Commentary

Commentary

AU needs effective conflict response

The African Union has been focusing on improving its effectiveness for the past ten years. It has established a framework that integrates peacekeeping operations with regional economic groups; however, it has faced challenges in intervening to resolve conflicts in areas like the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Sahel, and Sudan. Most interventions in these situations …

AU needs effective conflict response Read More »

Kenyans deserve better

Kenya has had relatively stable governments in its nearly 60 years of independence, and has been democratically governed for almost 30 years. But underneath that surface is a system where personal deals, patronage, and ethnic bloc voting are often the road to power. With the 2022 elections coming up, citizens should demand more than ethnic …

Kenyans deserve better Read More »

Is the ICC too harsh on Africa?

The International Criminal Court building in The Hague, Netherlands..

The 20th-century American conservative Barry Goldwater famously declared that “moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.” He might have been wrong, judging by what happened in Cote d’Ivoire after the International Criminal Court arrested former President Laurent Gbagbo in 2011: The country experienced nine years of low-intensity political violence that abated only when Gbagbo …

Is the ICC too harsh on Africa? Read More »

Ethiopia’s broken federal system

Ethiopia’s 1994 constitution gave the country’s more than 80 ethnic groups unique rights to self-determination, but it also laid the groundwork for the political explosions – one that erupted last fall with the Tigray region, writer Addisu Lashitew argues. The violent aftermath of the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front’s loss of power in Addis Ababa, he …

Ethiopia’s broken federal system Read More »

What went wrong with Nigeria?

Nigeria was once a leader among African nations, using its size and oil wealth to end civil wars and restore democracy in several countries on the continent. But that status has been washed away by persistent poverty, corruption, and inept governments. Sheriff Folarin writes. The traditional leadership and redeemer posture of Nigeria in Africa has …

What went wrong with Nigeria? Read More »

South Africans must be ashamed of xenophobic attacks

Another round of xenophobic violence broke out recently in South Africa, targeting migrants from other African countries and claimed the lives of ten people. About 50 shops and businesses, cars and properties mainly owned by Africans immigrants were torched amid widespread looting. In similar anti-foreigner riots in 2008 and 2015, dozens of people were killed …

South Africans must be ashamed of xenophobic attacks Read More »