Africa’s Continental Criminal Court Can No Longer Wait!

By Chidi Odinkalu

Less than a decade ago, the detention centre of the International Criminal Court, ICC, in Scheveningen on the outskirts of The Hague could easily have been mistaken for a committee meeting of leaders of the African Union. One of its long-term guests was Laurent Gbagbo, a former president of Côte d’Ivoire. From neighbouring Liberia, Gbagbo’s contemporary, Charles Taylor, kept up a punishing schedule on the tennis courts of the facility. With them there also was former Vice-President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC, Jean-Pierre Bemba. 

African ‘Democrats’ Strangulating Continent’s Democracy

 By Olusegun Samuel

I am using the word ‘democrats’ in a guided manner in this article because our so-called democrats got elected, though some of them have spent decades in power and are all through constitutional means.

*Buhari and Museveni

With the current situation in Nigeria, some parts of Africa and the rest of the world, a strong central government might not necessarily be the solution. Neither do we need a powerful, all-knowing ‘monarchical’ ruler to oversee the affairs of a nation. This is certainly the scenario we find ourselves in Nigeria- my native country- despite being in a so-called democratic government.

Nigeria: Where is the 2014 Confab Report?

 By Dan Amor

In Culture And Anarchy, Matthew Arnold, one of the greatest social and literary critics in nineteenth century England, employs a delicate and stringent irony in an examination of the society of his time: a rapidly expanding industrial society, just beginning to accustom itself to the changes in its institutions that the pace of its own development called for. 

*Jonathan 

Coming virtually at the end of the decade (1868) and immediately prior to W.E. Forster’s Education Act, Culture And Anarchy phrases with a particular cogency the problems that find their centre in the questions: what kind of life do we think individuals in mass societies should be assisted to lead? How may we best ensure that the quality of their living is not impoverished? In this little book of about 238 pages, Arnold applies himself to the details of his time: to the Reform agitation, to the commercial values that working people were encouraged to respect, and to the limitations of even the best rationalist intelligence. 

Nigeria, Xenophobia and Afrocentricism

By DAN AMOR

In 2005, a new diplomatic law was introduced in South Africa which compelled travelers from Nigeria and a few other countries, to meet certain transit visa requirements before stepping into that country. Those other countries include Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Bangladesh and Sierra Leone. Other countries affected by the law were India, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Somalia, China, Russia, Ukraine, Pakistan and Kenya. Principally, the anti-visitor law was targeting Nigeria. This shows that xenophobia is an official state policy of the South African government. There is indeed nothing wrong with the idea of an independent country choosing who her visitors should be and who should not.

Yet, it is not only a diplomatic shortsightedness but also a demonstration of chronic ingratitude for South Africa not to recognize her benefactors. It also shows, to a large extent, the limpid docility in the mindset of those at the commanding height of that country's diplomacy.

Parable Of The Self-Appointed Messiah

By Chris Nonyelum

The President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Namibia, Retired General Mamodu Basiri sat in his palatial office ruminating over the events of the past three and half years since he assumed the mantle of leadership of the Namibian nation as a democratically elected civilian despot. The tides of reckoning were moving too fast, and his country men and women were subjecting him to certain ‘uncharitable’ assessments of his stewardship. Too much had been said and written about his messianic mission for his beloved country. 

He had mounted the saddle of leadership with the promise to clean the Augean stables and set his country men and women on the part of economic rediscovery and glory. But the burden of leadership has overstretched his sanity almost to breaking point. He was no longer sure how effective his sense of rational judgment was. One thing though, was very clear to him. He has failed woefully in his much touted messianic mission. But he was determined to cling to power at all costs. 

Is Africa Ready To Educate Every Child?

By  Joel Savage

Third World Countries are plagued by crisis. Among the most critical is poverty, which has taken hundreds of children out of the classroom. Children are the world’s greatest resource, future leaders, and assets to national development, thus; it is, therefore the right of every child to be educated; unfortunately, worldwide many children aren’t aware of what education is, instead, serving in fields under child labour or as child soldiers in wars.

As a child growing up in Africa, I find myself in an environment witnessing how many parents struggle to educate their children. Every weekend, I go hawking as a trader with banana, eggs, and bread, just to make some extra money to help my parents to keep me in the classroom.

Africa Still Needs Strong Men

By Paul Ojenagbon

Former United States President, Barrack Obama, famously made a statement that Africa did not need strong men but strong institutions. Like many, I had swallowed the import of this message until prevailing circumstances compelled me to see reason on the flip side. On the contrary, the continent needs both strong men and strong institutions because it takes strong men to build strong institutions that would endure in their own spheres of influence.

The general perception of many is that strong men in power denotes negativity but the experience in other climes that had similar situations and challenges as Africa showed that the emergence of such super strong men was the turning point in the history of their countries. Strong men can be positive too, it depends on how they are skewed; the negative image of the strong men who dominated Africa the African political landscape negatively for a long time would make many perceive and dismiss them as evil.

Nigeria, Xenophobia And Afrocentricism

By Dan Amor

In 2005, a new diplomatic law was introduced in South Africa which compelled travelers from Nigeria and a few other countries to meet certain transit visa requirements before stepping into that country. Those other countries include Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Bangladesh and Sierra Leone. Other countries affected by the law were India, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Somalia, China, Russia, Ukraine, Pakistan and Kenya. Principally, the anti-visitor law was targeting Nigeria. This shows that xenophobia is an official state policy of the South African government.

 

*Zuma and Buhari

There is indeed nothing wrong with the idea of an independent country choosing who her visitors should be and who should not. Yet, it is not only a diplomatic shortsightedness but also a demonstration of chronic ingratitude for South Africa not to recognize her benefactors. It also shows, to a large extent, the limpid docility in the mindset of those at the commanding height of that country's diplomacy. Even when one can safely argue that the prolonged period of apartheid in South Africa virtually turned black natives of that country to psychopaths, it is a terrible malaise for black South Africans not to remember those who fought relentlessly for their freedom.

Of course, there is so much to say in the justification for the proclaimed Afrocentric foreign policy thrust of Nigeria. With about 180 million people, Nigeria's population is more than double of that of Egypt - the second most populous country in Africa; twenty-five times that of Benin Republic and thirty-five times that of Togo. This demographic edge is matched by comparatively high economic endowments, with Nigeria being, for instance, the sixth largest exporter of crude in the world. In terms of human capital development, there is no country in Africa that churns out the magnitude of graduates from institutions of higher learning like Nigeria.

It is, perhaps, in realization of this that the country has played a crucial role on the African political stage. For example, Nigeria helped in no small measure in dismantling apartheid in South Africa thereby earning the sobriquet of "a distant frontline state" during the struggle against white minority rule in the entire Southern Africa. She also played a decisive role in the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which metamorphosed into the African Union (AU) recently, and later the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) of which she continues to be a central player. More recently, Nigeria was the chief architect of the ECOMOG, the military wing of ECOWAS, which has successfully checked military aggression in some countries in the West African sub-region, notably, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

On The Gambia, Africa Is Late

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

It is far from convincing that Yahya Jammeh changed his mind over the Gambian presidential poll in protest against a flawed electoral process with unresolved posers over some alleged missing votes. Even if some votes were really not accounted for, it is clear by now that Jammeh is only looking for an excuse not to hand over to the winner of the presidential election. Since the reason for Jammeh’s rejection of the poll’s result he earlier accepted cannot pass muster, he has given room to an exploration of the various possibilities that could have influenced his decision. 

*Jammeh and Obama

How about considering the possibility that it was a single call from Robert Mugabe, that veteran of sit-tightism of African politics, that made Jammeh to change his mind ? For Jammeh’s easily giving up would make Mugabe to feel that he is losing members of his league of crass tyrants. Again, consider this: Mugabe might have strongly rebuked Jammeh for not coming to him to rejuvenate his strategies of remaining in power. For it is clear that Jammeh’s strategies are outdated and that was why he lost the election to opposition candidate Adama Barrow.

Clearly, as long as sit-tight despots like Mugabe still hold sway in Africa, they would remain as sources of inspiration to other leaders who are tempted to manipulate elections to remain in power. This is the overarching challenge that African leaders must resolve to stabilise democracy on the continent. This goes far beyond the fatuous approach being adopted by African leaders now to persuade Jammeh to step down. African states must ensure stable institutions that would make democracy to flourish. The notion that some leaders have done so well and therefore they need more time to solidify their achievements must be discouraged. It is when African leaders want to pervert their state constitutions and prolong their stay in power that they use their stooges to emote about the sovereignty of their countries and the unimpeachable need of the West not dictating to them how to run their own governments. Yet, it is the same countries with perverted democratic systems that are bogged down by sit-tight leaders that would run to the West to seek help for the development of their countries.

It was this notion of incumbent African leaders’ indispensability to the survival of their nations that once seduced former President Olusegun Obasanjo into seeking a third term in office. He deployed financial resources and people to amend the constitution to accommodate his whimsical ambition. He was distracted from real governance to improve the lot of the citizens. And he would have had his way but for a wary citizenry and patriotic lawmakers who rebuffed him despite allegedly taking his humongous bribes. It is this notion that has also made Paul Kagame to seek another term to remain in power in Rwanda after already spending two terms of 17 years in office. He claimed that the people have allowed him through a referendum to continue in power. With this so-called endorsement by the people, Kagame would now begin a third term of seven years from 2017. After this he is entitled to another two five-year terms to remain in power till 2034 or probably for life as he wishes.

Former Nigerian President Jonathan Leads AU Elections Observation Mission To Zambia

Press Release 

Following an invitation by the Government of the Republic of Zambia, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, has deployed an African Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM) to the Republic Zambia from 1 – 15 August in order to observe the General Elections scheduled for Sunday 11 August 2016. The objective of the AUEOM is: to make an independent, objective and impartial assessment of the 2016 General Elections; to offer recommendations for improvement of future elections; and to demonstrate AU’s interest in support for Zambia’s elections and democratization process and to ensure that the conduct of genuine elections will contribute to the consolidation of democratic governance, peace and stability in the country.

*Goodluck Jonathan

The AUEOM follows a Pre-Election Assessment Mission by the African Union which visited Zambia from 8 – 17 May 2016 to assess the pre-election environment in the country.

The Mission is led by H.E. GOODLUCK JONATHAN, former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and comprises 45 Short Term Observers (STOs) and 10 Long Term Observers (LTOs). The Mission includes high profile personalities and experts drawn from the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), African Ambassadors to the AU in Addis Ababa, Election Management Bodies and Civil Society Organizations from various African countries. The Mission is supported by technical staff from the African Union, PAP and the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA).

The AUEOM has a mandate to observe the 11 August 2016 General Elections in conformity with the relevant provisions of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, which entered into force on 15 February 2012. The Charter is intended to enhance electoral processes in Africa, strengthen electoral institutions and the conduct of fair, free, and transparent elections. The AUEOM’s mandate is further strengthened by the AU/OAU Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa (AHG/Decl.1 (XXXVIII)), adopted by the Assembly of the African Union in July 2002; the African Union Guidelines for Elections Observation and Monitoring Missions; the African Peer Review Mechanism; relevant international instruments governing elections observation; and the Constitution as well as the laws of the Republic of Zambia.

Why Africa’s Industrialization Is Still A Mirage

By James Shikwati

It is time Africans identified the difference between market seeking industries and intrinsic industrialization. When international food, beverage, motor vehicle and information technology companies set foot on African soil, they do so to access domestic markets. Such initiatives do not necessarily lead to industrialization.
To industrialize, Africa must invest in growing its own productivity character, a form of “African capitalism.” Productivity character requires that Africans patiently study what drives Western and Asiatic industrial powerhouses such as Japan and China. What type of individual and societal habits do these industrial centers exhibit? The Japanese are nurtured to focus on personal reflection and how one connects to the entire society. Amongst the Chinese, man is at the center of all things as long as he is balanced with the universe. The West is driven by the notion of the “original sin” that prompts man to seek to redeem oneself.

Sub-Saharan Africa exhibits a strong sense of extractive entitlement to ethnic and extended family networks. The safety or security provided in ethnicity blunts the thirst of individuals to surface innovation and industry. Safety in extractive entitlement is analogous celebrating the ownership of a big piece of family land but waiting for someone else to develop it. Progress is slow for those who merely celebrate ownership of physical, human and intellectual resources and stop at that.

Can the attitude of the continents’ urbanized folks who are always quick to transform challenges to opportunities evolve “African capitalism?” It is easier to blame thriving industrial centers that thwart the ability of others to surface in order to protect their domestic producers.

Africa has no excuse but learn from China, Japan and other Asian Tigers that have successfully navigated Western roadblocks to industrialize. The continent should adopt the urbanized mindset and forge carefully calculated steps that will lead to rapid modernization by studying the systems of successful economies. This quest should urgently replace the political electoral cycle that is driven by short term focus. Long term strategies should exploit the current dominance by Anglo-American industrial initiatives and the USD $ 10 billion China-Africa Industrial Capacity Cooperation Fund. The West and Asiatic characteristics will not by themselves set Africans on the path of industrialization.

Africa’s industrialization dream is held back internally by the lack of a competitive “African character.” Imagine if the continent’s 1.2 billion people reversed their sense of extractive entitlement to the over 2,000 ethnic groups and encouraged individual productive obligation to the numerous challenges facing thousands of ethnic groups! The continent would become a bubble chamber of innovations that address ethnic and by extension global challenges.

Africa: Epitaphs For A Failing

By Dan Amor

Africa, my beloved continent, appears to have lost out in the world's debate. Aside from the achievements of its founding fathers, the continent which habours the largest population of the black race in the world has almost gone comatose politically and economically. Africa is indeed the only continent in the world in which it takes a fortune teller for its leaders (looters) to realize that something is really lacking in their character.

The black continent has been reduced to a guinea-pig laboratory in which wanton denigration of corrosive state power has been carried out in its unspoken barbarity. In no other continent than Africa have the citizens been so abused by the powers of the state. In their idiotic, shameless and sadistic mentality, our rulers think that the people are destined to last, unmoving throughout the cataclysms of the surrounding world in the face of national usurpers and foreign conquerors. With the physical exit of the whiteman, African rulers ostensibly formed a new generation rebellious at its inheritance of a cynical and hypocritical legacy.

Today, Africa has produced more treacherous dictators than any other continent in the world and even any other race in history that could even make the Age of Antiquity and tyranny of the Renaissance green with envy. Even as some of them now pretend to be democrats, they still cannot cover their inner colours with their new 'democratic' skin. Yet, how do we appreciate the nebulous fancy of the average African dictator? How do we extrapolate his consummate excesses? How do we vitiate the nuances of his personal pride and ambition? And, finally, how do we impugn the Johnsonian epigram about the innocuousness of corruption and the mentality of the African dictator? It takes only serious thinking for analysts to decode that much of the savagery connected with the African tragedy can be explained in the violence inherent in Western manners. African leaders are therefore hapless tools of that logic of history which leaves a minority determined to assert itself against the majority with no choice of methods than using terror as not merely an attendant phenomenon, but a vital function of insurrection.

Almost six decades after gaining political independence from European exploiters of their resources, Africa, easily the most naturally endowed region on the face of the earth, has been turned into a theatre of war no thanks to the lackeys who took over the mantle of political leadership from the colonialist. It has been a monumental tragedy that Africa is yet to find its bearings more than fifty years into self rule. 

Foreign Portfolio Investors Are Plundering Africa

                                                                                                           (pix: mgafrica)

By Farouk Martins Aresa
If you have your own resources like gold, diamond or oil that brings steady income, why gamble for leverage? Businesses have a good reason for using Other People’s Money OPM to establish and split the profit with risk takers on the long run. If the business fails, owner of the business is protected from personal liability and shareholders also absorbed a loss. In case of governments, Africa’s liability multiplies since countries do not fold, even when they defaults on odious loans.

It is well known that the advantage of stocks and bonds as part of financial portfolio has its gain in long-term profits. This is where capitals are raised for most projects with the hope that the project would produce gain for the investors on the long run. The only beneficiaries of short-term trade, acquisition and corporate raiders are funds managers and black knights in hostile take-over. They now descend on African countries, to make quick cash or profit in Nigeria.

Politicians send loot out while our domiciliary foreign cash account gamble in devalued naira. Dollar account and loot cannot enhance local development. Instead of relying on whatever we have by making sure our foreign reserve is not drained by foreign portfolio investors, we place faith on FPI intention. It’s pennywise pound-foolish to stake foreign income as collateral loan.

Unfortunately, each time these foreign portfolio investment fund managers pull their money out of stocks and bonds at a convenient and opportune time, the government of the day is blamed for bad economic policy driving foreign investors away. In the first place, they are not in our countries for local interest and their local partners furnish them inside information on our policies. Foreign ratting agencies look after the interest of their partners, not local beneficiaries.

Foreign portfolio investors have gravitated towards funds manager seeking their interest for maximum profits around the world. While this is a legitimate pursuit to increase shareholders’ return on investment, it devastates poor African countries trying to get on their feet by seeking long-term investments for infrastructures and capital projects. It could be a win-win situation if the foreign investors do not seek short-term gain at the expense of their hosts.

The World's Most Optimistic People Live in Africa

A farmer, left, accepts cash payment for his grain from a buyer in the

 village of Damo Dulele, Ethiopia, in February 2015. Growth in Ethiopia has beaten every sub-Saharan country over the past decade.  (Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg)

Emerging Nations Are Home To More Upbeat Consumers, While Advanced Economies See Dark Clouds

Sure, France has Paris, Provence and the Palace of Versailles. But when it comes to optimism about the domestic economy, the French have nothing on Ethiopians.

The three countries with the brightest prospects in the next year are all emerging or developing economies in Africa, while three with the bleakest outlooks are advanced economies, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted March 25 through May 27.

Nigeria tops the charts, with 92 percent of respondents seeing their economy improving in the next 12 months, compared with a net 5 percent who said it would stay the same or worsen. Residents in Burkina Faso and Ethiopia were similarly upbeat, with more than 80 percent of people in each country projecting economic progress.

On the other end of the scale, Poland was home to the smallest share of respondents seeing faster economic momentum in the next year, with just 16 percent holding that view. France — where almost half of those polled thought things would get worse — showed the weakest readings among advanced economies. See the best and worst here:  

CLICK HERE TO READ THE WHOLE REPORT

South Sudan: No Sanctions Without A Strategy

NEW STATEMENT FROM CRISIS GROUP

*(pix: bet)
As South Sudan’s civil war continues unabated and multiple peace processes and initiatives create little tangible progress, members of the UN Security Council are seeking to adopt sanctions against six generals, three each from the government and the opposition sides. This would in effect punish past wrongdoing and risk compromising ongoing peace efforts. It would also undermine the renewed impetus for a coordinated international approach to peacemaking in South Sudan. That process remains under the auspices of the regional body, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which has recently been augmented by a wider grouping, known as “IGAD-PLUS”. Imposing sanctions on these generals at this time would also turn individuals and communities in South Sudan who currently favour a peace agreement against the international community. The Security Council should hold off on this sanctions package and reframe its South Sudan sanctions strategy.

Mugabe Explodes: South Africa, Nigeria ‘Betrayed Africa’

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe blasted South Africa and Nigeria at the African Union summit this weekend, saying Africa would never agree to them getting permanent seats on the UN Security Council.

This was because they had both voted for UN Security Council Resolution 1973 in 2011, which authorised military action against the regime of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

They had betrayed the continent which could never trust them, sources reported him as saying.

Mugabe intervened in a meeting of the so-called “Committee of 10” at the summit on Saturday which was discussing possible amendments to the “Ezulwini Consensus” which stated Africa’s position on reform of the UN Security Council.

The 2005 Ezulwini Consensus was that Africa should demand at least two permanent and five non-permanent seats on the council as part of the protracted, wider reform to make it more representative of the world.

The consensus also demanded that the two permanent seats should come with the same veto powers as were enjoyed by the five current permanent members, the US, UK, China, Russia and France.

This demand for vetoes had effectively stymied Africa’s chances of reforming the council. And so the South African government was calling for Africa to adopt a more flexible approach by dropping the veto demand.

This was what the so-called G4 group of nations - Germany, Japan, India and Brazil - who were also seeking permanent seats on the council had done, as a tactical manoeuvre to try to diminish resistance to their bid.

Last year South African President Jacob Zuma said: “Africa needs to compromise - not reiterate fixed positions as it has done for the past nine years.”

CLICK HERE TO READ THE WHOLE REPORT 

Congo: Is Democratic Change Possible?

Africa Report N°225

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The presidential and legislative polls scheduled for 2016 are a potential watershed for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); they could be the first elections held without an incumbent protecting his position. The prospect of these elections is testing nerves on all sides of the Congolese political spectrum and has already caused deadly violence. There is an urgent need for President Joseph Kabila to commit to the two-term limit contained within the constitution and ready himself to leave power. Consensus is also needed on key electoral decisions, in particular regarding the calendar and the voter roll. This will require high-level donor and international engagement. Absent agreement and clarity on the election process, or should there be significant delays, international partners should review their support to the government.

*Kabila  (pix:ewn)
The fragmented governing majority is running out of options to avoid the 2016 deadline. The government’s attempts to amend both the constitution to allow Joseph Kabila to run for a third term and election laws face strong, including internal, opposition, as was evident in the January 2015 mini-political crisis over proposed changes to the electoral law. This mini-crisis, which triggered deadly violence and repression against pro-democracy activists, gave a first hint of what could be in store for 2016. In this tense domestic context, engagement by international actors is met with an increasing insistence on national sovereignty that affects in particular the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO).

Burkina Faso: Nine Months To Complete The Transition

INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP

Africa Report: No:222

*Burkina Faso's Interim President Michel Kafando

Three months after Blaise Compaoré’s departure, Burkina Faso’s transition is moving forward in an uncertain context. The provisional government, with the help of its international partners, should initiate urgent reforms and ensure the October 2015 elections allow for peaceful, democratic change.

Sudan and South Sudan's Merging Conflicts

INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP - NEW REPORT
Africa Report: No: 223

*South Sudanese President, Salva Kiir Sudanese and President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan in  Khartoum

The conflicts in Sudan and South Sudan are increasingly merged. Halting drift toward a Uganda-Sudan proxy war on the Sudan-South Sudan border requires better coordination by regional organisations and more engagement by influential outside powers, notably China and the U.S., including via the UN Security Council. A UN-imposed arms embargo, improved border monitoring, and a UN panel of experts mandated to study the funding of South Sudan’s war are needed.

Face To Face With President (For-Life?) Yoweri Museveni Of Uganda

Kenyan Journalist, Linus Kaikai, Interviews Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni,

On NTVKenya, Nairobi, (May 1, 2011)
WATCH

This interview with Mr. Yoweri Museveni, the sit-tight president of Uganda and the proud champion of "No-Term-Limit" Presidential System never ceases to rankle. What do these leaders in Africa really think they are? Mini-gods? Well, it is left for Ugandans to go on tolerating him or  resolve NOW to let the wind of change blowing across North Africa and the Middle East to reach Kampala also. The task of freeing the whole of Africa from "presidents-for-life", corrupt incompetent dictators and even psuedo-democratically imposed pretenders is an important and urgent one. It is a shame for any African to ask to be excused from it.

---------------------------------------

President Yoweri Museveni
of Uganda

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-RELATED SUBJECT-

Why Some African Leaders Are Smiling At The Storm In North Africa