AfricaFocus Bulletin
February 11, 2019 Nigeria: Many Candidates, Few Alternatives
“The presidential contest ... will likely be a straight contest
between incumbent Muhammadu Buhari of the ruling All Progressives
Congress (APC) and challenger Atiku Abubakar of the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP). Dozens of other candidates will be
competing. These include: Oby Ezekwesili, the former minister and
founder of the Bring Back Our Girls movement; Professor Kingsley
Moghalu, the former deputy governor of the Central Bank of
Nigeria; and Omoyele Sowore, the owner of the media outlet Sahara
Reporters. But when it comes down to it, it will be a two-horse
race.” - Idayat Hassan
January 30, 2019 USA/Africa: Paradigms of Foreign Intervenion
“[In her new book Foreign Intervention in Africa after
the Cold War, Schmidt´s] aim is not to provide a
comprehensive narrative or advance an explanatory
theory, but to introduce a series of case studies,
taking into account global narratives and common factors
as well as the particularity and nuances of each case. …
As Schmidt explains, global narratives are both
essential and misleading in explaining the course and
outcomes of intervention in specific conflicts.” -
AfricaFocus Editor William Minter
January 30, 2019 USA/Africa: China, Bolton, and Jimmy Carter
When National Security Advisor John Bolton presented
the administration´s "New Africa Strategy" at the
conservative Heritage Foundation on December 13, the
Washington Post headlined Bolton´s warning that
“´predatory´ China is outpacing the U.S.
In Africa" (http://tinyurl.com/ydgrr7ep). And, according to the
New York Times, "Bolton Outlines a Strategy for
Africa That’s Really About Countering China"
(http://tinyurl.com/yc73fx9j). But however prominent
the theme of U.S.-China competition in current news,
neither this framework nor any other overarching
theme is likely to prove a reliable guide as either a
description or prescription for actual policy.
January 22, 2019 Zimbabwe: Repression & Dreams Deferred, Again
"Robert Mugabe was really bad because he didn’t listen to anyone unless
under personal duress, and because of that terrible trait in him, it led
to his spectacular and embarrassing undoing with the culmination of a
military coup that was supported by the citizens and the rest of the
world sealing his ungraceful demise. Everybody was just tired of the old
man, and regardless of the unorthodox means used to remove him, it was a
popular and celebrated end of a disastrous rule. His inconvenient and
unintended successor and apprentice, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has only been in
power for fourteen months, but he has perfected his former boss’s art of
not listening and being oblivious to what the rest of the world thinks of
his rule, good or bad." - Hopewell Chin´ono
January 8, 2019 Mozambique/Global: Who Pays for Transnational Corruption?
The line-up of those involved in this $2.2 billion fraudulent loan deal, now
implicated in a case in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of New York,
is multinational. The five named individuals indicted include the former Minister of
Finance of Mozambique, a Lebanese businessman representing Privinvest (an
international shipping conglomerate in Abu Dhabi), and three London-based bankers,
citizens of New Zealand, Great Britain, and Bulgaria, employed at the time of the
loans by the giant Swiss bank Credit Suisse. Three more names are redacted in the
indictment and 5 others, three Mozambicans and two additional employees of
Privinvest, are cited but not named in the text of the indictment.
More on:
politics&human rights|peace&security|health|economy|ict
AfricaFocus Archive:
by date | by place | by topic
December 10, 2018
Africa/Global: Green New Deal Could Be Game-Changer
November 12, 2018
Africa: Africa Mining Vision
November 12, 2018
Africa: Why Mining is Hard to Tax
October 16, 2018
Africa/Global: Drug Company Profits vs. Public Health
October 1, 2018
Africa/Global: Professionals Enabling Corruption
September 17, 2018
Uganda: Time for the Youth
August 27, 2018
Africa: Migration Reports Show Complex Realities
August 15, 2018
West Africa/Europe: From Cocoa to Chocolate
July 30, 2018
East Africa: Ethiopia/Eritrea Peace Hopes, Cautions
July 18, 2018
Africa/Global: 10 Ways to Misunderstand the Trump Election, and Why They Still Matter
June 20, 2018
Congo (Kinshasa): Ebola Response Shows Lessons Learned
June 4, 2018
West Africa/Global: Tax Evasion without Borders
May 21, 2018
Namibia/Africa: Afrobarometer Insights
May 7, 2018
USA/Africa: Achieving 100% Renewable Energy
May 7, 2018
USA/Africa: Renewable Energy Advances on Many Fronts
April 23, 2018
Ethiopia: Wax, Gold, and "Ethiopianness"
April 9, 2018
Africa: Storybooks in African Languages
March 26, 2018
Zimbabwe: Women Continue Protest at Hwange Coal
March 12, 2018
Africa/Global: Charting Where They Hide the Money, 2
March 12, 2018
Africa/Global: Charting Where They Hide the Money, 1
February 26, 2018
Nigeria/Global: Promising Potential for Solar Mini-Grids
February 12, 2018
Sudan: Perilous Crossroads on Refugee Map
|
