African Politics Now

The conviction of Charles Taylor is certainly some kind of justice. Many in Sierra Leone will feel that their suffering has been acknowledged by the international community. In Liberia many others will rejoice while some will grumble that Taylor, the

Read the rest of On the Charles Taylor Verdict – Is There Justice in Africa? By Michael Keating »

Over the two months, the state of West African democracy has been tested on several occasions. In Senegal, after second round elections, citizens elected a new president, their once Prime Minister Macky Sall. In Mali, Coupists, led by Captain Amadou

Read the rest of Senegal and Mali: Some thoughts on West African democracy – By Dayo Olaide »

Tomorrow in The Hague the judges in what has been one of the lengthiest and most unusual legal battles ever to have been fought on the international stage are due to deliver the verdict on a man who over the

Read the rest of Charles Taylor: the long Wait for Justice Almost at an End – By Colin Waugh »

Of the insurgent factions that have wrested control over northern Mali from the central government, and effectively partitioned the country, Ansar Dine (“Defenders of the Faith”) has stolen the spotlight. Led by the wily Tuareg rebel Iyad ag-Ghali, and aiming

Read the rest of Confronting ‘Talibanization’ in Mali: The Other Ansar Dine, Popular Islam, and Religious Tolerance – Brian J. Peterson »

In today’s Libya, local is king.  Yet, if the country is to become a functioning state governed by an elected leadership capable of empowering its citizens and providing an equitable distribution of its resource wealth, then, the interim government of

Read the rest of Libya: NTC must assert itself and consign federalism to the dustbin of history – By Jason Pack »

On the night of 12th April Guinea-Bissau ‘Military Command’ put troops on to the streets of Bissau, the country’s capital, closed the frontiers, imprisoned the Prime Minister, the acting President and others, sacked the government, dissolved parliament, and shut TV

Read the rest of Guinea Bissau Coup: military plays politics to defend own power – By David Stephen »

Recent news that the Republic of Somalia and newly independent South Sudan have applied to join the East African Community (EAC) has elicited uncharacteristically heated debate on the hitherto rather sedate and lacklustre dialogue on the region’s economic and political

Read the rest of Ethiopia can become new East African hegemon – By Josh Maiyo »

About us In the storm that has erupted over Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 campaign, one conclusion that people on all sides of the controversy tend to agree upon is the deep, even desperate, need for more information about the conflict

Read the rest of Making Sense of Kony: Critical information on the conflict in Northern Uganda »

It’s two years since I was last in Chad after a long stint as the BBC correspondent. Not long enough to forget a place you might think, but when I arrived recently in N’Djamena the sweltering dead of night, I

Read the rest of Chad: oil wealth brings only superficial change – By Celeste Hicks »

Over the weekend, Mali’s political drama cut to Ouagadougou, where President Blaise Compaore hosted a meeting of Malian politicians and statesmen, the military junta that seized power on March 22nd (the CNRDRE), and ECOWAS. All eyes were on Ouaga, as

Read the rest of Mali: democracy, the coup and the anti-globalization left – Right Questions, Wrong Answers? – By Gregory Mann »