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Rwanda has become the prominent military force in the Great Lakes region of East Africa, providing support to the M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo and assisting the Central African Republic in fighting insurgents. However, despite its well-structured military and reputation as a stable nation, this has not resulted in an effective peace …
Tensions are rising between Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko. Sonko, who was much more prominent, selected the relatively unknown Faye as their Patriots of Senegal (PASTEF) party’s candidate in the 2024 presidential election because he himself was barred from running. Faye subsequently appointed Sonko as prime minister. Since November, indications …
Senegal: Faye, Sonko in an intense power struggle Read More »
Former Ghana President John Dramani Mahama has bared his soul in a special interview with Africawatch. From politics to the economy to agriculture to education to the banking and oil sectors to the country’s current sorry state to his personal feelings and religion, he was happy to field the questions and discuss them at length. …
Ghana: Special interview with former President John Mahama Read More »
Nigeria President Bola Tinubu took office while the nation was experiencing a multi-dimensional crisis. From raging inflation to widespread poverty, from large numbers of children not in schools to broken-down oil refineries and frequent mass shootings, almost every facet of Nigerian national life appears to be in trouble. Will President Tinubu be up to the …
Nigeria: Bola Tinubu ‘He has a chance to determine how history will remember his time.’ Read More »
Libya’s first presidential elections since the 2011 ouster of Muammar al-Qaddafi, scheduled for Dec. 24, have been postponed indefinitely. That outcome was not surprising, as the country’s two competing parliaments couldn’t agree on a framework for the vote. One major faction argued that it would premature to elect a president before a constitution was ratified, …
William Ruto, once a roadside chicken-seller in the rural Rift Valley, took office as president in September after narrowly defeating Raila Odinga in the August election. The vote was not settled until the Supreme Court dismissed Odinga’s claims of fraud, but the post-election period was relatively peaceful. Now, can Ruto’s government deliver prosperity to the …
Burkina Faso is the third West African country to experience a military coup in the past two years. Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba ousted President Marc Roch Christian Kaboré amid widespread dissatisfaction with how he was running the country, particularly his handling of attacks by jihadists, who have killed some 7,500 people in the past seven years …
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning icon, an uncompromising foe of apartheid and a lifelong activist for racial justice, died December 26 at 90. South Africans, world leaders, and people around the globe mourned the death of the man viewed as the country’s moral conscience. Without Tutu and Nelson Mandela, does South Africa …
Africans normally abhor military coups, as they replace democratic governments with rule by a cadre of soldiers. But what if the president they ousted had eliminated constitutional term limits, enabling him to stay in office indefinitely? How can international organizations condemn coups when they have effectively condoned elected leaders undermining democracy? Steve Mallory ponders these …
South Africa’s local elections Nov. 1 were the first since the beginning of multiracial democracy where the governing African National Congress party didn’t win a majority of the vote. But while many South African voters are disillusioned with the ANC after its more than 25 years in power, they haven’t found an alternative: None of …