Africa Up Close

Rebecca, a 28-year-old South Sudanese woman living in the Nyumanzi settlement of Uganda’s Adjumani district, was at the borehole when she first heard the news of a total lockdown. Home to nearly 1.6 million refugees, Uganda had closed its schools and suspended all gatherings, movement, weekly markets, and non-essential businesses to curb COVID-19 transmission. Like the other women fetching water, Rebecca was afraid of the new virus and how quickly it could spread across the refugee settlement. However, within a few weeks their fears had changed. Rebecca and other refugee women peace mediators, who regularly resolve or refer conflict cases in the community, had received several reports of domestic violence, defilement of out-of-school girls, and family disputes over dwindling food rations during lockdown. Local council leaders and local courts were not able to take or hear cases. Refugee women could not mediate conflicts or follow up on reports of violence as this was not considered an essential service.

The riots that broke out across South Africa in July, 2021, leaving nearly 350 people dead, marked the worst violence in the country since the end of apartheid in 1994. The immediate trigger of the unrest—former President Jacob Zuma’s jailing for contempt of court amid sprawling corruption charges—belied a much deeper cause fueling the violence: inequality and a lack of opportunity for black South Africans. Though dubbed the “rainbow nation,” the legacy of apartheid in South Africa remains strong, with whites still possessing vastly disproportionate economic influence. As recently as 2016, more than 90 percent of wealth in South Africa was controlled by 10 percent of the population—who were mostly white.

The implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on January 1, 2021 can be regarded as a turning point for African regional and international trade.

A workplace without violence against women would look like a place where women feel safe, respected, and celebrated as individuals and professionals. It is a place where women do not have to tolerate inappropriate, sexual, or discriminatory remarks by others. Rather, women know that they can confidentially report and seek help if they ever feel unsafe or uncomfortable by a colleague or work partner. It is a place that will punish perpetrators. And a place where women are trusted and never blamed for any harm that comes their way.

Armed conflict is one of the biggest challenges in Africa affecting democracy, development, and the attainment of gender equality. The African Union in 2013 committed to improve the continent and adopted its 50th Anniversary Solemn Declaration, which laid out a strategic framework for Africa’s socio-economic transformation over the next 50 years dubbed “Agenda 2063.” At the center of Agenda 2063 was the aspiration for attaining a peaceful and secure Africa through a flagship campaign, “Silencing the Guns,” the goal of which was to end all wars, civil conflicts, gender-based violence, and genocidal acts on the continent by 2020.

Gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa is a highly prevalent, complex problem affecting not only the individuals involved but also their children and families. GBV and family violence, which includes intimate partner violence (IPV) and violence against children, are intersecting problems.[1] Women and children who live in poverty and adversity are the most vulnerable, facing multiple contextual factors that both increase their risk of experiencing violence and reinforce their marginalized status.[2],[3] These individuals also face the greatest barriers and constraints to accessing support, and are the most disempowered and disenfranchised members of society. In a novel approach to addressing this problem, the Institute for Security Studies’ Justice and Violence Prevention Programme is engaging the private sector to develop a family violence prevention intervention for the workplace.

Nigeria is widely, and perhaps rightly, perceived as a conflict-prone country. In recent times, ongoing violent conflicts centered around the Boko Haram insurgency and farmer/herder tensions have dominated peacebuilding conversations. Even more recently, Nigeria has experienced the EndSARS protest and the civil disturbances that have followed. This latest conflict could nonetheless yield important lessons on crisis mismanagement, especially along the trajectory between peace and violence.

Elections in Africa often bring fear and anxiety, and some have resulted in protracted violent conflicts. Elections in 2020 come with additional threats, some beyond the control of the nations involved. The electoral processes in 2020—which will have taken place in a dozen African countries by the end of the year—are being conducted in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, with its attendant economic slowdown. More dangerously, the countries in the Sahel region— Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso—and neighboring countries in coastal West Africa—Ghana, Togo, and Côte d’Ivoire—are seriously threatened by violent extremism. 2020 is testing the resilience of African governance institutions in the midst of old and emerging threats. On the one hand, nations administering elections are expected to perform beyond the normal to be able to contain the barrage of threats. On the other hand, over-concentration on elections may lead governments to neglect important policy measures, which could, in turn, devastate national economies by, for example, diverting resources needed for security and health.

The ranks of journalists covering conflicts and dangerous assignments in Nigeria may be depleted due to a lack of care from the society and media employers. This trend applies in other African countries and is likely to deprive the continent of necessary information that could enhance peacebuilding and nourish the growth of democracy. In the last three decades, there has been a steady escalation globally in the number of journalists jailed, killed, or maimed while covering local wars and violent civil conflicts—more so than during earlier international conflicts that featured high mortality rates among media correspondents in the Cold War decades. Between 1992-2020, about 1,378 journalists have been killed in different countries across the world, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. In essence, there is a clear shift now from the previous assumption that more journalists tend to be killed while covering foreign wars rather than during national crises. Nowadays, more journalists are falling victim to murder and assassination by criminal gangs, as well as to infection by dangerous disease while reporting on regions affected by Ebola, SARs, and other deadly illnesses. According to global data, in 2019, 64 journalists were missing while 246 were imprisoned. So far in 2020, 26 journalists and media staff worldwide have died in the line of duty.

Ethiopia is battling with the multi-dimensional effects of COVID-19 amidst a fragile political transition that began in March 2018. Like many African states, Ethiopia’s healthcare system is quite poor despite improvements in recent decades. The country was not by any means ready and able to tackle COVID-19 by itself when the pandemic broke out across the world. So far in Ethiopia, more than a thousand people have died of the 65,000-plus who have been infected with the virus. However, without the government’s vigorous diplomatic efforts, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Ethiopia would be far higher. Ethiopia is not the only beneficiary of its COVID diplomacy, which has made a small but significant contribution to the overall fight against the spread of the virus in Africa.