Category Archives: Analysis

Analysis: How do you solve a problem like Apartheid?

President Zuma has been facing widespread criticism for his comments on Apartheid and the damage it has wrought on society. Planning Minister Trevor Manuel claims that the time for blaming Apartheid is over, at least for certain failings of government. … read more »

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Somalia: Frail Leadership, Federalism Frenzy, and the Fragile Peace

By Jamal Ali In an etiological analogy, Somalia’s current state-building detractors resemble like the mythical Medusa’s head.  It appears that Perseus had cut them all off exhaustingly, except his blade slashed the last head before it hid in a ruble. … read more »

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Factors of Change and Transformation in Ethiopia

Teshome Abebe The restive sixties with the student movement spawned the tumultuous seventies, which in turn, brought about the transfer of power from a feudal establishment to the first of its kind communist era in Ethiopia.  This was then followed … read more »

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How the West is seeking to usurp Africa’s struggle for freedom and democracy

By Andrew Mwenda How the West is seeking to usurp Africa’s struggle for freedom and democracy using a humanitarian language Since the end of the Cold War, a movement to save Africa from Africans has grown and gained momentum across … read more »

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Ethiopia: A Critical Appraisal of the Diaspora Organized Groups Opposed to the Regime in Ethiopia

By Walle Engedayehu An Overview The collective staying-power of the opposition within the Ethiopian Diaspora community against the regime in Addis Ababa still remains in a state of paralysis after more than two decades of cry-out for a unity of … read more »

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Zimbabwe Referendum: CIOs and Police Deployed at Stations

Analysis The inefficiency demonstrated through some assigned officers in the just-ended Zimbabwean referendum has raised concern especially with the presence of the CIO operatives and police officers deployed at voting stations. While many may have assumed that these officers were meant to boost security, … read more »

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World Bank: Ethiopia Project Decision Postponed

By Human Rights Watch A World Bank board meeting scheduled for March 19, 2013, to consider the recommendation of its Inspection Panel to investigate whether the bank has violated its policies in a project in Ethiopia has been postponed to … read more »

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Discontent at the Top: Mismatching Disjointed Eritrea

Discontent at the Top: Mismatching Disjointed Eritrea On 21st January, 2013, something momentous that the opposition was hoping for took place in Asmara: about one hundred soldiers, supported with two tanks, took over the Ministry of Information and were able … read more »

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Analysis: Somalia’s new government is not Al-Shabaab, not yet

Recent coverage of Somalia has been dominated by the horrific case of a woman who was prosecuted and sexually assaulted after reporting her rape by government security forces to the police. Cynics are starting to wonder: is the new government … read more »

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Can Kenya’s March election avoid killings, catastrophe, of last national vote?

Kenya’s strategic and symbolic importance as a peaceful democracy in Africa is decades-old. But after 2007 riots, world is now watching. Kiambaa, Kenya The most infamous of the many violent atrocities that followed Kenya‘s last election in 2007 came when … read more »

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Kenya: When a Presidential Candidate Is Charged With Grave Crimes

Institute for Security Studies (Tshwane/Pretoria) Analysis On Friday 15 February 2013, the High Court of Kenya finally made a ruling on the suitability of the Jubilee Alliance presidential candidate, Uhuru Kenyatta, to contest the March 4 elections. In its verdict, … read more »

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South Sudan: ‘Stop the Planes’–Now!

Analysis The plea could hardly be simpler, or more urgent: “Just stop the planes.” This cry for help came from “Khadija,” a woman interviewed by Amnesty International (see below) while standing in front of the bombed remains of her home … read more »

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Analysis: After the murder that shocked the country, a time for introspection

Reeva Steenkamp, a lively, well-liked young woman with a promising career, was allegedly killed by Oscar Pistorius on Valentine’s Day. It is a horrible, surreal story. The discovery that a national hero and global poster-boy for inspiration may also be … read more »

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Kenya: The Quest For Restorative Justice – Analysis

One clear element is that violence in Kenya has to do with community identities, particularly where the young males of society are concerned. By Kisuke Ndiku In recent assessments it has emerged that young people are contributors to certain types … read more »

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Ethiopia: Mr. Obang Metho Addresses the Media Regarding Land Investment in Africa

document “Doing Business with a Dictatorship is a Risky Venture: Can an Outsider Ever Be Assured of Winning?” I would like to give a special thank you to the Centre For Social Development (CSD) in association with Indian Social Action … read more »

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G8 and Nigeria’s Oil Wealth: Corruption and Wealth of a Nation

by Afripol, http://afripol.org It is all over the news that G-8 leadership gathering in Northern Ireland in June will discuss the issue of corruption in the management of Nigeria’s oil wealth. The problem of corruption in Nigeria and indeed Africa … read more »

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Mali, Nigeria, and the Bigger Picture

By Gregory R. Copley The Mali War will be neither simple nor quick, ‘though the players all wish it so. Timboctou, almost a year in the hands of militants, had fallen to French and Malian forces by January 29, 2013. … read more »

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Another AU summit: African economies still stuck in a hole

By:  Farai Mamina When it was transformed from Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to African Union (AU), there was sensational hope for pragmatism on the continent. For the umpteenth time, heads of African states and government are meeting in Addis … read more »

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Mali – one African war France could not avoid

By Mark John and John Irish | Reuters (Reuters) – Just as its leaders were defining a new “hands-off” strategy for Africa, France has been thrust onto the front line of one of the continent’s riskiest battlefields deep in the … read more »

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Somalia: Justice and Reconciliation Casualty of Clan Morass

By Mohamud M Uluso, analysis The disintegration of Somalia into feuding armed clans, some headed by warlords, still remains the biggest problem in rebuilding the nation The setting up of local public administration in the regions of Gedo, Lower Jubba … read more »

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The Choice: The ‘Somalia-ization’ of Syria or a Political Settlement

Free Syrian Army fighters are seen at buildings damaged by what activists said were missiles fired by a Syrian Air Force fighter jet loyal to President Bashar al-Assad at Taftanaz near Idlib, Jan. 5, 2013. (photo by REUTERS/Ismail Al-Taftanazi/Shaam News … read more »

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Somalia, Its Neighbours and Al-Shabaab – The Quest for Sustainable Solutions

By Seifulaziz Milas, analysis In Somalia, the radical Islamist militia, Al-Shabab, that has terrorized much of the country over the past five years, appears to be on the run. They have been forced out of the capital, Mogadishu, and all … read more »

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The African condition: Of Imperialists, tyrants and puppets

Dinizulu Mbikokayise Macaphulana Chief among the many challenges that confront the African continent are three evils that African thinkers and intellectuals must urgently find durable solutions to—The vicious scramble for Africa’s oil, diamonds and other rich pickings by Western countries … read more »

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Zimbabwe: When Wishful Thinking Becomes Prophecy

By Reason Wafawarova, The Herald Analysis An opinion piece recently published by an online publication, authored by the MDC-T policy chief Eddie Cross, and titled “2013 Outlook: Prophecies by Eddie Cross” was quite telling in revealing the geo-political forces at … read more »

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Official Death Squads in Society: The Case of South Sudan

By Prof. Wani Tombe Official death squads (ODS) are invariably, the characteristics of those human societies, in which, their mode of governance is riddled with unconstitutionalism to the extent that, the peoples are no more the sovereign. These are societies … read more »

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Nigeria: 2015 – President Jonathan’s Lonely Walk

By John Bulus,Vanguard analysis The political feud between incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and ex-President, Olusegun Obasanjo has apparently deepened. Worst still is that President Jonathan’s strong supporter and kinsman, Alhaji Mojahid Dokubo- Asari may have also ditched him, saying the … read more »

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Who is a true or real Muslim?

An excerpt from Dabashi’s book ‘Being a Muslim in the World’ dismisses the Western narrative of the ‘Muslim’. It is a false to say that voting for Morsi is voting “yes” to Islam, as most Egyptians themselves are Muslims [EPA] … read more »

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Djibouti-Ethiopia: Irregular migration continues unabated

More people from the Horn of Africa region, especially Ethiopia and Somalia, are crossing international borders as irregular migrants – lacking official documentation or approval – drawn by the promise of a better life in the Arabian Peninsula. “A growing … read more »

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Zimbabwe: Can ZANU PF Learn Something From the ANC?

By Clement Moyo, zimeye.org ANC a true reflection of practical democracy and political stability While it is a cliché that politicians are like diapers and must be changed at the right time, in the case of South Africa, the tenets … read more »

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Electoral politics and transition in Kenya

Antony Otieno Ong’ayo The 2013 general elections as a tipping point INTRODUCTION The political violence and near eruption of a civil war in the aftermath of the botched 2007 general election in Kenya is still fresh in the memory of … read more »

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