President Thabo Mbeki: An African Moses?
by: Hilary Ojukwu
So much has been written about this man, so many words used to describe his personality. So many writers have spent so many sleepless nights trying to decipher the man Thabo Mbeki the President of the Republic of South Africa.
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Border demarcation in stalemate - A choice for African Demise
by: Hermon Ogbamichael
The border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopian has been continuing officially since May 6, 1998. The dispute escalated into armed conflict when an Eritrean patrol unit was attacked by Ethiopian forces on May 6.
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Sudan: When will the agony end?
by: Hermon Ogbamichael
The issues of Sudan, the largest country in Africa, have been one of the most controversial for about two centuries. Recurrent invasions by foreign powers since the beginning of 19th century and endless civil war in the last five decades have caused socio-political and economic ravages on the nation.
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A Quest For Dignity
by: Prof. Wole Soyinka
The Times Newspaper of London, Saturday Feb 21, this year, carried the story of the suicide of a teenager in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Apparently, it should have been a double suicide but that youth, after yet another bout of humiliation from his tormentors, decided that he simply could not wait. He was one of a close-knit group of seven, the report continues, who had attended school together and continued to spend all their spare time together. Of the seven, only two still survive.
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Development Expression And Democracy Through Volunteer Sector Initiative
by: Patrick Iroegbu (Ph.D) Alberta, Canada
As we clamour for effective democratic and development performance, alternative ways to reduce corruption in government are not easy to think about. We will dare to storm, norm, and offer one. We describe it as “democracy through volunteer sector initiative.” This may quickly call for explanation, ideas, concepts and practices. What we intend to describe here is the understanding of volunteerism in modern day democratic use of skills and experiences that cost less but achieve greater dividends.
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Endangered Culture For Today's Cultural Economist
by: by Patrick Iroegbu, Alberta, Canada
Precisely can today’s economist enter African and chiefly Nigerian culture? As a question, it purports an ideological view seeking a sensible perspective. Of all today’s African nations, and more particularly home Nigeria, the mere fact that a sovereign state consists of diverse ethnic nationalities with varying unequal powers mattered at independence granting, and at reinventing cultural colonialism. It is not that African nation-states, such as Nigeria in name is wrong but the type of “badly structured Nigerian federation” (Chief Emeka Ojukwu) handed over to the cultural space, lives with a lopsided political independence, and moreover, a more asymmetrical cultural-economic dependence on the granting colonialist. Dr. Jude Uwalaka writing in his new book The Struggle for Inclusive Nigeria
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Rescuing the present and the future from the throes of history
by: Jekwu Ikeme, Ph.D.
This prophetic injunction has never been truer for Africa than now. Africa is at a crossroads, most which lead to strife, anarchy and perdition and only one to progress and prosperity.
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The Challenge of NEPAD
by: Jeremy Cronin MP, ANC, Deputy Secretary-General, South African Communist Party
I would like to commend Frontline Africa for organising this meeting of South African political parties, NGOs and of non-South African citizens from our continent living in Cape Town. I believe that South Africans, black and white alike, are often ignorant about the rest of our continent.
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Educated to Feel Inferior: Will Africa ever Catch Up?
by: Bedford Nwabueze Umez, Ph.D.
After reading my latest book, "Nigeria: Real Problems, Real Solutions," Dr. Nnanna Ukegbu, one of the most learned, enlightened and illustrious Nigerian thinkers, invited me for a talk (August 9, 2002) on a serious issue of common concern, namely, the apparent lack of progress in Nigeria and several African countries. Dr. Ukegbu, who is now completing a very powerful, thought-provoking book on African development, had this question to ask me:
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LESSONS FROM LATIN AMERICA AND SOUTH AFRICA
by: Dr. Sony Onyegbula
This paper will draw from the experiences of some of the truth commissions that have existed in Latin America and South Africa. The purpose mainly will be to see if there are lessons that could be learned by other countries especially in West Africa in their own attempt to face their past. The issue of accountability for human rights abuses of past have becomes a topical and relevant issue in international human rights discourse.
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Rhetorics That Binds And Blinds
by: Prof. Wole Soyinka
I propose to address this topic from two directions - one, the political, the other the religious. However, in many parts of the world - and indeed for far too long in history - both prove to be merely the two sides of a spinning coin whose trajectory is the control of human lives, in short - Power. We only need observe the sanctimoniousness that often characterizes one - the political - and the sacrosanctity that is claimed as the foundation of the other - the religious - even when it extends its constituency to the political and mundane.
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Rhetorics That Binds And Blinds
by: Prof. Wole Soyinka
I propose to address this topic from two directions - one, the political, the other the religious. However, in many parts of the world - and indeed for far too long in history - both prove to be merely the two sides of a spinning coin whose trajectory is the control of human lives, in short - Power.
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POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA
by: Keith Gottschalk
It is a century since African & diaspora leaders such as Dr. W.E.B. du Bois & George Padmore conceptualised Pan-African unification. For fifty-four years one South African political party has had “Pan-African” in its name, and an outline map of Africa as its logo. But today we have xenophobic rioters attacking fellow Africans in Johannesburg, and in De Noon & Hout Bay in Cape Town, South Africa.
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SPEECH AT FRONTLINE AFRICA SYMPOSIUM THE ROLE OF YOUTH IN AFRICA DEVELOPMENT
by: LOYISO JANTJIES
You know I haven’t done public speaking since 2002 and I do admit that I am kind of lazy in that. So when Hilary called me to ask that I be one of the speakers for today’s event I was a bit nervous, and to make it worse he said I will speak for 30 minutes. Well I had to protest and we managed to come to an agreement.
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Power and Freedom
by: Prof. Wole Soyinka
The totalitarian state is easy to define, easy to identify and thus, offers a recognizable target at which the archers of human freedom can direct their darts. Not so obliging is what I refer to as the quasi-state, that elusive entity that may cover the full gamut of ideologies and religions, contends for power but is not defined by physical boundaries that mark the sovereign state.
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Africa and Evangelical Christianity
by: Leo Igwe
The BBC’s July – Sept 2005 Focus on Africa magazine recently wrote "Africa is being colonized and christianized all over again. The colonizers this time are Americans not Europeans and the brand of belief they are bringing to Africa is Evangelical Christianity, a fundamentalist version of the protestant faith that many Pentecostalists, Baptists and others have allied themselves with." Leo Igwe, Secretary of IHEU Member Organisation the Nigerian Humanist Movement writes about this new danger that is threatening Africa.
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AFRICAN HUMANISM: A VISION OF HOPE AND RENEWAL
by: Leo Igwe
Fellow Humanists, When our founders established the IHEU in 1952, they had in mind a vision and a mission. IHEU founders had in mind a vision to spread the message of Humanism to the ends of the earth. They had in mind a mission to make the Humanist alternative active and effective in all countries of the world.
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Notes on the Ugandan elections
by: Edwin Madunagu
ON Thursday, February 23, 2006, citizens of the East African state of Uganda went to the polls to elect a President and a 284-member National Assembly. The country has an estimated population of 26 million of whom 10.5 million were registered to vote. There were five presidential candidates including two front-runners: the incumbent President Yoweri Museveni, of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) and a retired military officer and medical doctor, Kizza Besigye, of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).
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HOW TUTU SAW HELL IN HAITI
by: Mike Osagie, a Journalist based in Cape Town, South Africa
The hot gist all over South Africa at the moment is not that of the up coming March 1st Local Government elections or the controversial Jacob Zuma multiple court cases. Neither is it to do with the Abu Dhabi December outing of Phumzile Nguca,rather it was the controversial stop over of Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s trip to the ever restless Haiti.
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Gagging Africa through phantom development aid
by: Ono Abada
IN the international aid fraternity, it is ritual time again. The G8, comprising industrialized countries of USA, Canada, Italy, Japan, UK, Spain, France, and Russia converged in Scotland to plot the future socio-economic developmental directions of the world. And, as usual, political leaders of the developing countries, particularly the very vulnerable from the African continent, are hoping that Tony Blair’s Africa Commission gains currency amongst the G8 leaders.
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Zimbabwe: A balance sheet
by: Edwin Madunagu
THE Zimbabwe story which appeared on the African News page of The Guardian of February 28, 2006, arrested my attention. Eventually it became the inspiration for this article. Titled Zimbabwe's opposition leader seeks unity against Mugabe regime, the story was a report of a press conference addressed by Arthur Mutambara who had just been elected factional leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the leading opposition political movement in Zimbabwe - at least before its recent crisis. I am making three distillations from what Mutambara was reported to have told the press in Bulawayo, southeast Zimbabwe.
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Nigeria and the Charles Taylor affair
by: Reuben Abati
THE humiliation, embarrassment and near-disgrace that President Olusegun Obasanjo and Nigeria suffered on account of the politics of the removal of Charles Taylor from this country would seem to have overshadowed Nigeria's altruism in the matter. Nigeria deserves more praise than condemnation, in addition to an apology from Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia, who with American backing, appears to have treated Nigeria rather unkindly.
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The Eclipse of Charles Taylor
by: Olufemi Meyungbe-Olufunmilade
"Why did Abner have to die like a fool? His hands were not tied, And his feet were not bound; he died like someone killed by criminals" - II Samuel 3:33-34 (Good News Bible).
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Interview: Why the trial of Taylor should hold in Sierra Leone, Amnesty International
by: AbdulWahab Abdulah
Former President of Liberia, Mr Charles Ghankay Taylor, was arrested recently while trying to escape from Nigeria, where he has been on exile since 2003. He was later transferred to Freetown, Sierra-Leone where he was on Monday arraigned on eleven count charge of committing grievous crimes such as murder, inflicting physical injuries, child soldiering, forced labour and other crimes against humanity
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Tsholotsho saga: the untold story (PART 1)
by: Jonathan Moyo
AS President Robert Mugabe’s days in office become numbered with less than 23 uncertain months before the expiry of his current disputed tenure that will end his controversial rule since 1980, the ruling Zanu PF is finding itself in a triple trap that is turning its long delayed and now acrimonious search for Mugabe’s successor into an ill-fated affair.
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Charles Taylor and the international community
by: Edwin Madunagu
The story of Charles Taylor - just like those of Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia and Saddam Hussein of Iraq, among others -shows very clearly the nature and character of the forces that now rule the world, the near-total control they exert over our affairs, and the roles they make us, or rather, our "leaders", play. They call themselves the "international community" and, under that cover, commit heinous crimes and tell horrible lies. Uncritically we appropriated the term, and use it as if it include us. But the term "international community" does not include us and was not mean to. There is, of course, a reconstituted global system which is dominated by the new imperialism.
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Religion and Fanaticism
by: Augustine C. Ohanwe
There is a widely held view that one particular religion provides an incubating hatchery for religious fanaticism. Contrary to the bias permutation of this advocates, the virus of fanaticism exists in just more than one religion and Christianity has its own fair share. Eliphas Levi states that "fanaticism is superstition become passionate, its name comes from the word "fanum" which signifies "temple", it is the temple put in the place of God, it is the human and temporal interest of the priest substituted for the honour of priesthood, the wretched passion of man exploiting the faith of the believer".
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Third Term: The Failure of the Nigerian Revolutionaries
by: Hilary Ojukwu
Today, you come across a good number of people that when you tell them you are from Nigeria, they will subject you to bullets of questions. Questions like why are Nigerians poor despite the richness in resources and the high rate of literacy? Why is the government so corrupt? Why don’t you guys have a stable supply of electricity even though you have oil wealth? Nigeria is the sixth largest supplier of fuel and fuel-related products in the world, yet Nigerians do not enjoy constant supply of power. In fact, “no light” is the rule rather than the exception. Some of these inquisitive people a Nigerian runs into continue to barrage him with questions. There are those that want to know if you are a “drug dealer” or what.
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Millennium goals: Fake and real
by: Edwin Madunagu
NINE months into the new millennium, in September 2000, representatives of the 191 states that make up the United Nations gathered at the organisation's headquarters in New York, United States of America. The meeting was called a summit because it was planned to be attended by Heads of Governments. At the end of their deliberations, officially designated as the United Nations Millennium Summit, the government leaders endorsed a document embodying eight Millennium Development Goals or MDGs, which they hoped would be met by, or for, the world's "poor nations" in 15 years, that is by the end of 2015.
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The Nigerian Labour Congress: A Movement in Limbo
by: Hilary Ojukwu
One Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress in an interview he gave last week proclaimed that he does not see any reason why the Nigerian Labour Movement must get involved in the struggle to stop the amendment of the constitution. If the constitution is amended as planned, the incumbent President and probably the governors will have the chance for another term of four years in office and progressive Nigerians want to know what they want to achieve in the next four years that they could not achieve in the last eight years.
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Notes on the 'democratic ideal'
by: Edwin Madunagu
"DEMOCRACY may have been promoted as the best of all political systems, but it has long been a rare form of actual government", so declared Ignacio Ramonet in the March 2006 issue of Le Monde Diplomatique. Very true. The author then offered an explanation of this problem: "It is difficult for any regime entirely to live up to the democratic ideal". What is this ideal? Ramonet's answer: "That the strong should treat the weak well and that any abuse of power should be genuinely and unreservedly condemned". If we accept Ramonet's thesis, then the "difficulty" could have arisen either from the very nature of the state, political regimes and governance, or the nature of democracy, or both. Ramonet's short and sharp front-page article, titled "Democracy to order, leans more heavily on the former"
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Africa should learn from Malawi
by: Caesar Zvayi
ONE brazen colonial priest, Father Albert Schweitzer, was once quoted saying: "The African is my brother, but he is my young brother." This statement aptly summed up the colonial mindset steeped in the "big brother syndrome" that considers Africans a child race incapable of making their own decisions. Such attitudes permeate writings by people like Joseph Conrad (The Heart of Darkness 1899) who labelled Africa a "dark-continent" from which nothing good ever comes out. Other settlers considered theirs to be "the white man’s burden" to "civilise" Africans, whom they said needed permanent guardianship. Former apartheid South Africa president P. W. Botha summed this thinking in a speech he delivered to his Cabinet
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Help Darfur Now!
by: Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General
The agreement signed on May 5 between the Government of Sudan and the largest rebel movement in Darfur gives the world one more chance to bring peace to that unhappy region. But we need to act very urgently if that opportunity is not to be lost. The talks that led to the agreement were long and very hard. Many people share the credit for bringing them to an at least partly successful conclusion.
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Renewal and re-dedication
by: Edwin Madunagu
On Monday, May 15, 2006, in Calabar, a public event was organised by a couple of my friends and comrades to mark my 60th birthday. The celebration featured a lecture on Building Popular Democracy in Nigeria, a presentation and review of my book of essays, tributes and a short response from me. Below is the text of my response, slightly revised for clarity.
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Why Is Africa Hungry ?
by: Olayinka oyegbile
No one would ever contradict the fact that Africa is in need of improving how its food is produced and preserved. This is because the process of food production and preservation is still largely at subsistence level and except for some few countries, which you can count at your fingertips, food production, or agriculture generally, is still dominated by the system used by our forefathers.
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Virginity scandal in Africa
by: Laetitia A'daudu
There was a time in Africa when virginity was celebrated, and sex before marriage was taboo. That was why Kenya's First Lady Mrs. Lucy Kibaki thought she could boldly tell some young people at a prize-giving ceremony to stay away from pre-marital sex in order to avoid the HIV/ AIDS virus. If she thought she was going to receive applause after her speech,
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The Kingdom of Nepal
by: Edwin Madunagu
More remote, in location and sound of name, than pre-2001 Afghanistan, the kingdom of Nepal is bordered in the north by China and in the south, east and west by India. It has an estimated total population of 27.7 million and a land area of 136,800 square kilometers. There are several ethnic groups, languages and dialects. Nepali is the official language. There is a state religion; and it is Hinduism whose adherents are said to account for about 81 per cent of the population. Other religions are listed as Buddhism (11 per cent) and Islam (4 per cent). The remaining 4 per cent may be "Communists" and "Maoist rebels". Nepal was the birthplace of Gautama Buddah, the founder of Buddhism.
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Keeping the G8's promises to the poor
by: Kemal Dervis
WHEN the Group of Eight convenes in St. Petersburg Saturday for the annual summit of the leading industrialised nations, the world's developing countries will be watching with keen interest and raised expectations.
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A Commitment To End Ivoirien Crisis
by: IFEOHA AZIKIWE
THE international community has once again reaffirmed its commitment to the Ivoirien peace process. On 5th July, 2006 a high-level mini-summit of stakeholders was held in Yamoussoukro to discuss the implementation of the roadmap to peace in C™te d'Ivoire. Convened at the instance of the United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Kofi Annan, participants at the summit considered in great detail thorny issues in the lingering Ivoirien crises as well as the elections scheduled to hold in October this year.
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Defending history: Palestine
by: Edwin Madunagu
THE war started on June 28, 2006 when, according to reports, an Israeli soldier was captured on the Israeli-Gaza border by Hamas, a leading Palestinian resistance group. The fighting then sharply expanded two weeks later on July 12, when two Israeli soldiers were seized in Northern Israel by Hezbollah, a leading nationalist organisation in Lebanon. It was reported that in each case some Israeli soldiers were also killed. We know what the Israeli state and the "international community" did in response. The Gaza and Lebanese kidnappings were widely believed to be linked and to be aimed at compelling the state of Israel to release some of the hundreds of Palestinians and Lebanese held in Israeli prisons - majority of them for several years. The incarcerated people are essentially prisoners-of-war, and the resistance fighters in Palestine and Lebanon wanted a prisoner-exchange.
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How African president’s son blew millions
by: Sunday Times
TEODORO Nguema Obiang, the fabulously wealthy son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, has provided an intimate glimpse into his extravagant lifestyle during a court battle over his luxury assets
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Blacks are the biggest racists
by: culled from the Sunday Times
AFRICANS are South Africa’s worst racists — and fellow Africans are their main victims. These are the findings of a nationwide survey conducted by Plus 94 Research, a marketing research company. An affiliate of the Gallup group, it interviewed 2000 people about their experiences at shops, hospitals, transport outlets, municipal offices, financial institutions and other places.
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The politics of Nigerian corruption
by: culled from BBC
Nigeria is ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Daily, low-level corruption is visible on the street; policeman extorting money from motorists to supplement their meagre wages.
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What the West dumps on African shores
by: Reuters
London - A scandal around the dumping of oil waste blamed for eight deaths in Ivory Coast has given rare insight into the world's murky trade in waste, much of it toxic, in defiance of global trade laws.
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To South Africa for medical treatment
by: Chief Gani Fawehinmi
FLYING the survivors of the military air crash of Sunday September 17, 2006 to South Africa for medical treatment has again brought to the fore the squalid and horrible state of the medial services in Nigeria
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Understanding the current situation
by: Edwin Madunagu
I SHALL proceed by means of three propositions. Proposition 1: All the current battles notwithstanding, the dominant political issue at the time of writing is the succession to the present regime
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Darfur: A responsibility we all share
by: Kofi A. Annan
THE glimmer of hope that many of us felt when the Darfur Peace Agreement was signed four months ago-albeit by only two of the parties-is being extinguished by renewed fighting among the factions. In violation of the Agreement, thousands of Sudanese government troops have been deployed to the area, and it has been subjected to renewed aerial bombing
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Africa needs help but not insults
by: Frontline Africa
When the news made the headlines that Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone the Queen of Pop was adopting a Malawian boy during her recent visit to Malawi, it was strongly denounced as a lie.
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INTERVIEW: Stories from Africa for Africa
by: culled from Mail and Guardian
Stephanie Wolters interviewed Uduak Amimo, the new senior editorial adviser to the BBC World Service, about the media on the continent today
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Africa Paddy Paddy government
by: Olayinka Oyegbile
Have you asked yourself why Africa is stunted? Have you ever wondered why the continent has remained stuck like a record in the groove?
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China in Africa: Boon or burden?
by: Lindsay Beck | Beijing, China
When workers rioted at a Chinese-owned copper mine in Zambia, it symbolised the worst of China's deepening relationship with Africa. China, it seemed, was going after the continent's natural resources to feed its own booming economy, handing out grants and loans to ease entry for its companies and blind to standards of human rights and governance.
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Is the African peer review mechanism losing its integrity?
by: Zanele Twala
THE African Peer Review Mechanism is one of the most comprehensive and ambitious projects that the African continent has ever embarked on, since the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). To date, the process has commanded a lot of interest and has been embraced in a very positive way by donors, strategic partners and those African states that have signed up to it. In the words of the UNDP Regional Director, at the May 2006 African Governance Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, "Indeed APRM has developed an expectation for Africa to tackle the governance problems, which stand as an obstacle for its development" .
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For Margaret Ekpo
by: Edwin Madunagu
POLITICAL historians have established that, by force of arms and military conquest, the "bulk of what is now Nigeria became British territory in the period between 1885 and 1914" - thereby completing a process that started about 80 years earlier. Our younger generations may be offended by the term "British territory"; but that is what it was: The colonialists came, conquered and took over the various territories as theirs and turned the original owners to slaves and servants. A few among the dispossessed "natives" were selected as guards over their compatriots. Even then, the "privileged" few were regarded as second-degree human beings.
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China: Trade not aid to Africa
by: Emmanuel Onwubiko
DURING my nearly one month sojourn in China last year as part of the 13-member Africa Journalists team, 1 stumbled on a number of articles on the internet dealing with the rapidly increasing interest in Africa by one of the world's fastest growing economies - "China". In the course of further research, I came to a conclusion that there is an urgent need for the developed economies of the world to engage more with the developing economies in Africa in trade rather than laying much emphasis on foreign aid.
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Standing up for democracy in Kenya
by: Wale Okediran
THE recently concluded Parliamentary Hearing on Sustainable Energy which took place at the OL Tukai Lodge of the Amboseli National Park in Kenya was another opportunity for legislators from all over the world to compare notes on the very important business of governance which is their primary assignment.
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World's richest 1% own 40% of wealth
by: James Randerson
The richest 1% of adults in the world own 40% of the planet’s wealth, according to the largest study yet of wealth distribution. The report also finds that those in financial services and the internet sectors predominate among the super-rich.
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What I have learned
by: Kofi Annan
NEARLY 50 years ago, when I arrived in Minnesota as a student fresh from Africa, I had much to learn - starting with the fact that there is nothing wimpish about wearing earmuffs when it is 15 degrees below zero. All my life since has been a learning experience. Now I want to pass on five lessons I have learned during 10 years as secretary general of the United Nations that I believe the community of nations needs to learn as it confronts the challenges of the 21st century.
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Liberia: A year of slow progress
by: Ledgerhood Rennie, BBC, Monrovia
One year after Africa's first elected female head of state, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, started the massive job of rebuilding war-shattered Liberia, her government has made a good start but still faces huge challenges.
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Yorkshire clan linked to Africa
by: BBC
People of African origin have lived in Britain for centuries, according to genetic evidence.
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Is Ghana Ready For Annan?
by: Graphic Ghana
The hero’s work has come full circle and Ghanaians are currently basking in the glory of Kofi Annan’s landmark global achievements after 10 years in the stressful UN Secretary General’s job.
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Somalia: AU awakened from Slumber
by: Hermon Ogbamichael
Many major international news organizations have reported that Somalia finally experienced its first respite in 16 years of utter anarchy and terror at the hands of the looting warlords who drove out UN peacekeepers in 1993. Since the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) seized control of Mogadishu on 5 June 2006, life in Mogadishu was getting better, and people were optimistic. There were far fewer checkpoints, where gunmen used to extort money from passing motorists and commercial vehicles. The UIC gunmen did operate roadblocks but they did not demand payment from civilians. The Airport and port activities were back again after 16 years.
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Nigeria's angry oil militant in court
by: Senan Murray, BBC
Nigerian oil militant Mujahid Dokubo-Asari lived up to his fiery reputation as he angrily appeared in the Federal High Court, Abuja for what should have been the start of his treason trial.
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The African Union and the Sudan
by: Nigerian Guardian Newspapers
FOR the second time in succession the African Union (AU), denied the government of the Sudan its right to assume the chairmanship of the organisation because of members' and indeed global concerns about the situation in the country's Darfur region. Darfur has become a sore on the African conscience and it is time the AU went beyond symbolism for a more robust interventionist programme to end the crisis.
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History, platforms and prospects
by: Edwin Madunagu
IN Nigeria, most of the people who aspire to high-profile elective positions first announce their ambitions, and then seek political platforms on which to realise them. The sequence contrasts with that of "advanced democracies" where ambitions are announced within the context of established political platforms. In our own democracy, the ambition, not the platform, is categorical in the first instance; and the former is not conditional on the latter.
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Salute to Ghana - 50 years on!
by: President Thabo Mbeki
FIFTY YEARS AGO, as Ghana prepared to accede to independence on 6 March 1957, the all-white parliament of apartheid South Africa was engaged in an intense and protracted debate of the "Flags Amendment Bill". The Bill had been introduced by a member of the ruling National Party (NP) effectively to end the use of the British Union Jack as a South African national flag.
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Gaddafi: Libya 'let down' by West
by: BBC News
In an exclusive interview with the BBC's diplomatic correspondent James Robbins in the town of Sebha, Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi says his country has not been properly compensated for renouncing its nuclear weapons programme in 2003.
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Freedom from racism - a fundamental human right
by: President Thabo Mbeki
TWO DAYS BEFORE THE publication of the next edition of this journal, our country will celebrate Human Rights Day, March 21st, bestowed to the nation by the patriots who were massacred at Sharpeville on this day in 1960. I am therefore pleased to dedicate this Letter to the forthcoming Human Rights Day, which, from all points of view, is one of our most important public holidays. I genuinely hope that all South Africans, black and white, will make a special effort to attend the public events that have been organised to celebrate this pre-eminent day on our national calendar.
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The legacy of slavery
by: BBC News
What do we mean by the legacy of slavery? Is it something measurable - or perhaps a feeling that echoes of a terrible past can still be heard today?
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Christianity and homosexuality
by: Maxwell Ukpebor
IT is quite disturbing to realise that one of the most vociferous condemnations of the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill 2006 being proposed to be passed into law in Nigeria is coming from the United States Church leaders.
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Campaign by the West against Zim doomed
by: Abayomi Azikiwe
IN this article ABAYOMI AZIKIWE details how Western governments and their corporate media partners work in concert to destabilise countries targeted for illegal regime change. He argues that the Western sponsored campaign against President Mugabe is a smokescreen to divert attention from Western defeat in Iraq and an attempt to undo Zimbabwe’s independence.
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There are no votes in London
by: Peter Mavunga
IN his article in the Mail on Sunday last week, a member of the British Government, Mr Peter Hain, was unequivocal: "Mugabe must go and go now."
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Ghana, John La Rose and African revolution
by: G.G. Darah
ON March 6 this year, the people of Ghana marked the 50th year of their independence from British colonial rule. Ghana, the former Gold Coast, was the first British colony in Africa to achieve that revolutionary feat. That epochal event occurred in 1957, three years to that of Nigeria in 1960 and 10 years after India set the pace in 1947. The political forces and movements that facilitated the anti-colonial struggle in Africa were initiated by African-Caribbean and African-American radical thinkers and activists in the early 20th century. They included W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Aurelius Garvey, Sylvester Williams, George Padmore, C.L.R. James, and John La Rose.
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History and political infiltration
by: Edwin Madunagu
PROFESSOR Ikenna Nzimiro's book, The rise and fall of African leaders, is essentially an account of the author's political "stewardship" under Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, General Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, and General Ibrahim Babangida. He called the account a "critical" narration. I think this is true of the 452-page book published in 1996. But it has other attributes. Comrade Nzimiro gave the periods of stewardship as: (1946-1950) under Azikiwe; (1952 and beyond) under Nkrumah; (1967-1970) under Ojukwu; and (1985-1992) under Babangida.
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Obasanjo's economic legacy
by: Edwin Madunagu
IT was a short letter to the editor. Yet, it managed to present, in an ordinary language, a complete thesis on President Olusegun Obasanjo's economic and social legacy. Writing from Lagos in the March 28, 2007 issue of The Guardian, Lekan Alabu said: "In the history of this great country, Nigeria, whether under military dictatorship or liberal democracy, there is no other government that has ever vigorously pursued World Bank's programmes more than Chief Olusegun Obasanjo". The inspiration for Alabu's assessment - from which he derived his caption - was the recent appointment of Nigeria's Federal Minister of Education, Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili, as World Bank's Vice President for Africa. The letter was titled: "Ezekwesili's appointment".
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Presidential election: Neither free nor fair
by: Muhammadu Buhari
PRAISE be to God to Whom all praise is due. INEC have announced to the world the most blatantly rigged election results ever produced in Nigeria surpassing even the massive fraud of 2003. Constituency reports from all over the country relate the same story: Late arrival of officials at polling booths. Late arrival of voting papers. Severe shortage of ballot, ink or writing materials. Presidential ballot papers arrived in loose form without serial numbers. More than half of the states of Nigeria received half or less the number of Presidential ballot papers due to them according to their registered voters. In short, more than half of the electorate has been disfranchised.
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The man Umar Musa Yar'adua
by: Olusola Balogun, Snr.
Governor Umaru Yar’Adua of Katsina State was on Monday announced as the winner of last Saturday’s presidential polls.
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HIV/AIDS and the African female
by: Godswill Odeku
WITH increasing and intense efforts at contemplating and executing interventions the world over with regards to checkmating the spread of HIV/AIDS and other pandemics such as tuberculosis, malaria, diabetes, and so on and so forth, it is becoming increasingly obvious that there exists a special group that could appropriately be referred to as an endangered species. This unique group is spread out across the African continent. You find them in all the countries that constitute the continent. They are the feminine gender represented here as the African female.
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French elections and Global Africa
by: By James Kariuki
Last week Nicolas Sarkozy won the French presidential elections beating his socialist rival, Segolene Royal. <br><br> Since Sarkozy is ideologically from the right and Royal from the left, one would have expected major differences between the candidates regarding relations between France and Africa. That was not the case.
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Yar'Adua: The New Man
by: Reuben Abati
What is certain for now about Umar Musa Yar'Adua, Nigeria new President in 17 days, is that his style will be different from that of his Godfather and predecessor in office, President Olusegun Obasanjo.
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What is sub-Sahara Africa?
by: Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe
FOR the West's leading news organisations (CNN, BBC, International Herald Tribune, Reuters, Associated Press, Fox News, Yahoo! News, etc., etc), the recent commemoration of 50 years of Ghana's restoration-of-independence (after the British conquest and occupation) occasioned, once again, the increasing absurdity that underscores these agencies' understanding of the fundamentals of political geography in describing Africa.
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African Women and the Politics of Exclusion
by: Godswill Odeku
As the polls in Nigeria come and go they leave certain nostalgia in keen watchers of the political metabolism on the continent of Africa.
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Reappraising the Niger Delta Question
by: Godswill Odeku
In recent times tension in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria has escalated to unprecedented levels due to militancy exerted on the region by her youth. This tension has played out in various forms ranging from destruction to oil exploration facilities to hostage taking focused on foreigners. To a large extent, the socio-economic atmosphere in the region has been compromised with a climate of fear and uncertainty of life pervading precariously amongst inhabitants. The people’s means of livelihood has suddenly assumed a factor in inevitable vulnerability.
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Thoughtfulness and Corporate Social Responsibility: The Case for NLNG
by: Godswill A. Odeku
Opportunities are always saddled with responsibilities. They go side by side. The various communities of the Niger Delta where oil and gas exploration, development and conservation are ongoing are hard put to provide circumstances conducive for the smooth run of business for multinationals involved in the industry.
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UNITED STATES OF AFRICA: A mortal danger for Black Africans
by: Chinweizu
Is there any black African, whether in the homeland or the Diaspora, who doesn’t want, by yesterday, a Black Africa that is prosperous, secure from exploiters and invaders, and is respected by the whole world, like China or Japan is? That, I believe, is the basic aspiration driving the desire for Continental African Unity, as attempted through the OAU/AU, and now through this proposed USAfrica.
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US of Africa: A dangerous proposition
by: Chris Akiri
DURING the 9th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) held recently in Accra, Ghana, where incidentally, Nigeria's President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, shone like a lode-star, proponents of a union government for Africa intuited a so-called "Grand Debate on Union Government". Presidents Yar'Adua of Nigeria and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, among a few others, were vociferous in their rejection of the odious 'United States of Africa' project, which Col. Muammar Gadaffi of Libya has been disingenuously propounding before, and particularly since 2001 on the pretext of promoting the Nkrumahist pan-African dream.
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Fela: A revolutionary musician
by: By Lanre Arogundade and Segun Sango
AT a point in time, it became necessary for Fela to reply critiques who felt that his lyrics were over-laced with doomsday chants. <br><br> "If something good I go sing about
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Imperialism and terrorism
by: Edwin Madunagu
THE title of this article should not be construed to mean that imperialism, or rather the new imperialism - associated with neoliberal capitalist globalisation and the coming into being of a "unipolar" world - is the origin or cause of terrorism. That view would be grotesquesly reductionist, apart from being historically false. Terrorism, in its general sense, is much older than capitalism and capitalist imperialism. This is clear from even a casual glance at political history.
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Neo Warfare
by: Ivan Simic
In our World, there are lots of countries, nations, languages, religions, cultures, costumes but also lots of disagreements. History has it that there was never peace and respect among nations since the formation of the first State. From the beginning of the first conflict till date, wars have been fought for the same cause: political differences, trade, religion, liberation, dynasty, seizure of territory, the annihilation of a rival State, the destruction of the enemy's ability to prosecute military action, revolution or genocide.
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Mugabe's hold on Africans
by: BBC's Peter Biles
Despite an economy in turmoil, four-figure inflation and the exodus of millions to neighbouring countries, Zimbabwe's president can rely on the support of his African peers. Peter Biles spoke to one of them in a bid to discover Robert Mugabe's secret.
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There are alternatives
by: Edwin Madunagu
THE first time I came across the word TINA in politics I was confused. That was about two years ago. I knew that many personal names, mainly female, end with TINA. I had also met people, exclusively female, who claimed that their own TINA was not a shortened form of a longer name, but a full name. But I had never, before then, encountered the word in politics. And I was annoyed (or is it embarrassed) that the foreign columnist I was reading had simply assumed that it was a common word that his readers should know. After overcoming my confusion, I embarked on a frantic search. The result was an anti-climax: TINA stands for "There is no alternative". I took the meaning back to the text.
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Sarkozy: Africa policy shift
by: By Henri Astier, BBC News
Nicolas Sarkozy became French president in May promising "rupture" on every possible issue - and he made clear that the old corrupt ties with former African colonies were among the items to be ditched.
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Ghaddafi: From bad boy to big brother
by: Wale Okediran
AS part of celebrations to mark the 8th Anniversary of the creation of the African Union, I was recently invited by the Libyan General Council for Culture to take part in a symposium in the historical city of Sirte, the administrative capital of Libya as well as the birth place of Libyan mercurial leader, Muammar El Ghaddafi. Tagged "From the organisation of African Unity to the African Union", the symposium took place at the same Ouagadougou Conference Halls Complex venue of the inauguration of the African Union on September 9, 1999.
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The spirit of Steve Biko has not died
by: President Thabo Mbeki
On the tragic day in our country 30 years ago, 12 September 1977, the Chairperson of the UN Special Committee against Apartheid was the Ambassador Leslie O Harriman, the Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at the UN. This was the day that Stephen Bantu Biko died, after sustained and merciless torture by the Security Police of the apartheid regime.
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European Union: The Grand Experiment
by: Ivan Simic
The European Union (EU) is a multinational union, established in 1993. The EU is made up of twenty-seven Member States. First, the EU was established as the European Economic Community in 1957 by the Treaty of Rome and has since undergone many changes. The EU has a single market between member states with common trade policy. Important EU institutions and bodies include the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the Council of the European Union, the European Court of Justice and the European Central Bank, among others.
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Lucky Dube: The singing peacemaker
by: BBC News
During his lifetime South African reggae star Lucky Dube was a man on a mission to make the world a better place. "Hey you Rasta man. Hey European, Indian man. We've got to come together as one," go the lyrics to his anti-apartheid hit Together as One.
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Dark Clouds In The Rainbow Nation
by: TONY OKEREGBE
BY its appellation as the 'rainbow nation', the Republic of South Africa prides itself as the champion of cultural inclusivity, a potpourri of nationalities, a melting pot of all races, and an alluring environment for commerce and industry. If there is one country on the African continent (if not the world) that deserves to be seen as a global Cosmo polis, it is South Africa. Aided by the concourse of history and nature, this strategically located_meeting-point of nature flanked by two rich civilizations, became a landmark for many explorers and economic scavengers in the modern age.
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Murderous Xenophobia In South Africa
by: Nigerian Guardian
EVERY right-thinking African would be embarrassed and mortified by the horrendous images that have emerged from South Africa over the past fortnight. In premeditated and well-orchestrated xenophobic attacks, black South Africans have set upon immigrants from Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and elsewhere, looting their homes, destroying their businesses, and inflicting grievous bodily injuries with clear intentions to kill. As at last count, no fewer than 42 immigrants had been killed in the townships around Johannesburg, the country's economic capital. Thousands of immigrants have since sought refuge in churches, police compounds and other temporary safe havens.
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Is Mr Raila Amolo Odinga under siege?
by: By Oscar Obonyo
Prime Minister Raila Odinga stoked the embers of the Orange Dream to rule Kenya after President Kibaki to rekindle the party’s vibrant spirit in one of its low seasons.
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How to feed Africa
by: Paul Ejime
AS expected, reactions to the global food crisis from world leaders, governments, international organisations such as the UN agencies, development partners and other concerned groups and individuals, have been as mixed, varied and diverse as those offering them.
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Niger Delta, media coverage and conflicting signals
by: Levi Obijiofor
THERE is an ongoing debate in academic and non-academic community, including diplomatic groups about the ability of the news media to influence government policy aimed at resolving conflicts. At the international level, the argument is framed to suggest that sustained media coverage of a conflict usually propels governments to develop policies to resolve the conflict. This is the phenomenon frequently referred to as the "CNN effect", a term derived from the perceived global impact of the Cable News Network (CNN).
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How Mboya fought back but lost the battle
by: Peter Orengo, The Standard
In this second installation on the life and times of Tom Mboya, we revisits the intrigues in the first post-colonial Cabinet that primed the former minister for an early grave.
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Revealed: Mboma's fatal links with the CIA
by: Douglas Okwatch
Fresh details of a conspiracy that could have provided a motive for the assassination of Cabinet Minister Thomas Joseph Mboya have emerged ahead of the 39th year since his death.
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CIA and genesis of Jaramogi’s and Raila’s ‘rebellious’ streak
by: Douglas Okwatch
The ‘isolate and crush’ tactics America’s Criminal Intelligence Agency used to alienate Mzee Jomo Kenyatta in favour of Tom Mboya (TJ) and then tame Jaramogi Oginga Odinga have been deployed against Prime minister Raila Odinga.
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Is Africa the sick baby of the world?
by: Luke Onyekakeyah
AS the 34th G8 summit holding July 7-9 2008, kicked off in Toyako on the Japanese Island of Hokkaido, Africa, for the umpteenth time, has been spotlighted on the agenda of the meeting. Three years ago in Gleneagles, Scotland, at a similar G-8 summit, Africa took a centre stage in the discussions. At that meeting, the leaders of G-8 countries made pledges to double aid to the continent to the tune of $25 billion by 2010 and expedite action on debt cancellation of the most heavily indebted poor countries. What has happened since then?
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Africa in the eyes of the West
by: Levi Obijiofor
THE way Africa is reported in the western news media and the image of Africa that has emerged from the reportage of Africa has remained a touchy topic of discussion among African and western political leaders, journalists and scholars. The debate is not likely to end soon essentially because nothing has changed in the way the West reports Africa. In the 21st century, western media's fascination for negative news about Africa has remained as intense as it was during Africa's colonial experience.
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Kibaki friends: Discontent increases over new alliance
by: David Ochami
President Kibaki has made new friends in a quiet shift of ideology — a move causing disquiet among Kenya’s traditional Western allies, The Standard can reveal. <br><br> The exposure of a series of deals discreetly cut between Nairobi and Tripoli illustrates how close Kibaki has become to Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi.
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Removing Mandela's name from Terror List
by: Nigerian Guardian
THE United States Congress, working with that country's executive arm of government has agreed to officially strike off the name of former South African President, Nelson Mandela and his allies in the long struggle against apartheid from the official list of terrorists. The de-listing is being planned to coincide with the 90th birthday of the living legend and symbol of the South African liberation struggle.
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Dialectics of development
by: Edwin Madunagu
ON January 13, 1986, General Ibrahim Babangida, as military President of Nigeria, inaugurated a 17-member committee in Abuja. Called the Political Bureau, the committee of 15 men and two women was charged with the responsibility of producing a sociopolitical "blueprint" for Nigeria's projected return to civilian democratic rule.
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A toast to Mandela at 90
by: Austine Ezaza
FRIDAY, July 18, 2008 apparently shall be a remarkable weekend. While for so many people in different parts of the world it shall be the routine 'thank God, it is Friday' it shall be more than so for our brothers in South Africa and especially for Papa Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela and his immediate family. For him it shall be a time to reminisce and no doubt clink glasses with well-wishers for the goodness of the Almighty God to him. The living legend turns 90 this weekend. No doubt, Papa Nelson Mandela has more than a dozen reasons to celebrate especially when he looks back. From the fragile and promising boyhood days at Transkei region of South Africa to the formative days of ANC and PAC, he will recall his hazardous days at Robben Island as a political prisoner carrying a tag 466/64 and certainly it shall be a time to reflect on his ultimate 'long walk to freedom'.
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Okosun: Artist and revolutionary
by: Jide Oyewusi
THE entertainment industry has again been hit by another catastrophe and tragedy. Sonny Okosun, the Ozidi apostle is no more, and everyone who knew him, particularly his past roles, has since been thrown into deep mourning. The news of certain deaths are rather too incredible and shocking, and leaves one totally incapacitated and helpless. Sometimes, one felt like taking up the gauntlet and marching violently against the monster called death, if it were possible. Yet, its abode remains shrouded in mystery and man continues to be at the mercy of an invisible malevolent force.
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Nelson Mandela at 90
by: Nigerian Guardian
TODAY, Mr. Nelson Mandela, the first black African President of a democratic South Africa and Nobel Laureate, attains the age of 90 years. Born on Thursday, July 18, 1918, at Mvezo, a tiny village on the banks of the Mbashe River in the district of Umtata, the capital of the Transkei, Nelson Rolihlahla ('troublemaker') Mandela was the son of a Xhosa-speaking Thembu chief, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa. He attended the University of Forte Hare in Alice, where he became involved in fervid political struggle against the racial discrimination practised in South Africa.
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Why is Africa still so poor?
by: Akpeki Akemu
IN her two-part article entitled, "Now it is time to seek a newer world", published in The Guardian on May 26 and 27, 2008. Mrs. Feyi Soluade-George reiterated the now familiar story of the Africa's exploitation by the European Empires; initially through the heinous trans-Atlantic slave trade of Africa and then by the continent's colonisation in the name of propagating the three Cs: Christianity, commerce and civilisation. She argued that, while formal colonialism has lost political currency in today's world, a new form of economic enslavement has arisen to take its place. This new form of colonisation is not fostered by guns but by the pens of the World Bank and IMF. I quote from Mrs. George's article:
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Deceptions of Elections
by: Ivan Simic
Elections, decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or party to hold formal office. This is the usual mechanism by which modern democracy fills offices in the legislature, sometimes in the executive and judiciary, and for regional and local government.
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Britain, Mugabe, Zimbabwe, Africa
by: Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe
DESPITE the unprecedented overdrive of its diplomatic pressure on African heads of regime during the recent African Union assembly in Egypt, Britain failed abysmally to persuade the summit to condemn Zimbabwe's June 2008 rigged elections. For the Brown administration, this failure was a disappointing anticlimax in a season of sustained publicity blitz across Britain in which the state and media found a rare common purpose and a convergence of opinion on the subject of the demonisation of Robert Mugabe. The typecasting was unmistakeably swift and assured: Mugabe became the purveyor or indeed inventor of election rigging in Africa, the grotesque human rights violator, the quintessential, fiendishly-sutured African dictator.
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Dialectics of development (2)
by: Edwin Madunagu
THIS is the second part of my review of Professor Otonti Nduka's book, "The roots of African underdevelopment and other essays".
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Before Al-Bashir goes on trial
by: Paul Ejime
UNBIASED justice-loving observers must be wondering or even scandalised at the diplomatic flurry spearheaded by the usually lethargic African Union (AU) and the Arab League to save Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir from facing the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The perplexing diplomatic frenzy does not only contrast sharply with the shameful ineffectiveness of the international community including the two organisations, at ending the pogrom in the north African country's troubled western region of Darfur, but raises the fundamental question about the true meaning of justice in a world that professes democracy, fundamental human rights and international justice.
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Radovan Karadzic: One Way Ticket to The Hague
by: Ivan Simic
Recently, former 1st President of Republika Srpska, and one of the world most wanted fugitives was arrested in Belgrade by the Serbian authorities after alleged tip-off from a foreign intelligence service. Radovan Karadzic was a fugitive since 1995 after having been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). A $5 million reward had been offered for his arrest by the United States Government. Since his arrest many reactions and questions has been raised around the world.
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In Cape Town, Africa was shy
by: Toyin Akinosho
CHRIS Kirubi, the businessman from Kenya, seemed quite upset. <br><br> "Who is that Nigerian running down the continent?" he queried. " I need to have a meeting with him".
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The indictment of Omar Al-Bashir
by: Nigerian Guardian
WITHIN two weeks that the prosecutor in charge of Darfur, Luis Moreno-Ocampo filed 10 charges of war crimes against Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir at the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Sudanese president has suddenly woken up to the seriousness of the situation in Darfur, the world community's consideration of it, as well as the emerging realities of his own situation, now and in future. He has visited (and reportedly danced in) Darfur, possibly for the very first time since the crisis there erupted in 2003.
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Ekwe-Ekwe on Robert Mugabe
by: Edwin Madunagu
I THOROUGHLY enjoyed the two-part article, Britain, Mugabe, Zimbabwe, Africa (The Guardian, July 24 and 25, 2008 contributed by Dr. Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe. Of course, I have always enjoyed reading Ekwe-Ekwe since I first met him almost three decades ago. I like the July article for its form, language and timing - in addition to its content. The piece is serious, "hard-hitting", bold, and brilliant. A word or two about the author may, perhaps, help some readers, not familiar with him, to appreciate him and his writings better.
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Georgia vs. South Ossetia: From Conflict to Major War
by: Ivan Simic
On August 8, 2008, South Ossetia attracted world's attention when Russian military forces entered Georgian territory, and seriously interfered in the Georgian-South Ossetian unresolved conflict. This conflict is well known to the world, yet, current Russian military intervention helped amplify the dispute.
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Africans for Obama 2008?
by: Chris Akiri
I WITNESSED the launch, on Friday, July 18, 2008, of the Africans for Obama 2008 group, which, for the time being, at least, is said to be a non-profit-making and non-governmental organisation, masterminded by the ebullient and versatile lady, Prof. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, PhD, OON, chairman of Transcorp and Director-General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, a Federal Government parastatal. The event took place at the Golden Gate Restaurant, Ikoyi, Lagos . In her keynote address, which she delivered with aplomb and information, and almost extempore, the well-informed professor drew attention to the fact that "history is being made in the United States of America."
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The South Ossetia War: A Week after Russian Intervention
by: Ivan Simic
Since the beginning of the Georgian-South Ossetian war on August 7, many things have changed, both on political and battle field.
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From Saddam to Karadzic
by: Edwin Madunagu
THE capture, on July 21, 2008, in Belgrade, of the war-time Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, and his subsequent transfer to The Hague, have moved two historical objectives near final triumph. The aim of the European Union (EU) and American through the North Atlantic Treaty Oranisation (NATO) in intervening in the former Yugoslavia was to dismantle the country and destroy two "hostile" ideologies: "communism" and "nationalism", or rather, Serbian "nationalism". And the aim, of the present Serbian government is to take Serbia into the EU, at any cost. Although the Serbian government still has two more high - profile Serbian "war criminals" to deliver to The Hague, the two objectives sketched above are now virtually realised.
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The coup in Mauritania
by: The Nigerian Guardian
THE international outrage that has greeted the recent military putsch in Mauritania is most appropriate; the coup is a set back for the democratic process in that country and Africa generally. What is now in place in the name of a government in Mauritania is completely illegitimate. For close to two decades, there has emerged an international consensus that any attempt to change a government through unconstitutional means is to be condemned.
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AU, UN others mourn Zambian leader, Mwanawasa
by: Nigerian Guardian
AFRICAN Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Jean Ping has expressed his condolences to the family and the people of Zambia following the passing of President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa on Tuesday.
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“The American Promise”
by: Barack Obama
Full text of the presidential-nomination acceptance speech of Senator Barack Obama at the Democratic Party National Convention on August 28, 2008.
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Explosions in Georgia: The background
by: Edwin Madunagu
VIADIMIR Putin, the immediate past President of Russia and now Prime Minister, was reported to have said that the break-up of the Soviet Union was the single most catastrophic global political tragedy of the 20th century. I support Putin, but would add that the break-up was inevitable because at the point of its break-up, the example of the Soviet Union had ceased to be an alternative and viable way forward for humanity terminally threatened by imperialism and capitalist irrationality. But this is not the focus of this article. We are concerned here with the background to the current explosions in Georgia, an ex-Republic of the Soviet Union.
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