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1192. Africa's Turn
- Author:
- Macky Sall
- Publication Date:
- 10-2013
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Foreign Affairs
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- Since it gained independence from France in 1960, the West African country of Senegal has been a bastion of stability and democracy on a continent that has seen relatively little of either. During the presidency of Abdoulaye Wade (2000–2012), however, the Senegalese exception seemed under threat. The elderly Wade grew increasingly authoritarian and corrupt, and he managed to run for a third term even though the constitution prohibited him from doing so. But in March 2012, Senegalese voters dealt Wade a decisive defeat, electing the reformist candidate Macky Sall instead. Trained in France as a geological engineer, Sall had served in a number of government posts under Wade, including prime minister, before publicly breaking with him in 2007. In opposition, Sall created a new political party; served a second term as mayor of his hometown, Fatick; and organized an anti-Wade coalition. Sall spoke with Foreign Affairs senior editor Stuart Reid in Dakar in June, days before U.S. President Barack Obama's arrival in Senegal for a state visit.
- Topic:
- Governance
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Europe
1193. U.S. Health Engagement in Africa: A Decade of Remarkable Achievement—Now What?
- Author:
- J. Stephen Morrison
- Publication Date:
- 08-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- In the past decade, there has been a steep and historic expansion of U.S. health engagement in Africa, principally through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI). U.S. commitments to global health, of which over 70 percent is directed to Africa, rose from $1.7 billion in FY2001 to $8.9 billion in FY2012.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Development, Humanitarian Aid, and Health Care Policy
- Political Geography:
- Africa and United States
1194. Somalia Redux? Assessing the New Somali Federal Government
- Author:
- Matt Bryden
- Publication Date:
- 08-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- Somalia marked a milestone in September 2012 with the establishment of a new federal government that has since won the support and recognition of the international community. After more than 20 years of conflict, crisis, and statelessness and 12 years of ineffectual transitional authorities, the Somali federal government (SFG) has been widely welcomed as Somalia's first “post-transition” government. It has been greeted with such a groundswell of optimism that many observers, including British Prime Minister David Cameron, have drawn parallels with the “Arab Spring” that has transformed parts of the Middle East. It is tempting to imagine that Somalia is finally on the path to recovery.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Civil War, Development, Islam, Fragile/Failed State, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Middle East, Arabia, and Somalia
1195. Hunger, Food Security, and the African Land Grab
- Author:
- Richard Schiffman
- Publication Date:
- 11-2013
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Institution:
- Carnegie Council
- Abstract:
- If you were organizing dinner parties for the world, you would need to put out 219,000 more place settings every night than you had the night before. That is how fast the Earth's population is growing. But global agricultural production is currently f ailing to keep pace. A June 2012 report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) sees trouble looming ahead, warning that "land and water resources are now much more stressed than in the past and are becoming scarcer."
- Political Geography:
- Africa
1196. Prosecuting International Crimes in Africa: Rationale, Prospects and Challenges
- Author:
- Ademola Abass
- Publication Date:
- 11-2013
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Abstract:
- The January 2013 Summit of Assembly of the African Union Heads of State, to which its July 2012 predecessor had deferred the matter concerning the conferment on the African Court of international criminal jurisdiction, did not adopt the enabling Protocol. Instead, it requested that the AU Commission 'conduct a more thorough reflection … on the issue of popular uprising … on the appropriate mechanism capable of deciding the legitimacy of such an uprising … and [to] submit a report on the financial and structural implication of [expanding] the jurisdiction of the African Court … to try international crimes'. Whether the AU will ever adopt the draft protocol is uncertain and of less relevance, at the moment, to a discussion of some previously unappreciated rationales behind conferring on an African regional court international criminal jurisdiction and of certain constraints that will prevent the Court from effectively prosecuting international crimes in Africa, even if the protocol ever enters into force.
- Political Geography:
- Africa
1197. Africa's Information Revolution: Implications for Crime, Policing, and Citizen Security
- Author:
- Steven Livingston
- Publication Date:
- 11-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Africa Center for Strategic Studies
- Abstract:
- Violent crime represents the most immediate threat to the personal security of most Africans. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 36 percent of all homicides globally occur in Africa. With 17 deaths per 100,000, the homicide rate in Africa is double the global average. Rates of robberies and rape in Africa also exceed global norms. The problem is worse in urban areas, with many of Africa's urban-dwellers “often” worrying about crime.
- Topic:
- Political Violence, Crime, Fragile/Failed State, and Law Enforcement
- Political Geography:
- Africa and United Nations
1198. Fighting piracy in the Gulf of Guinea - offshore and onshore
- Author:
- Cristina Barrios
- Publication Date:
- 05-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- European Union Institute for Security Studies
- Abstract:
- Following a spectacular decline in the Gulf of Aden, incidents of armed robbery at sea and piracy (which legally refer to attacks beyond territorial waters) are now on the rise in the Gulf of Guinea. In 2012, the International Maritime Bureau's (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre recorded 58 attacks, including 10 hijackings. Nigeria is the most affected country, with 27 attacks in 2012 (almost three times more than in 2011), and 11 already reported for the first quarter of 2013. Most of the attacks target vessels connected to the oil industry, but they also disrupt trade and transport in the region as a whole, thereby posing a security threat to the international community as well as African states.
- Topic:
- Crime, Maritime Commerce, Law Enforcement, and Piracy
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Nigeria, and Guinea
1199. The Eritrean Diaspora: Savior or Gravedigger of the Regime? Diaspora Responses to the Imposition of UN Sanctions
- Author:
- Nicole Hirt
- Publication Date:
- 10-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- German Institute of Global and Area Studies
- Abstract:
- This article examines the impact of UN‐imposed sanctions on the stability of the Eritrean regime, using diaspora behavior as an explanatory variable of crucial importance. It explores the transnational nature of Eritrean society, which is characterized by long‐distance nationalism, and examines the history and structure of the Eritrean diaspora as well as its transformation since the political crisis of 2001. The paper argues that the government and its supporters among the diaspora, as well as regime opponents, have all instrumentalized the sanctions for their own specific purposes. While the former use the sanctions to create a “rally around the flag” effect and for fundraising purposes, the latter campaign against the 2 percent diaspora tax levied by the government because it may be used for illicit purposes in breach of the sanctions regime. However, due to the opposition\'s disunity and failure to organize joint campaigns, its efforts have so far failed to decisively contribute to the demise of Eritrea\'s crumbling rebel regime. Meanwhile financial flows to both the government\'s coffers and to private individuals continue to play a stabilizing role. Nevertheless, unsuccessful domestic policies, the mass exodus resulting from the militarization of the entire society and an isolationist foreign policy are all contributing to the growing weakness of the regime, and with it the State of Eritrea.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Foreign Policy, Diaspora, Insurgency, Fragile/Failed State, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United Nations, and Eritrea
1200. The March 2013 Elections in Kenya and the Responsibility to Protect
- Publication Date:
- 02-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
- Abstract:
- On 4 March Kenyans will vote in highly anticipated elections. These elections will be Kenya's first since widespread violence following the December 2007 presidential election shocked the country and world. The 2007/8 violence lasted two months, during which time 1,133 Kenyans were killed, over 600,000 driven from their homes and more than 110,000 private properties were destroyed. The stakes during the upcoming elections are high and, while not inevitable, there is a serious risk of a recurrence of widespread violence.
- Topic:
- Political Violence, Civil Society, Democratization, Human Rights, Human Welfare, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Kenya and Africa