Africa’s 2020 elections – key issues to watch
As Africa gets set to host a dozen presidential or general elections in 2020, leaders seeking to evade term limits, democratic resiliency in the face of armed conflict, and the… Read more »
Category: Africa
Deep state poses threat to Sudan’s democratic transition
Sudan’s deep state still poses a threat to the democratic process and fixing the security question remains a priority for the transition to work, observers suggest. There have been a number… Read more »
From Colonization to Kleptocracy: ‘Luanda Leaks’ detail Angola corruption
A trove of more than 700,000 documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and shared with The New York Times, shows how a global network of consultants, lawyers, bankers and… Read more »
People, Processes and Politics: Countering violent extremism in fragile states
Radical Islamist extremist violence is wracking the fragile state of Burkina Faso and spreading east, The Washington Post reports: Nearly 1,000 civilians were killed in 2019 by local militias and… Read more »
Accountability, democracy, good governance imperative for Africa’s development
For Africa to accomplish the ambitious but laudable Sustainable Development Goals, strong institutions and good governance must be in place to ensure inclusion, democracy, and security, according to Brookings’ Foresight Africa…. Read more »
Can Sudan’s ‘unlikely transition’ beat the odds?
A U.N. humanitarian agency said Tuesday that tribal clashes between Arabs and non-Arabs in Sudan’s West Darfur province have displaced about 40,000 people, with thousands crossing to neighboring Chad, Associated… Read more »
The hard choice facing Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed
Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed faces a hard choice between a shift towards authoritarianism, or the difficult task of generating confidence and belief in his reforms,* according to Nick Cheeseman, professor of… Read more »
Preventing violent extremism in fragile states: A governance agenda
The Islamic State was dealt serious blows with the loss of its territorial caliphate in March 2019 and death of its leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, in October 2019, analyst… Read more »
Which nation improved the most in 2019?
Two countries became notably less despotic in 2019. In Sudan mass protests led to the ejection of Omar al-Bashir, one of the world’s vilest tyrants. However, the risk that thugs from… Read more »
Africa’s ‘engines of democracy’
By 2040—a decade before Africa’s population is forecast to reach 2.1 billion, or double what it is today—the continent will become majority urban. That means over a billion people in… Read more »