Africa Up Close

March 25-31, 2013

Please continue reading for events related to Africa, leadership, and peacebuilding occurring throughout Washington D.C.

Continue reading for stories including the death of acclaimed Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, crackdown on opposition in Zimbabwe, the expectation the the BRICS summit will produce a development bank, divides in Kenya after the election, Kenyan journalists beginning to ask the difficult questions, a renewed focus by the UN on ending slavery in Africa and the world, and the arrest of popular human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa in Zimbabwe.

March 21, 2013

French Article Translation of the Week

“Religion: l’élection du pape François, une bonne nouvelle pour le monde musulman?”

“Après les propos polémiques de Benoît XVI sur l’islam, l’élection d’un nouveau pape, le 13 mars, suscite un certain espoir dans le monde musulman.”

“After the controversial remarks made by Pope Benedict XVI on Islam, the election of a new pope on March 13 raises some hope in the Muslim world.”

This article has been translated from French. Click here to read the original on version on JeuneAfrique.

Continue reading for news including stories about the confirmed killing of a French hostage by AQIM, Swaziland illegally selling its government food aid, Robert Mugabe’s attendance at the papal inauguration in Rome, the rising tensions in Kenya post-election cycle, Prime Minister Odinga’s dismissal of minister’s resignation attempts, the implications of Julius Malema losing his own farm, and the U.S. attempts to ensure the safe transfer of Bosco Ntaganda to the Hague.

Continue reading for news including stories about the rising tensions between exiled politicians of the Laurent Gbagbo regime, the tentative approval of Zimbabwe’s draft constitution, interrogations of former Zambian President Rupiah Banda regarding corruption, Kenya’s new rules for oil exporters and the politicization of election poll results, the dissolution of the SABC board, and the surrender of Bosco Ntaganda in Rwanda.

March 18-24, 2013

Please continue reading for events related to Africa, leadership, and peacebuilding occurring throughout Washington D.C.

By Jeffrey Paller
The original version of this article appeared in African Arguments

Politics is more than elections

A few hours before an official winner was declared in Kenya’s election, New York Times correspondent Jeffrey Gettleman tweeted: “Raila REJECTS Kenyatta victory in Kenya election. A 2007 type scenario could be shaping up. See story at http://nytimes.com.” This rhetoric is not unique: Throughout the week after the vote the media warned of a 2007-like crisis. But what this election has demonstrated is that comparing elections without looking at the process and politics of what happens between obscures more than it explains.

Analysts, journalists and even political scientists tend to treat elections as fixed events. Elections are compared to other elections; electoral violence is compared to previous instances of electoral violence; and all other institutional progress (and digression) is swept aside. But in new democracies a lot happens between elections, both good and bad. Power arrangements are re-shaped, societal transformations occur, and political institutions are strengthened and weakened. In Kenya, there is a new constitution; there are new leading candidates; there is a new electoral commission; there is an integrated international community; there is a stronger and more ubiquitous press; there is a new national land policy.

Continue reading for news including stories on Karim Wade’s summons to the Court of Suppression of Illicit Enrichment, the new tripartite agreement for access to South Sudan’s oil, how the ICC dropped its charges against Francis Muthaura, protests in Malawi at the bail hearing of an accused coup plotter, and the Kenyan government’s warning to unaccredited foreign journalists.

Continue reading for news including stories on the Malian army’s targeting of certain ethnic groups, Obama’s claims that Kenya was too dangerous for foreign reporters during elections, voter fraud in Zimbabwe, other methods of conflict intervention in Mali, and Uhuru Kenyatta’s victory in the presidential election and the resulting legal battle.

Please continue reading for events related to Africa, leadership and peacebuilding occurring throughout Washington D.C. for the week of March 11-18, 2013