From the Mountain to the Sea: 'Climate Change' Changes More Than Just the Weather
DEVELOPMENTS This month, ten underprivileged youth from Kenya, Tanzania, and Ghana will climb Mount Kilimanjaro in order to draw international attention to climate…
Renewed Rebel Offensive in Chad: An Analysis
DEVELOPMENTS Only four months after Chadian rebels attacked and briefly occupied the capital city of N’Djamena, hostilities renewed in the east of Chad on June…
Why Obama’s Ghana Speech Comes at a Time of New Hope for Africa
DEVELOPMENTS President Obama went to Ghana this past July on his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa since becoming president. Obama chose to visit Ghana partly…
Africa a Hotspot for Oil Investment
DEVELOPMENTS With the price of oil having more than quadrupled since 2004, governments are negotiating more and more deals in oil-producing African states, now…
Al-Bashir Indicted: Justice versus Peace?
DEVELOPMENTS On July 14th, 2008, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Louis Moreno-Ocampo requested an arrest warrant for the President of Sudan, Omar…
Amid Turmoil in Somalia, a Hint of Hope
DEVELOPMENTS Somalia is becoming increasingly unstable. Fighting between Ethiopian-backed Somali government troops and insurgents has ravaged for months. Roadside…
China's New Safari into African Development
DEVELOPMENTS Walking the streets of Nairobi, Kenya, many visitors would be shocked by the changing social composition of this bustling capital. A colony of Great…
Corporate Social Responsibility: An Answer to Conflict Jewelry?
BACKGROUND Conflict diamonds have reached every corner of the African continent from Sierra Leone, Ghana, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa, the Democratic…
Corruption in Kenya: The Plots Continue
DEVELOPMENTS Corruption is at the heart of news from Kenya these days. Last week, President Mwai Kibaki suspended eight senior officials for three months…
Ethnic Conflict in Zimbabwe: A Ghost of the Past?
DEVELOPMENTS Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai ended his boycott of the government last week, raising hopes for the survival of…
Gacaca: Rwanda's Experiment in Community-Based Justice for Genocide Crimes Comes to a Close
DEVELOPMENTS In the next six months, Rwanda will complete the most comprehensive post-conflict justice program attempted anywhere in the world . Since 2001, 11,000…
How Obama and McCain Would Respond to Darfur
Developments During the second Presidential Debate , moderator Tom Brokaw asked both candidates under what circumstances they would use “United States…
How Technology Can Support Education in Africa
DEVELOPMENTS From May 27-29, the eLearning Africa 2009 Conference will be held in Dakar, Senegal. Some 350 people from sixty countries will speak, and…
Justice Threatens Peace in Congo, Rwanda and Uganda
DEVELOPMENTS On January 23rd, justice caught up to Congolese warlord General Laurent Nkunda. The leader of the Tutsi militia which caused nearly 200,000…
Kenya in Crisis
DEVELOPMENTS Until the recent outbreak of violence, Kenya was the only country in the Greater Horn of Africa not to experience a complex political emergency and to…
Mugabe in Zimbabwe: A Threat to Stability, Democracy
DEVELOPMENTS Zimbabwe’s March 29th, 2008 parliamentary and presidential elections renewed political turmoil in the country. For the first time, the Zimbabwe…
Peace vs. Justice in Uganda
Does international criminal justice promote the settlement of on-going conflicts or does it, in contrast, stand in the way of peace agreements? This question has…
Re-restructuring Foreign Aid: A Response to Dambisa Moyo
DEVELOPMENTS The Government of Rwanda recently declared its intention to significantly decrease its dependence on foreign aid within the next five years . For a…
Reforming a Predatory Army in Eastern Congo
DEVELOPMENTS Each of the two million displaced civilians in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has a gut-wrenching story. In my five…
Religion is Key to Conflict and Peace in Northern Uganda
DEVELOPMENTS The most violent hotspot in Africa right now is not the Darfur region of Sudan. Nor is it Somalia or Zimbabwe. The deadliest place in Africa today is…
Returns to Rutshuru: A Glimmer of Hope in the Democratic Republic of Congo?
DEVELOPMENTS The ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has uprooted millions of people from their homes. In North Kivu province however,…
Save Darfur... and the rest of Sudan, too
DEVELOPMENTS Representatives from the Sudanese government met with various rebel groups this weekend in Sirte, Libya, for a new round of peace talks concerning…
Sierra Leone: Women in Conflict with the Courts
Developments Emmerson , one of Sierra Leone’s most popular artists, recently launched a new album, titled “Yesterday Betteh Pass Tiday?” The politically charged…
Somalia: At the Margins at Our Peril
DEVELOPMENTS Dismissed as a failed state, Somalia is sometimes perceived as less significant to international affairs than it should be. But the region’s…
Video Interview: Roger Ballentine, former Chairman, White House Task Force on Climate Change
Roger Ballentine, President of Green Strategies discusses climate change with Olivier Kamanda. Mr. Ballentine served as Chairman of the White House Climate Change…
Was There Good News from Africa in 2008?
DEVELOPMENTS Headlines from Africa in 2008 recounted brutal riots in Kenya, a war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and election-driven chaos in Zimbabwe.…
Western Sahara: Looking for Hope in the Desert
DEVELOPMENTS Western Sahara is never front-page news, but it deserves more attention. Its political status is the subject of one of Africa’s longest…
What can the international community do about corruption?
The results from Zimbabwe's election recount are nearly complete. A CNN source indicates that opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai led with 47% of the vote to…
Renewed Rebel Offensive in Chad: An Analysis
DEVELOPMENTS Only four months after Chadian rebels attacked and briefly occupied the capital city of N’Djamena, hostilities renewed in the east of Chad on June…
Re-restructuring Foreign Aid: A Response to Dambisa Moyo
DEVELOPMENTS The Government of Rwanda recently declared its intention to significantly decrease its dependence on foreign aid within the next five years. For a…
Western Sahara: Looking for Hope in the Desert
DEVELOPMENTS Western Sahara is never front-page news, but it deserves more attention. Its political status is the subject of one of Africa’s longest territorial…
Gacaca: Rwanda’s Experiment in Community-Based Justice for Genocide Crimes Comes to a Close
DEVELOPMENTS In the next six months, Rwanda will complete the most comprehensive post-conflict justice program attempted anywhere in the world . Since 2001, 11,000…
Climate Change and Continued Conflict in the Sudan
DEVELOPMENTS Without a concerted effort by the international community to curb the harmful effects of climate change in Africa, droughts and famines will increase…
Congo’s Conflict Minerals: U.S. Legislation and Impacts on the Ground
DEVELOPMENTS The world’s deadliest conflict has persisted in remote regions of eastern Congo, in part because more than a decade of international efforts to…
Advancing Women’s Rights as Sudan Referendum Approaches
DEVELOPMENT Fears of further violence in Sudan are currently generating many news headlines because of the looming January 2011 deadline for the referendum on…
Sudan: Separation Anxiety, Nervousness and Fear
DEVELOPMENTS During a Fall 2008 episode of the continuing Somali pirate saga, Sugale Ali, a representative of the band of pirates that hijacked the Ukrainian cargo…
Nigerian Letters: Seduction of the Rich and Exporting Malicious Codes
DEVELOPMENTS Pssst! Want to get rich quick and never worry about money again? No worries. Click reply on your email and send your personal information to the “good…
Nigeria: Oil Spills, Natural Gas Flares, and Bunkering
DEVELOPMENTS The big banner, imitating thick oozing oil, hung from the façade of Shell Headquarters in the Hague, Netherlands. It read: “Shell, let’s go clean…
FPD Book Review: BRAND AID
Once in a while a nectarous, readable volume arrives from the academic press. Impressively matched by the rigorous research that went into it, Lisa Richey and…
African Mobile Phones Disconnected
DEVELOPMENTS Across Africa, the deadlines for SIM card registration are fast approaching. Some countries like Zimbabwe have already finished the process after a few…
A Hotspot for Oil Investment
DEVELOPMENTS With the price of oil having more than quadrupled since 2004, governments are negotiating an increasing number of deals in oil-producing African…
Was There Good News from Africa in 2008?
DEVELOPMENTS Headlines from Africa in 2008 recounted brutal riots in Kenya, a war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and election-driven chaos in Zimbabwe. But…
Why Obama’s Ghana Speech Comes at a Time of New Hope for Africa
DEVELOPMENTS President Obama went to Ghana this past July on his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa since becoming president. Obama chose to visit Ghana partly…
Returns to Rutshuru: A Glimmer of Hope in the Democratic Republic of Congo?
DEVELOPMENTS The ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has uprooted millions of people from their homes. In North Kivu province however,…
Towards a Gender-Inclusive Definition of Child Soldiers
DEVELOPMENTS While the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) officially ended in 2003, peace seems tenuous at best, and many victims are still awaiting…
Minimizing the Risks of Statelessness in South Sudan
DEVELOPMENTS In January 2011, south Sudan will hold a referendum to decide between continued unity with the north or independence. This event poses many important…
Zimbabwe: Glamour, Ego, and Slippery Alliances
DEVELOPMENTS The Orwellian Big Brother Africa , a reality show aired in October of this year throughout Africa, gripped the attention of the continent, as it voted…
Dam If You Do, Dam If You Don’t
DEVELOPMENTS Pieces of rock from a dynamited boulder fly all over. An army of excavators, bulldozers, loaders, and scores of heavy machines dig through the giant…
A Young African’s Choice: AK-47 or a Laptop?
DEVELOPMENTS The good news this month is that South Africa marks the twentieth year of the end of its nuclear weapons program this July. That may have removed a…