As the AU is marking the 50th anniversary of the OAU under the theme ‘Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance’, it is necessary to subject the 50 years journey of the OAU/AU with respect to the question of unity to critical scrutiny.

Read the rest of African unity after 50 years of OAU/AU: A dream deferred? – By Solomon Ayele Dersso »

  The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that have driven the global development agenda, since September 2000, when Kofi Annan, then Secretary-General of the United Nations, and 191 member states surprised the world by unanimously agreeing and making, the Millennium Declaration. The

Read the rest of The curious case of Africa’s Progress and the missing Millennium Development Goals – By Susana Edjang »

The World Economic Forum held its annual meeting (the Davos of Africa) in Cape Town last week. It was the biggest so far – yet another sign that business is taking Africa more and more seriously – but beyond the

Read the rest of Bob Diamond, Uhuru Kenyatta and the rise of Afro-confidence: WEF 2013, Cape Town – By Richard Dowden »

Recent arbitrary arrests of prominent human rights lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa and senior officials of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), coupled with sporadic attacks on civilians and civil society by the state, have been interpreted by some including the MDC

Read the rest of How ZANU-PF stays in power – By Simukai Tinhu »

Recently, the ‘Friends of Zimbabwe’ group of western donors met in London, together with representatives of all of Zimbabwe’s main political parties. The ‘Friends’ group – formerly known as the ‘Fishmongers’ after an expensive restaurant in Harare – is a

Read the rest of Making friends in London: is a new rapprochement on Zimbabwe occurring? – By Ian Scoones »

The International Crisis Group issued on 6 May a very helpful report entitled Zimbabwe: Elections Scenarios. Prepared by Piers Pigou, the ICG’s Southern Africa projects director and his team, this report should be required reading for those outside of Zimbabwe

Read the rest of Zimbabwe Elections Scenarios: New ICG Report Cuts Through the Political Posturing »

Back in 2009 when he took the job as Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti had one of the most challenging jobs in African politics. The country had just experienced a traumatic and almost certainly fixed election, which eventually saw

Read the rest of Tendai Biti: Zimbabwe must stage “a legitimate and credible election” for economic recovery – By Magnus Taylor »

Fourteen years ago, Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) launched itself onto Zimbabwe’s political scene with great local and international fanfare. The MDC was seen as having given rise to a new understanding of Zimbabwean politics,

Read the rest of Why has support for the MDC plummeted so much? – By Simukai Tinhu »

    On March 16th, Zimbabweans voted on a new Constitution in a national referendum. The voting was largely peaceful, and the turnout higher than expected, with over 3 million people voting. With all major parties supporting it, the result was

Read the rest of Zimbabwe has a new Constitution, but disputes over the land provisions continue — by Ian Scoones »

One of the tangential aspects of the deteriorating situation in the Central African Republic is the controversial role of South African Defence Forces (SANDF). Sent in via a bilateral agreement between Presidents Bozize and Zuma, the SANDF forces (originally called

Read the rest of Bozize Falls and Zuma Fails in the CAR – By Michael Keating »