Africa Up Close

H.E. President Emmerson D. Mnangagwa at the 25th Session of the Human Rights Council. Photo courtesy of the United Nations Geneva via Flickr Commons. 

Zimbabwe is coming in from the cold. After 37 years of mismanagement and decline under Robert Mugabe, the population of the former breadbasket of Africa had enough, and ousted its leader in November 2017. While in many respects the bloodless coup was simply a re-organization and consolidation of power in the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), Zimbabwe now has the opportunity to shed its pariah status and re-engineer its future. This will not be an easy task as cronyism, corruption, and maladministration have become so commonplace that any move towards just governance will seem radical and viewed (at least by some) as a betrayal.

High school students in Mankon, Bamenda, Cameroon, an Anglophone speaking region that has protested against the Francophone majority. Photo courtesy of Alberto Vaccaro via Flickr Commons. 

The immediate future of Cameroon is fraught with uncertainties. On October 1, 2017, during rallies marked by calls for a secession from French-speaking Cameroon, dozens of people were killed by security forces in the two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest Cameroon. Besides Boko Haram in the North, the resurgence of the Anglophone Problem in the Western regions is the single biggest threat to the unity and stability of Cameroon today. This is especially concerning as the country braces for a challenging electoral year in 2018 amidst calls for President Paul Biya to step down after 35 years in power. The ongoing resurgence of the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon requires immediate international attention. The stability of Cameroon is of crucial importance not only for the sub-region of Central Africa, but also for the fight against terrorism in the entire region. The ruling regime’s poor management (repressive approach) of the ongoing crisis is largely responsible for the escalations in recent months. The way forward to a sustainable solution lies in an inclusive, mediated dialogue geared toward institutional reforms and the promotion of local governance, not only in Anglophone regions but also in the whole country.

South Sudanese refugees arrive on a transit bus to the reception center at the Imvepi Refugee camp on Friday, 23 June, 2017 in Northern Uganda. Photo courtesy of UNMISS via Flickr Commons. 

In June 2017 I spent two weeks in South Sudan researching peace efforts by women’s grassroots organizations. My stay gave me more insight into the current dynamics of peacebuilding in the country and enabled me to look beyond the refugee crisis. This was also during the same time period the UN and the world converged in Kampala, Uganda to discuss the refugee crisis and galvanize support for South Sudanese refugees in Uganda.

Pictured here is a rural scene in Uganda, taken in 2010. Photo courtesy of the US Army via Flickr Commons. 

In October of 2012, I was seated with a small group of residents in a village in rural eastern Uganda. These residents were participants in my focus group interview, and the matter of discussion was land. Those present accused certain local government officials of “grabbing” land from their village and complained that their voices were not being heard by the central government. The words used by one middle-aged man to express the prevailing sentiments at the meeting were concise and without need for parsing: “We are refugees in our own homeland.”

Pictured here is a map of the Partition of  Africa. Photo courtesy of Stuart Rankin via Flickr Commons. 

The Scramble for Africa began with the Berlin Conference (1884–85) and ended by the early twentieth century. During this period, European colonizers partitioned Africa into spheres of influence, colonies, and various segments. They partitioned land from European capitals, with limited knowledge of the geography, history, and ethnic composition of Africa. In many African countries, a significant portion of their population belongs to groups split by colonial partitions.  

Bizuye Solomon teaches at Alula ABEC. Photo courtesy of UNICEF Ethioipia vis Flickr Commons. 

Over the past 25 years, economic and political demographers have documented how declines in fertility rates have preceded improvements in state capacity, income, and political stability in much of East Asia, Latin America, and, most recently, in the Maghreb region of North Africa (Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria). Nonetheless, social scientists still debate over where and when this “demographic dividend” will occur in the youthful, low-income countries of sub-Saharan Africa.  Elizabeth Leahy Madsen of the Population Reference Bureau and I find that, for most youthful countries—like those in sub-Saharan Africa—changes in population age structure provide a means to gauge the timing of their future development.

A Chinese construction sign in Angola near Kavugi Kifunta. Photo courtesy of jbdodane via Flickr Commons.

Chinese engagement in Africa is highly varied, politicized, and wrought with pessimism regarding China’s intentions and its impact. In this blog post, I plan to discuss some misperceptions about China’s relationship with Africa, address some of the challenges that African nations will face as Chinese investment grows, and speak to the potential opportunities for greater cooperation and better development on a large scale.

Voters queuing at a polling station in Kenya during the 2007 elections. Photo courtesy of User DEMOSH via Flickr Commons.

Political tensions are high in Kenya with just a few days to the general elections. The European Union has warned that the country could once again plunge into violence, and the Kenya Elections Observation Group (ELOG) expressed dissatisfaction with the preparedness of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). Opinion polls suggest that the election will be a two-horse race between the incumbent, President Uhuru Kenyatta, and the opposition leader, Raila Odinga. In attempts to woo voters, both candidates are targeting the youth vote—the largest voting bloc in Kenya. The candidates are very active on new media platforms popularly used by the youth: Facebook, Whatsapp, YouTube, and Twitter.

         Zimbabwe is expiring, again. More banks are failing, beer sales – a key indicator – have slumped dramatically since 2013, tourist arrivals are down, and the business confidence index is at lowest ebb since the wildly inflationary days of 2008. Most tellingly, President Robert Gabriel Mugabe in January told civil servants to be patient – he “hoped” that they would soon be paid their monthly wages on a regular basis (something which had not happened often in 2014).

The surprise ousting of Blaise Compaore in October 2014 is a testament to the power of political resistance and the democratic will. However, the coup represents only the early stages of a political transition whose outcomes depend largely on the actions of Burkina Faso’s military. These events also raise serious questions about the role of international actors in domestic political transitions, particularly where economic or security interests are involved.