By Jonathan Holslag
BUKAVU - Holed up behind barbed wire and sandbags, two soldiers gaze over the green landscape of Congo’s Kivu Province. The forested hills around them are silent, but they are guarding a hub of activity. Meticulously stationed military vehicles surround a few dozen troops marching around a flag planted in the middle of a dusty parade ground – a Chinese flag. “We are here to maintain order and regional stability,” explains a young lieutenant in impeccable French. Deployed in the resource-rich heart of Africa, this army unit forms only a small part of the Chinese troops that have been sent to six different African states. All of China’s troops in Africa are participants in United Nations peacekeeping operations under UN mandates – in contrast to the 1,400 or so U.S. troops deployed unilaterally in the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA), part of the Bush Administration’s Global War on Terror. read the rest of this entry… »
By John Liebhardt
Even before food prices started inching up during the 2005-06 growing season in the northern hemisphere, the World Food Program reported a troubling trend: donor countries were contributing less food for emergency relief at a time when the number of food emergencies had doubled to nearly 30 every year. Rising worldwide food demand is confronting a stagnant supply, and commodity prices have risen to their highest point since the early 1970s. As a result, a solution to sub-Saharan Africa’s chronic food shortages seems to have faded ever farther into the distance. The region is the planet’s largest remaining pocket of intractable food insecurity, where the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that one in three people lack access to adequate food supply. African states receive a lion’s share of the world’s food aid deliveries, yet Africans spend more GDP per person on food than people in most other places. read the rest of this entry… »
By J Stephen Morrison and Mark Bellamy
After 28 years of increasingly violent misrule, the reign of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has entered its endgame. Frustrated by his failure to secure victory in the March 29 parliamentary and presidential elections, Mugabe has turned loose his security forces, ruling party militias, ‘war veterans’, and youth gangs to terrorize populations suspected of sympathizing with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Reports of violent assaults and killings are proliferating. As in Burma in September 2007, resort to repression has raised the specter of both a spasm of state violence against civilians and the consolidation of security chiefs’ power, organized under the Joint Operations Command. It has undermined already slim hopes that a runoff presidential election could be a free and fair contest. read the rest of this entry… »
By Ian Taylor
In assessing Sino-African relations, three realities must be borne in mind.
First, China is not a unitary actor. This truth might seem elemental, but judging from much of the past literature on Chinese relations with Africa, it seems to have been overlooked. One manifestation is in the huge proliferation of small-scale traders of Chinese origin operating businesses in Africa, very often at an individual or family level and private in nature. For the Chinese state to manage or direct this phenomenon is all but impossible. In China itself, the weak rule of law, endemic corruption, and the highly politicized nature of state organizations at every level of government mean that the central leadership is in a perpetual struggle to keep up with an economy surging beyond their control, whether domestically or when this is projected overseas. Thus, demands that “China” should do x, y or z in “Africa,” as if there is one lever to pull and all will come right, miss the subtleties and realities of contemporary Chinese foreign policy. Chinese trade with Africa has become, in many ways, “normalized:” i.e. diverse and involving multiple actors and individuals, rather than being – as previously – more state-directed and under the direct control of central organs of the government. The concept of a “China Inc.,” complete with master plan, either at home or abroad, is intrinsically flawed. read the rest of this entry… »
Why Ending War Rape in the DRC Should be a Top Global Priority
Patricia T. Morris, Ph.D.
Ever since Women for Women International, the organization I work for, started its program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 2004, we have heard directly from women we serve about the use of rape and other sexual and gender based violence as weapons of war. Even after 15 years of work around the world helping the most socially excluded women survivors of conflict and war rebuild their lives, the stories of Congo’s rape, torture and sexual violence have disturbed us deeply.
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By Matthew B. Dwyer
On March 25, 2008, military forces of the Union of the Comoros, supported by African Union (AU) troops from Tanzania, Sudan and Senegal, landed on the Comorian island of Anjouan. They met little resistance and took control of the island quickly in order to topple the regime of renegade Anjouan strongman Mohammed Bacar. He had ruled Anjouan legally and illegally, initially coming to power in an island coup in 2001, then being elected Anjouan’s president in 2002, and since 2007 refusing to step down with the expiration of his five-year mandate. read the rest of this entry… »
By Janet Fleischman
During his recent Africa tour, President Bush rightly highlighted the significant results of his HIV/AIDS strategy, but indicated that he would be willing to “change the tactics” if the strategy was not working. Despite impressive gains, there is an important area where U.S. AIDS policy is lacking: prevention of HIV infection for women. Curbing the epidemic requires expanding women’s access to effective HIV prevention services and preventing babies from being born with HIV infection. This means integrating HIV/AIDS and reproductive health/family planning programs.
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By Loro Horta
Mozambique is positive on China. Mozambican leaders have gone beyond the usual declarations that Sino-Mozambican ties are “harmonious” and “based on equality and respect” to say that relations with China have given the country benefits and new opportunities that where never provided by western nations. Reflecting this upbeat view, Mozambican President Armando Guebuza has stated that “a China e muito bem vinda a Africa” – “China is very welcome in Africa.” But while there are indeed enormous benefits and possibilities in the China-Mozambique relationship, leaders of the former Portuguese colony should be aware that there are many negative aspects to this growing interaction. read the rest of this entry… »
By Norma Kriger
Zimbabwe will hold elections for the house, senate, president, and local governments on March 29, 2008. The economy is at its all-time worst: 100,500% hyperinflation, basic food shortages, collapsing infrastructure and public services, and a drop in economic growth of over 30% since 2000. After twenty-eight years in power, President Mugabe and the ruling ZANU PF party face mounting opposition from within the party and from both the majority and minority factions of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Can President Mugabe prevail in the race for the presidency, the most powerful office, given the extent of opposition to his continued rule? Is it possible for Morgan Tsvangirai, who heads the MDC majority faction, to win this contest, heralding a major course change for Zimbabwe? Or will Simba Makoni, a reluctant independent candidate who still claims his commitment to ZANU PF, succeed in removing Mugabe as president of ZANU PF and the country? read the rest of this entry… »
By Susanne D. Mueller
Before Kenya imploded in violence following its disputed election on December 27, 2007, most observers were optimistic about its future. Kenya had been on a roll since 2002, when the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) under Mwai Kibaki finally put an end to the repressive regime of Daniel Arap Moi. One friend, who later became a minister, emailed me and exclaimed, “We did it! We did it!” Everyone was hopeful. At last, there was real freedom of speech, association, and press. Gone were the days when friends were dragged away and tortured in Nyayo House. Gone also were the days when citizens looked over their shoulders before speaking openly in public cafes. Street venders, who once hid publications like Finance, Society, and so many other magazines under their shoe shine boxes, producing them only for favorite customers with a wink and a nod, now were free from harassment. People expected a change and they got it, not just with the return of basic freedoms but also in the economy. It rebounded from the doldrums of the Moi period, with a growth rate of 6%. read the rest of this entry… »
