured it's time for Africa Matters to catch up with the fads of 2007, and so this blog will now be 'tweeting.' Honestly, I can't for the life of me understand what the purpose of 'Twitter' is, or even how it really works, but it seems to be what people are doing, and I'm never one to miss a bandwagon.For the foreseeable future, AM's 'Twitter' will consist

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-11428444420654908452010-01-02T12:32:00.007Z2010-01-02T15:40:20.973Z

Jeffrey Gettleman writes in today's New York Times about the uneasy calm that has settled in Darfur. With attacks down and freedom of movement increased, with the government's sponsorship of violence seemingly ceased and the janjaweed subdued, the situation seems markedly improved from a few years ago. Still, while the dire predictions upon the expulsion of 13 aid agencies last year never

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-15002451835404751252009-03-28T16:50:00.007Z2009-03-28T16:58:17.962Z

Electronics makers are pressed to stop using 'conflict minerals' from mines controlled by armed groups in DR Congo.As featured on Fortune.comFirst there were "blood diamonds," the gems that fueled conflict and human rights abuses in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Then there was "conflict cocoa," the chocolate source that's harvested by children and funds civil war in Ivory Coast. Now concern is rising

Lawrence Delevingnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00019062997779054232noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-52101337726765065492009-03-07T21:17:00.012Z2009-03-28T18:56:27.402Z

I think even the strongest supporters of the ICC and its intervention in Sudan were a bit taken aback by the swiftness and severity of Khartoum's reaction to the arrest warrant issued this week for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. By instantly expelling 13 of the largest aid organizations working in the country, he has put at risk the lives of millions of people who depend on the basic services

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-27474719476295773672009-03-06T01:58:00.006Z2009-03-06T10:37:25.465Z

Though the protracted war in Northern Uganda languished for nearly two decades without any real acknowledgment beyond the country's borders, the original Invisible Children documentary and the campus movement it spawned can be credited as among the first large-scale efforts to bring more attention to the subject. Still, it's very much worth reading Chris Blattman's sage, but critical, perspective

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-77834642984885680752009-03-05T08:43:00.002Z2009-03-05T08:49:04.137Z

Yesterday, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir; Bashir is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, pillaging, and mass displacement. The much-anticipated announcement came after months of deliberations since the ICC's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, requested the indictment. The U.N. Security Council has the power

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-77769712124538172422009-02-15T01:54:00.005Z2009-02-15T02:46:34.091Z

Dr. Alison Des Forges, an expert on the Great Lakes, revered as both an academic and an activist, died Thursday night; she was among the 49 passengers and crew aboard the Continental Airlines flight that crashed outside Buffalo, New York.Des Forges was regarded as one of the foremost experts on Rwanda, Burundi, and DR Congo. A number of her colleagues have posted online their memories of her and

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-32553894318031717062009-02-12T22:44:00.003Z2009-02-12T23:02:06.150Z

I think Derek, over at Wicked Karibu, may have stumbled upon the next big Internet fad: celebrity sightings in Africa.Ben Affleck in Eastern DRC! (Time). Leonardo Di Caprio in Meru, Kenya! (Youtube)This will certainly make for a very conflicted George Clooney, for one. He's both an ardent detractor of celeb-spotting websites, as well as a very (willingly) visible advocate for more robust

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-38620933100610434882009-02-10T20:35:00.006Z2009-02-10T20:55:25.891Z

Last week I wrote about a controversy, highlighted by the New York Times, wherein IRI, an American democracy-promotion organization, is accused of concealing the results of an exit poll conducted during Kenya's 2007 presidential election. The poll showed Raila Odinga ahead of Mwai Kibaki, the ultimate winner, by a substantial margin—evidence, perhaps, that the vote was flawed.I just wanted to

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-63046545683419193822009-02-08T16:53:00.007Z2009-02-08T17:58:48.759Z

Tim McKeough has a piece in GOOD Magazine about a team of architects who have come up with plans for a low-cost, build-it-yourself house as part of Cape Town's Design Indaba conference. MMA, a South African firm, in its novel design, eschewed bricks and concrete in lieu of sandbags, an abundant, cheap resource that requires neither special technology nor expertise to utilize. The model has

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-16403701238882470652009-02-06T00:00:00.010Z2009-02-06T02:11:13.347Z

Evan Osnos has a good article (subscription only, unfortunately) in this week's New Yorker about an African immigrant community in Guangzhou, China. The locus of the community is a market, many of the immigrants acting as middlemen, buying goods from Chinese merchants and reselling them, often in their home countries. (About half the community is Nigerian, though many countries are represented;

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-66942485326814183562009-02-02T22:22:00.008Z2009-02-03T01:01:31.707Z

Muammar el-Qaddafi was elected to the one-year chairmanship of the African Union today. As with just about anything in which Qaddafi is involved, the event had a hint of the bizarre, as Qaddafi had 30 customary leaders from around Africa accompany him to the A.U. conference (though they weren't allowed in), so that they could anoint him "King of Kings."As Reuters reports, the keystone of

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-78006569328597488562009-01-31T16:02:00.011Z2009-02-01T12:09:25.061Z

A year ago, Kenya was in turmoil—a bastion of stability in a region better known for violence and anarchy had suddenly cracked. On December 27, Election Day, presidential challenger Raila Odinga seemed to have a healthy lead over incumbent Mwai Kibaki by a few hundred thousand votes; three days later, after a suspicious delay, when the chair of the Electoral Commission emerged from the vote count

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-75397124648677436472009-01-29T21:38:00.006Z2009-01-29T23:57:10.728Z

William Easterly, on his new blog Aid Watch, points to a particularly disturbing event being held at the World Economic Forum in Davos: a "refugee run," which invites participants to "experience life as a refugee in Davos!" Reading this prima facie, my interest is piqued, just because I can't even imagine what calamity occurred on those glistening, alpine slopes that would produce all these

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-9616168988788443282009-01-28T23:26:00.009Z2009-01-29T02:16:58.067Z

France will scale back its military presence in Africa, reports Emmanuel Georges-Picot, of the AP; this move entails the withdrawal of at least 1,000 of the 1,650 French soldiers stationed in Chad. According to Prime Minister Francois Fillon, the departing troops form part of the EUFOR contingent (the E.U. peacekeeping force, which is scheduled to be replaced by MINURCAT, the U.N. mission

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-75974006244497099412009-01-21T20:11:00.010Z2009-01-21T20:33:46.353Z

Over the past decade, U.S. companies have given substantially to African causes as part of their corporate responsibility efforts. So far, such programs are a surprising survivor of the economic downturn as businesses slash costs elsewhere. For instance Intel is continuing its $100 million a year commitment to education, which funds projects like the classroom depicted at right in Kibuye Village,

Lawrence Delevingnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00019062997779054232noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-78172290256029772082008-12-10T22:53:00.005Z2008-12-10T23:58:36.707Z

In recent weeks, we've posted a number of stories on this site about Africa's economic prospects in the light of the current global financial crisis. Lawrence posted a couple weeks ago about the seemingly bright prospects for small business on the continent, and, before that, about Africa's comparatively good stock market performance of late. Earlier, I had posted (and then followed up) that

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-12974290805190800022008-12-08T20:00:00.009Z2008-12-08T22:44:03.345Z

The fun part about Google blog alerts is you're never quite sure what's going to pop up—it can be pretty random. The other day, I got a link to FAO's GeoNetwork, a platform for sharing GIS maps and other geospatial data. For those of us who sort of wish we were scientists, or economists, or maybe water engineers—something useful and quantitative—we can at least find some solace in sites like

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-84995135242540598722008-12-07T23:16:00.008Z2008-12-07T23:26:57.303Z

George Packer, on his New Yorker blog, points readers to another nicely done video about the human side of the current turmoil in Eastern Congo—this one by MSF:

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-73871674822846411872008-12-06T21:31:00.005Z2008-12-06T23:38:09.851Z

Below is a video featuring some of WorldFocus's latest on-the-ground reporting in North Kivu, in Eastern Congo, where the ongoing fighting continues to wreak havoc. In many ways, in my view at least, the hallmark of Eastern Congo's conflicts, past and present, has been more mass disruption than mass destruction. An oft-quoted statistic, from a 2007 mortality survey published by the IRC, would

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-51083620121868312722008-11-25T02:08:00.011Z2008-11-25T02:41:25.542Z

As featured in BusinessWeek, Nov. 24 2008 Times are tough for small and midsize businesses. Around the world, consumer spending is down, loans are expensive, raw materials cost more than they did a few years ago, and investors are especially wary of taking chances on unproven enterprises. But for emerging businesses in Africa, the outlook is relatively bright. Entrepreneurs see big opportunities

Lawrence Delevingnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00019062997779054232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-28572422178026627392008-11-19T19:05:00.040Z2008-11-20T01:55:06.133Z

Often cited but little explored, the economic roots of conflict in eastern DR Congo are getting some attention in the mainstream press. Lydia Polgreen of the New York Times published this long account of how the tin ore used in laptops and other electronics funds fighting in the volatile region. Writing of the remote mining town of Bisie, Polgreen says:The exploitation of this mountain is

Lawrence Delevingnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00019062997779054232noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-50423143369135327252008-11-05T19:04:00.004Z2008-11-05T19:06:22.550Z

Almost without exception, stock markets have fallen this year as the global economy reels from ripples of the U.S. financial crisis. Year to date through Oct. 31, the U.S. S&P 500 is down 34.03%. and other benchmark indexes have followed suit as battered banks, plummeting property values, and shaken consumer confidence have caused widespread selling.Indeed, only three primary stock indexes are in

Lawrence Delevingnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00019062997779054232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-91085383168973118322008-10-29T23:16:00.018Z2008-10-30T00:29:47.734Z

Chris Blattman has a post on his blog about a paper he's working on, which has some fascinating insight into the relationship between child soldiering and the use of coercion among rebel groups. Drawing data from insurgencies in Uganda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Colombia, and relying particularly on a set of both qualitative and quantitative data from northern Uganda, Blattman shows a

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-7394327091890836452008-10-23T23:56:00.012+01:002008-10-25T21:03:04.420+01:00

By Lawrence Delevingne for BusinessWeek Five years ago, Africa didn't matter much to DynCorp International (DCP). The Falls Church (Va.) company had its hands full in Afghanistan and Iraq, where it recruited, trained, and supplied police. But with big new contracts in Liberia, Sudan, and Somalia—and lots of potential business elsewhere on the continent—DynCorp's interest in Africa is growing fast

Lawrence Delevingnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00019062997779054232noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-68105147216360384732008-10-21T00:17:00.005+01:002008-10-21T10:35:57.027+01:00

Lisa Shlein of VOA reports that the ICRC is trying to highlight the one-sided nature of reporting from Africa, particularly the media's singular focus on "war, famine, and poverty." Paul Conneally, a spokesman for the organization, says that a survey of 30 representatives of donor governments affirmed the view that Africa tends to be shortchanged in the news—indeed, 75% of stories about Africa

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-39931865965421522082008-10-18T02:11:00.006+01:002008-10-18T03:38:29.181+01:00

Anyone who has spent time in a city like Kampala knows what a headache poor roadways are—in town, potholes riddle the streets, some growing so large that they could literally swallow a whole car, causing one-, two-, three-hour-long jams as drivers fight for the small sliver of pavement remaining in a key intersection. Outside urban areas, things are worse: conditions can get so bad that, if you

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-57495856590178754382008-10-15T23:42:00.006+01:002008-10-16T00:22:12.388+01:00

David Roodman, at CGD, has some interesting data to add to the discussion about what effect will the current financial turmoil have on Africa.  I posted the other day that, as yet, African banks, specifically, seem largely removed from the chaos, as they were not highly involved in the mortgage-backed securities at the heart of the problem.  Still, I wrote, there might be a less direct impact, as

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-90764617706246778252008-10-14T00:08:00.004+01:002008-10-14T00:58:46.804+01:00

The Sudanese government announced today that it has arrested Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman, known as Ali Kushayb, a notorious leader of the janjaweed militia.  The International Criminal Court indicted Kushayb in 2007, for crimes against humanity, on the grounds that he "personally led attacks on civilians and ordered entire villages to be burned to the ground and the women in them raped,"

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-8073293836611651072008-10-11T19:41:00.005+01:002008-10-11T20:27:09.280+01:00

African Business reports that African banks have continued to consolidate growth and improve performance, despite the fallout in the larger finance sector, stemming from the sub-prime collapse in the West.  The total assets of the top 100 banks on the continent, according to the magazine's new rankings, grew 36% this year, to $856bn."The spill-over of the U.S. subprime debacle on African banks

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-5599808066109429892008-10-05T00:13:00.004+01:002008-10-05T00:49:33.644+01:00

The New Times in Kigali reports that a study just released by the Student Genocide Survivors Organization (Association Etudiants Réscapes du Génocide, or AERG) scoured the 390 memorial sites and other cemeteries across Rwanda, identifying 1,952,078 victims of the 1994 genocide.  This figure was broken down into 1,002,755 buried in official memorials, 851,756 in alternative places of burial, and

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-30157342912682414222008-10-04T21:04:00.005+01:002008-10-04T23:12:13.491+01:00

Google is asking for people's help throughout Africa by contributing information to its new initiative to map the continent.  Individuals can now use Map Maker in 45 new countries in Africa, in addition to six other African countries that were made available in August (leaving, by my count, only Egypt, Guinea, Mayotte, St. Helena, and South Africa without the feature—the first and last, at least,

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-35673337716077223572008-09-30T18:36:00.004+01:002008-09-30T22:50:58.431+01:00

Jeffrey Gettleman of the New York Times landed an interview with the pirates who highjacked a Ukrainian cargo ship off the coast of Somalia, which happened to be carrying $30 million worth of heavy arms.  On the phone call, the pirates sounded a subdued note.The pirates' spokesman, Sugule Ali, indicated they had no intention of using the weapons themselves or funneling them to insurgents on the

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-59644943547762005392008-09-30T00:13:00.006+01:002008-09-30T00:44:32.837+01:00

A new report by Amnesty International reveals that, despite an agreement in January by parties to the conflict to curb atrocities, the use of child soldiers and the abuse of women and children continue to be ubiquitous in North Kivu, Eastern Congo.The press release highlights that, of those former child soldiers who returned home as part of a national demobilization program, as many as half of

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-28570950761465450372008-09-09T14:54:00.003+01:002008-09-09T15:00:06.631+01:00

BusinessWeek has launched something called Business Exchange, an innovative, interactive news site that combines various social networking tools around focused topics. I've created one on business in Africa, which will hopefully become a useful aggregation of news, blogs and resources about investing in and on the continent.Here's the link: http://bx.businessweek.com/african-business

Lawrence Delevingnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00019062997779054232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-78084418648913421422008-06-03T01:22:00.007+01:002008-12-08T23:17:05.062Z

As featured by Inter Press Service In just a few months, the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) -- Washington's latest military oversight structure for the continent -- is expected to be fully operational.Streamlining the image of the command is proving every bit as demanding as putting personnel and equipment in place, however. Controversy has surrounded AFRICOM on both sides of the Atlantic

Lawrence Delevingnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00019062997779054232noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-9667800786843057692008-03-06T14:32:00.009Z2008-12-08T23:17:05.348Z

As featured in the Diplomatic CourierOn September 19, 1989, UTA Flight 772 exploded in mid-air over the Sahara, killing 170 people. The French-operated plane was flying from N’djamena, Chad to Paris, France when a suitcase bomb planted by Libyan agents caused the aircraft to crash into the Niger desert, killing all passengers and crew, including seven Americans. In

Lawrence Delevingnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00019062997779054232noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-27039941163558985252008-01-29T14:24:00.001Z2008-12-08T23:17:05.702Z

The situation in Kenya took a turn for the worse last night when opposition Orange Democratic Movement MP Mr. Mugabe Were was murdered. Mr. Were (right) was shot outside his home in Nairobi as he was returning home just after midnight. It is unclear if the murder was political or was related to a car jacking or robbery attempt. However, ODM supporters in Nairobi, specifically Mr. Were's Embakasi

Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02496137163211018678noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-57733849414638900772008-01-24T00:15:00.000Z2008-12-08T23:17:05.836Z

While DR Congo's last civil war technically ended in 2002, the country's eastern region remains on the cusp of conflict -- despite a peace accord signed today -- and Congolese across the country continue to die at an astounding pace: 45,000 a month, according to a new study from the International Rescue Committee.After two weeks of negotiations, three of four key factions have signed a peace

Lawrence Delevingnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00019062997779054232noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-9998383389945868882008-01-23T19:23:00.000Z2008-12-08T23:17:06.057Z

Kofi Annan arrived in Kenya yesterday as the latest delegate to attempt to mediate between sworn-in President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga. The stakes are high for Annan to succeed, but if neither side is ready for serious talks that may require concessions, Annan is unlikely to have any more success than the previous mediators who have come and gone in rapid succession. After

Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02496137163211018678noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-67549766952706696652008-01-16T07:14:00.000Z2008-01-16T08:22:58.622Z

Michela Wrong wrote yesterday in the Financial Times about the economic cost of Kenya’s post-election violence. Though there have been some signs of a return to normalcy—e.g., children returning to school, shops reopening, the election of a speaker in parliament—most of the country is bracing itself for further unrest, as mediator after mediator is turned away by the government, and as the

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-65365763286529365732008-01-15T18:21:00.000Z2008-01-16T13:30:44.277Z

After three rounds of voting, Kenneth Marende of the opposition Orange Democratic Movement was declared the new speaker of the Kenyan parliament. Marende defeated Francis Kaparo of PNU by a vote of 105 to 101. Farah Maalim, also of ODM, has been declared the deputy speaker.Perhaps the opposition victory will tone down the rallies planned for the rest of the week.In a preview of what may await

Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02496137163211018678noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-22326787891753749902008-01-15T14:28:00.000Z2008-12-08T23:17:06.298Z

Kenya's parliament opened today, despite the opposition's reservations that Mwai Kibaki's presidency is illegitimate does not have the authority to convene parliament. President Kibaki, who was declared the winner in last month's (rigged) presidential election, and his Party of National Unity (PNU) are facing a tough fight in parliament today over nominating the speaker and deputy speaker.

Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02496137163211018678noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-88232030410116929842008-01-12T14:29:00.000Z2008-01-12T16:14:49.636Z

In yesterday’s New York Times, Aidan Hartley, author of The Zanzibar Chest, writes in an op-ed of the violence unfolding in Laikipia, in central Kenya, due north of Nairobi. The conflict there, between the Pokot and Samburu tribes, isn’t new—these groups, like other Nilotic pastoralists throughout the region, including in Uganda and Sudan, have a history of reciprocal cattle raiding and

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-54301751563308928052007-10-25T14:02:00.000+01:002008-12-08T23:17:06.456Z

Renewed fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo's volatile eastern region threatens to plunge the country – and its neighbors – into a third regional conflict since 1997, tempering optimism from last year's historic elections.Despite the presence of United Nations peacekeepers, clashes between government forces and various armed groups have flared after a period of relative calm, displacing

Lawrence Delevingnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00019062997779054232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-73428282160568004132007-10-04T14:44:00.000+01:002008-12-08T23:17:06.659Z

Kibaki rejects corruption billWith presidential elections scheduled for mid-December, national politics are heating up in Kenya. The latest action involves President Mwai Kibaki’s attempts to distance himself from corruption. Last week, President Kibaki, who hopes to secure a second term in upcoming elections, vetoed a parliamentary bill aimed at limiting the power of the Kenyan Anti-Corruption

Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02496137163211018678noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-31463055793491359042007-09-12T16:39:00.001+01:002007-09-13T20:53:13.094+01:00

Renewed hope for peace after DR Congo's historic 2006 election is fading.Clashes in the long-troubled eastern region have caused fear of war for a country still weary from two conflicts between 1996 and 2003, which directly or indirectly killed almost four million people, an unprecedented number since World War II.Forces loyal to Laurent Nkunda, a Congolese Tutsi rebel leader operating in North

Lawrence Delevingnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00019062997779054232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-51832494773157209772007-09-05T15:48:00.000+01:002007-09-09T12:20:48.724+01:00

In Derek’s Sudan roundup last week he mentioned Alex de Waal and Julie Flint’s op-ed in the Washington Post about the changing (or already changed) situation in Darfur. They argue Darfur today much less intimates genocide than it does anarchy.An article in the New York Times last week echoed this view, as does a piece in the Economist today, which looks at the connection between the fragile peace

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-51931912394359744042007-09-02T06:29:00.000+01:002007-09-02T06:30:35.298+01:00

About four months ago, Nigeria held elections that Jendayi Frazer, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs called "seriously flawed and a great disappointment." However, Nigeria has Africa's biggest population, supplies 12 percent of American oil imports (our fourth biggest supplier), and is the second-largest importer of American wheat. It's also not terribly stable - Foreign Policy

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-42769581796897004902007-08-28T19:39:00.000+01:002007-08-28T20:28:57.365+01:00

Alex de Waal and Julie Flint have an op-ed in today's Washington Post arguing that the Darfur conflict should no longer be seen as a genocide but more as a case of anarchy, which the government manipulates and takes advantage of. De Waal and Flint have been among the voices urging Darfur activists to avoid making inflated claims about the conflict's violence and demanding radical solutions - such

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-2152740393748228112007-08-20T09:10:00.000+01:002007-08-20T09:39:25.573+01:00

The LA Times' Edmund Sanders looks at the oil-fueled development boom in Khartoum. Despite US sanctions, Khartoum's economy keeps racing, with projected 13 percent growth this year. Sanders also describes the growing disparity between those that are riding wave of oil money and those that have missed it. Reuters also looks at Sudan's prospects for joining the East Africa telecoms boom. Meanwhile:

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-35411778887819506062007-08-14T13:47:00.000+01:002007-08-14T14:17:29.207+01:00

Edmund Sanders of the L.A. Times provides a helpful examination of the recent influx of Arabs from Chad and other parts of northern Africa into areas of Darfur that residents have fled due to fighting, in what many observers believe is a deliberate attempt by Khartoum to "Arabize" the region. Among others, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement - the former rebels who are now leading the

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-53866143354593762382007-08-09T08:56:00.000+01:002007-08-09T10:34:48.142+01:00

Back after a few weeks hiatus...The big news is that the UN Security Council passed a resolution authorizing a peacekeeping force of up to 26,000 for Darfur. The resolution was passed under Chapter VII, which allows the use of force, and is scheduled to begin by October - though don't expect much before the end of the year. So far five African countries have pledged troops - Burkina Faso,

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-5092855906688268732007-08-06T17:21:00.000+01:002007-08-06T20:35:28.966+01:00

Continuing a trend of increasing connectivity in Africa, the IFC announced a $32 million investment to bolster Internet and telecommunications south of the Sahara. The East African Submarine Cable System is to link 21 countries by 2009.Such an investment confirms the trend that communications technologies, long stagnant in Africa, have exploded over the past decade. The Continent, once overlooked

Lawrence Delevingnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00019062997779054232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-44821145572256367242007-07-27T15:56:00.000+01:002007-07-27T16:19:25.404+01:00

In a recent article for the Center for American Progress, Rebecca Schultz writes about the drain on African economies from importing oil—so significant that it may be offsetting the gains of the World Bank’s Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. The world’s rising oil prices pose a particularly serious threat to Africa’s urban working classes, the cornerstones of countries’

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-77336630124455188152007-07-14T14:59:00.000+01:002007-07-14T15:08:32.400+01:00

Not to beat a dead horse, but Bill Easterly had an interesting op-ed in the L.A. Times last week about celebrity advocacy on Africa. Easterly’s central point is that efforts like Vanity Fair’s Africa issue tend to paint a much darker picture of the continent than it deserves, and they tend to gloss over many of the more positive stories.*Easterly lends an economist’s perspective to the issue,

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-36651714957351056472007-07-13T08:35:00.001+01:002007-07-13T10:57:47.787+01:00

In his New York Times column on Monday, Nicholas Kristof returns to the topic of Darfur, describing Khartoum's campaign to change the demographics of Darfur by encouraging Arabs from other African countries to settle in areas where non-Arabs have been driven out, and criticizing Bush for not putting enough pressure on Khartoum by, say, delivering a prime-time speech on the subject. He also

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-30073922369945458942007-07-05T15:05:00.000+01:002008-12-08T23:17:07.062Z

Although the situation in Mogadishu has been relatively calm compared with the violence that plagued the city throughout the spring, stability in Somalia remains tenuous. The Somali National Reconciliation Congress (NRC) was due to take place in Mogadishu on July 16, but the congress is likely to be postponed again. The NRC ambitiously hopes to reconcile the clans, a necessary step for

Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02496137163211018678noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-41355842833805760232007-07-05T07:45:00.000+01:002007-07-06T08:26:18.785+01:00

After a series of articles "long on gloom and suffering", from his take-a-student-to-Africa trip, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof turns to a story of hope: Rwanda. Kristof gushes about how the cops pull over drivers to tell them to fasten their seat belts instead of to ask for bribes, and about how President Paul Kagame reads the Harvard Business Review. This is fine, Rwanda's

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-76718347162735549622007-06-26T17:44:00.001+01:002007-06-26T18:25:22.510+01:00

Vanity Fair's new issue devoted to Africa, which Lawrence, wrote about below, has received a fair bit of attention. I thought a couple of reactions were worth linking to here. The first is from a blog by Ethan Zuckerman, a research fellow at Harvard Law's Berkman Center. He makes the point, among others, that for an issue that claims to be highlighting the achievements of "71 Africans who are

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-82218637669841056292007-06-26T15:43:00.000+01:002007-06-26T17:43:46.051+01:00

Danna Harman's piece in today's Christian Science Monitor has two parts. The part referred to in the headline is an interesting story - though one that's been told a lot recently - of China's role in propping up the Sudan regime and its modest but growing diplomatic efforts on Darfur. The article opens, however, with a perhaps more fascinating story, but one that hasn't gotten anything like the

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-91487059818842902252007-06-21T17:29:00.000+01:002007-06-21T18:39:40.180+01:00

The big news is that Sudan announced that it would accept a UN-AU hybrid peacekeeping force of around 20,000. Maybe. It's not clear how big of a role Khartoum will allow for non-African troops or UN command. The U.S. in particular has expressed concern - you can read a State Department statement here.Despite the tough talk, the U.S. is still $1 billion short on its contributions to UN

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-9733390817739570282007-06-20T20:32:00.000+01:002008-12-08T23:17:07.230Z

In an interview commemorating World Refugee Day today, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Antonio Guterres, warned that conditions for asylum seekers worldwide have worsened due to changes in immigration policies accompanying the War on Terror. Mr. Guterres noted that western countries’ policies, which are meant to keep out terrorists, often keep out people who are

Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02496137163211018678noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-22802423260839730922007-06-12T14:56:00.000+01:002007-06-12T21:00:12.505+01:00

The cozy relationship between Washington and Khartoum on counter-terrorism finally seems to be coming under some scrutiny. The L.A. Times reports on how Sudan has cooperated with the U.S. in providing intelligence on the insurgency in Iraq. But while most observers think the new U.S. sanctions won't do too much to harm Sudan's booming economy, some financial analysts are saying that Khartoum

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-18976480949758920412007-06-11T16:21:00.000+01:002007-06-11T16:26:58.848+01:00

Some days ago, three new names appeared under the ‘Contributors’ heading just to the right of here. And you may have even noticed unfamiliar bylines turning up beneath some recent posts. Today, though, we’d like to officially welcome the three new contributors to Africa Matters. Please allow us to introduce Julia, Lawrence, and Shelby:Shelby is a graduate of Emory University in Atlanta. She

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-60480773400613734662007-06-11T10:20:00.000+01:002008-12-08T23:17:07.679Z

An explosion in downtown Nairobi at about 8:15 am has left one dead and 31 injured, six critically.Local media are reporting that the blast, which occurred next to the City Gate restaurant and the Ambassadeur Hotel in the city center, was an attempted suicide bombing, although this is not confirmed. The Ambassaseur Hotel is mostly frequented by Africans, and is located at a busy intersection

Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02496137163211018678noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-3094486347723673422007-06-07T08:02:00.000+01:002007-06-07T08:30:51.601+01:00

The UN and AU have reportedly reached agreement on moving forward with a 23,000 strong peacekeeping force, though the bodies haven't yet given their formal approval. Abdul Mohammed, an Ethiopian working for the Darfur Darfur Dialogue, says the AU isn't getting the credit it deserves for its work in Darfur.France's proposal for a humanitarian corridor through Chad, protected by Western troops,

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-34328513418555848962007-06-07T04:21:00.000+01:002008-12-08T23:17:07.829Z

Senegal, often lauded as a model for West African democracy, has faced several setbacks since Abdoulaye Wade was reelected President in February. Last week’s National Assembly elections were boycotted by the main opposition parties, leading to a sweep for the ruling Sopi Coalition. Voters stayed home in protest of irregularities in the presidential election and Wade’s failure to deliver on

Lawrence Delevingnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00019062997779054232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-9347947182051783772007-06-04T13:54:00.000+01:002007-06-06T06:32:39.982+01:00

The big story on Darfur this week has been the Bush Administration's announcement of new sanctions on Khartoum, which Aaron and Lawrence have already mentioned here. The State Department's John Negroponte outlined the five things the US is trying to get Khartoum to do: 1) Stop bombing; 2) accept the UN-AU hybrid peace force; 3) cooperate on the peace process; 4) provide more space for

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-78145901085993398302007-06-03T09:29:00.000+01:002007-06-03T10:38:49.292+01:00

A piece in this weekend’s Economist examines Tony Blair’s legacy with regard to Africa. Politically, Africa has been good for Blair, but how good has he been for Africa? This past week, in the waning days of his tenure as prime minister, Blair took a tour of the continent—to Libya, Sierra Leone, and South Africa—“in an attempt, perhaps, to remind people that there is more to his legacy than

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-91987598373292653492007-06-01T05:08:00.000+01:002008-12-08T23:17:08.015Z

President Bush’s announcement of increased pressure on the Khartoum regime – “Plan B” – provoked a wide range of responses. On one end of the spectrum was John Ukec Lueth Ukec, the Sudanese ambassador to Washington. His farce of a news conference at the National Press Club Wednesday became an hour-long rant in which he described a situation in Darfur that “bore no relation to reality,” as the

Lawrence Delevingnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00019062997779054232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-61100859166603509622007-05-29T15:56:00.000+01:002007-05-29T16:37:19.294+01:00

Finally putting some meat on the bones of all of the threatening rhetoric on Darfur, President Bush announced today new, tougher sanctions against Sudan. The action entails stricter enforcement of existing sanctions on roughly 100 Sudanese companies, along with the addition of sanctions targeted at individuals, such as government officials and rebel leaders, and at 31 more businesses, 30 of

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-17020747246966620692007-05-28T15:43:00.000+01:002007-06-02T11:27:05.089+01:00

In February, the White house announced the creation of the Defense Department Africa Command to promote security and stability in the region. AFRICOM, set to begin operations in October, has raised concerns about the militarization of U.S. foreign policy from critics both inside and outside the government. While President Bush’s announcement indicated a balance of hard and soft power, such as

Lawrence Delevingnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00019062997779054232noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-43021252318893742112007-05-23T11:15:00.000+01:002007-05-23T14:17:19.080+01:00

The ENOUGH campaign - a collaboration between the International Crisis Group (ICG) and the Center for American Progress - has a new report entitled A Plan B with Teeth for Darfur. As with previous ICG documents, the report urges the United States and the West to impose some tangible costs on the Khartoum regime: "If there is a Guinness Book of World Records entry for most threats issued with no

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-21219126833817669272007-05-16T04:37:00.000+01:002007-05-16T05:00:53.169+01:00

Harpers Magazine seems to be upping its Africa content recently. The June issue contains two-and-a-half pieces on Africa (the half being a mystifying parable taken from a UN AIDS Program document). The May issue also included two Africa features. Victoria Schleisinger wrote a cutting review of the repeated mistakes of foreign aid to Africa called, “The Continuation of Poverty”, and Yohannes

Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02496137163211018678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-45936546568459292162007-05-10T13:31:00.000+01:002007-05-10T14:32:41.627+01:00

According to the 2006 State Department terrorism report, released last week, "the Sudanese government was a strong partner in the War on Terror and aggressively pursued terrorist operations directly involving threats to U.S. interests and personnel in Sudan." This is one of the main reasons that, despite all the huffing and puffing, the Bush Administration still hasn't imposed any serious costs

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-55634218634240506782007-05-07T20:20:00.000+01:002007-05-07T21:12:13.410+01:00

Time Magazine’s 2007 list of the world’s 100 most influential individuals features six Africans—included for noteworthy beneficence, outrageous infamy, and much in between. The African influence is seen in business, music, religion, politics (and war), and science. Of course, that only six out of 100 people on the list come from Africa is a testament to the faint attention paid to African

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-75460350204546287472007-05-06T10:36:00.000+01:002007-05-06T11:40:43.560+01:00

There's been a whole lot of to-do over Darfur in the past week and a half.PEACEKEEPING MISSION: US Darfur envoy Andrew Natsios said that “there’s enough international pressure now and enough support from allies” to encourage Sudan to accept a large peacekeeping force. However, the UN is still working on putting together the 3,000-strong support package for the AU mission, which is all Khartoum

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-86214985494401134852007-04-26T20:15:00.000+01:002007-04-26T21:03:08.668+01:00

In the May/June issue of Foreign Affairs, Nicolas van de Walle reviews three new books on the AIDS crisis in Africa—one by John Iliffe, one by Alex de Waal, and one by Amy S. Patterson. Van de Walle sings the praises of all three books, and notes their surprisingly—and unfortunately—uncommon focus on the sociological and political effects of AIDS on the continent that gave birth to the disease

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-70510644464122618692007-04-24T20:44:00.000+01:002007-04-24T21:34:23.296+01:00

This week, Ken Silverstein, in his "Washington Babylon" blog for Harper's, interviews Nicholas Shaxson, Africa-based journalist and author of "Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African Oil." The two discussed Africa's oil curse.The story of the "resource curse" as it pertains to African oil is not a new one. And, as with "blood diamonds," the public has picked up on the tragic truth that

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-21552387500836927432007-04-24T13:29:00.000+01:002007-04-24T13:53:22.536+01:00

US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, upon his return from Sudan, accused the government of a "deliberate campaign of intimidation" against aid efforts. Several international NGOs have suspended operations around the town of Um Ukhum due to increasing violence.US Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization, Kristen Silverberg, is traveling to South Africa to try to drum up

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-24473314029884987092007-04-21T20:03:00.000+01:002007-04-21T21:08:03.053+01:00

UN SUPPORT PACKAGE: Sudan has agreed to the deployment of a UN support package for the AU peacekeeping mission, including 3,000 personnel and attack helicopters. Although UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon says he's optimistic about the deal, many Western diplomats are treating it with caution. US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte called the deal "important", but urged Khartoum to accept

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-25202234208347307042007-04-19T23:45:00.000+01:002007-04-20T01:08:25.580+01:00

If you meant to send in your application for Nicholas Kristof's second annual "Win a Trip" contest—sorry, you missed your chance. The contest (the deadline for which was April 6) offers the lucky winners—an American student and, this year, a teacher too—the opportunity to travel with Kristof and report alongside him from a "bedbug-infested mattress in a malarial jungle as hungry jackals yelp

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-84153359246603463792007-04-13T10:36:00.000+01:002007-04-13T21:34:49.326+01:00

The New York Times takes an optimistic look at the efforts of Mia Farrow, Steven Spielberg, and others to pressure China to pressure Sudan on Darfur. Maybe now China will finally join the US and Europe in telling Khartoum to stop acting up without actually imposing any costs. For example, a China Daily editorial today urges Sudan to resolve the crisis, but argues that the root cause of the

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-78081534751985493132007-04-12T20:19:00.000+01:002007-04-14T17:51:05.644+01:00

NOTE: Starting today, I will be providing a somewhat daily roundup of news on the Darfur conflict and the hot air blowing around it.A group of Rwandan AU troops was attacked on Tuesday, with one killed. Seventeen AU troops have now been killed since the mission deployed in 2004, 7 of them in the past month. Aid workers have stopped traveling with AU convoys for fear of being targeted.China’s

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-61371668161429048672007-04-11T22:56:00.000+01:002008-12-08T23:17:08.884Z

An estimated 7,040 people live in the Mbeubeuss arrondissement of Pikine Département in Malika-Mer, just north of Dakar, Senegal. The residents of Mbuebuess build shelters out of trash and survive by scavenging for their food and shelter. Why? Because these 7000 people are living in a landfill. Mbeubeuss is the only landfill serving the greater Dakar region. It receives 460,000 tons of waste per

Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02496137163211018678noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-11603610649231745212007-04-07T18:24:00.000+01:002007-04-07T22:38:07.335+01:00

In its most open elections since independence, Mauritania chose Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi as president. Abdallahi is a serious and reserved French-educated economist. While generally well-respected, he may not mark too radical a change from the past. He served as a minister under the former Ould Taya dictatorship and had the support of the coalition that had backed that regime. He also had the

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-21561224983400763782007-04-04T19:52:00.000+01:002008-12-08T23:17:09.141Z

Looking at recent pictures of Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, you can see the nastiness of the political situation in Zimbabwe. President Robert Mugabe’s security forces arrested Mr. Tsvangirai on charges of illegal protest late last month and nearly beat him to death.Tsvangiari, the former trade unionist leader and head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was arrested

Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02496137163211018678noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-29753876628917086122007-03-30T07:19:00.000+01:002007-04-14T17:51:49.154+01:00

In the current issue of the London Review of Books, Gerard Prunier responds to Mahmood Mamdani's earlier LRB article on Darfur, which Aaron discussed here. Prunier finds fault in Mamdani's comparison between the conflict in Darfur and those in Iraq and DRC. The counterinsurgency in Iraq, for example, is organized by a foreign power and "whatever one thinks of US policy in Iraq it has no

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-39146298769101556832007-03-29T22:40:00.000+01:002007-04-14T17:52:13.127+01:00

A fascinating article by Craig Timberg in today’s Washington Post traces the history of Uganda’s fight against HIV/AIDS and laments what seems to be a downturn, of late, in the exemplary success of its programs. Uganda has been unique among African countries in its efforts to combat the spread of this devastating virus—not just for the remarkable decline in infection rates, but also, Timberg

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-13458333329013327022007-03-28T17:51:00.000+01:002007-04-14T17:52:28.920+01:00

Last year’s elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo marked an end, nominally at least, to nearly half a century of autocracy and instability. Not since Patrice Lumumba was appointed prime minister and Joseph Kasavubu elected president had this country held free elections. But Joseph Kabila’s runoff victory over Jean-Pierre Bemba last summer presumably restored stability after decades

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-1744410509690307002007-03-27T06:30:00.001+01:002007-03-31T04:30:26.599+01:00

Egypt held a referendum yesterday on 34 constitutional amendments. The changes, approved by the parliament last week, are ostensibly democratic reforms, but Amnesty International has labeled them "the most serious undermining of human rights safeguards in Egypt" since 1981, when a State of Emergency was declared following President Anwar Sadat's assassination.Under the changes, police would have

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-91883444239886775472007-03-23T04:15:00.000Z2007-04-14T17:52:54.318+01:00

Tristan McConnell of The Christian Science Monitor reports this week on a group of 103 peacekeepers in Liberia—out of a total of 15,000 troops there—who are part of something groundbreaking: these Indian women constitute the U.N.’s first all-female peacekeeping force. Stationed in the country since January, this contingent represents a novel new approach for UNMIL and the U.N.’s 15 other ongoing

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-21099308619862536932007-03-22T19:10:00.000Z2007-04-14T17:53:07.670+01:00

Though overshadowed by the vote in neighboring Nigeria next month, Benin's parliamentary elections are on Sunday. President Thomas Boni Yayi, a former head of the West African Development Bank, was elected last year on a pledge to fight corruption. His predecessor, Mathieu Kerekou was barred from running due to term and age limits. Kerekou took power in 1972, after 12 years of frequent coups

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-65875874564966491272007-03-20T03:57:00.000Z2007-03-20T07:20:34.980Z

Last week I wrote about Nicholas Kristof’s plea for more decisive action with regard to Darfur and Gérard Prunier’s (Africanist at CNRS in France) in-depth analysis of the conflict there. Also, in the comments, I appended some thoughts from an article in The Nation by Alex de Waal (fellow with Harvard’s Global Equity Initiative) on the relationship between Southern Sudan and Darfur to its west.

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-65403493327578687862007-03-17T07:19:00.000Z2007-04-14T17:53:41.906+01:00

Malaria sucks. The disease kills 3,000 children every day. Of the 350 million people who contract Malaria each year, 90 percent live in Africa. International organizations are rallying around campaigns to fight the disease, such as Roll Back Malaria (RBM). But with infection rates increasing in Africa, malaria keeps on rolling.The World Health Organization, in conjunction with the UNICEF,

Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02496137163211018678noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-42811088167019506772007-03-14T03:20:00.000Z2007-03-15T04:52:04.939Z

In his column in today’s New York Times, Nicholas Kristof writes that, despite already harboring a genocide, the situation in Darfur, Sudan, threatens to deteriorate further. The conflict has so far taken the lives of some 400,000 people and displaced two million more, and the spillover has drawn into the fighting neighboring Chad and Central African Republic. The question, of course, is what

Aaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15801933375881321607noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-35986031253588525722007-03-12T05:07:00.000Z2007-04-14T17:54:01.301+01:00

Mauritania held Presidential elections yesterday. The country, a former French colony, is currently under the control of a military junta led by Col. Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, who took power in a palace coup in August 2005, vowing to return the country to democracy. The man he deposed, Maaoya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya, took control in a coup in 1984. While Taya formally introduced multiparty democracy in

Wicked Karibuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08656856416397300514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2879330357821280757.post-85758166325673761982007-03-05T05:03:00.000Z2007-04-14T17:54:25.636+01:00

Senegal’s Minister of Maritime Economy, Djibo Leïty Ka, returned to Senegal last week after a second round of fishing rights talks with the EU failed. The recent breakdown was due to a controversy over EU deep-sea fishing licenses.There is immense potential for Senegal and neighboring countries to prosper from exporting fish to Europe, but the Europeans are doing all the fishing themselves.Since

Caitlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02496137163211018678noreply@blogger.com1