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1921. Rebuilding Zimbabwe: Australia's role in supporting the transition

Author:
Joel Negin and Jolyon Ford
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
Zimbabwe's long night is by no means over. Nearly a year after the violent and disputed March 2008 elections, and months after the September signing of a 'Global Political Agreement' with the ruling ZANU-PF party, the main faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) agreed in February to take part in a coalition government in which its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, became Prime Minister. The state apparatus in Zimbabwe is currently shared uneasily by reformers and reactionaries with each of the MDC and ZANU-PF having half of the cabinet seats. Hardline ZANU-PF elements remain in government and control the security services, and a quiet but intense power struggle continues.
Topic:
Security, Agriculture, Development, Foreign Aid, and Food
Political Geography:
Africa, Australia, and Zimbabwe

1922. Guinea: Military Rule Must End

Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
The killing of at least 160 participants in a peaceful demonstration, the rape of many women protestors, and the arrest of political leaders by security forces in Conakry on 28 September 2009 showed starkly the dangers that continued military rule poses to Guinea's stability and to a region where three fragile countries are only just recovering from civil wars. The military junta, the National Council for Democracy and Development (Conseil national pour la démocratie et le développement, CNDD), is denying its evident responsibility and playing for time by offering what it calls a “national union government” to opposition parties. But with the mood on the streets hardening against the junta, worse trouble is likely unless combined domestic and international pressure is applied to force the soldiers from power.
Topic:
Political Violence, Democratization, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
Africa and Guinea

1923. The Invisible Tide: Towards an International Strategy to Deal with Drug Trafficking Through West Africa

Author:
Phil Williams and James Cockayne
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
An invisible tide is rising on the shores of West Africa, creeping into its slums, its banks, its courts, its barracks, and its government ministries. It is a tide of money, influence, and power, born from the drug trafficking that is sweeping the region. Cocaine produced in Latin America is transported to West Africa, and then on to Europe. From there, the proceeds find their way back to North and South America, fueling further investment and further narco-trafficking. Some of the profits from the trade stay in West Africa, laundered through construction projects and other avenues, and increasingly corrupting politics, society, and security institutions. As the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Antonio Maria Costa, recently put it: “Drug money is not only buying real estate and flashy cars: it is buying power.”
Topic:
Crime and Narcotics Trafficking
Political Geography:
Africa and West Africa

1924. A Choice for Peace? The Story of Forty-One Days of Mediation in Kenya

Author:
Elisabeth Lindenmayer and Josie Lianna Kaye
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
The postelection violence that erupted in Kenya in December 2007 resulted in the deaths of over one thousand people and left three hundred thousand people displaced. While catastrophic, the scale of the social and economic destruction, not to mention the loss of life, could have been much greater were it not for the peace mediation mandated by the African Union in January 2008. The Panel of Eminent African Personalities, chaired by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, led the forty-one-day peace process, culminating in the Agreement on the Principles of Partnership of the Coalition Government, which was signed by President Mwai Kibaki and the Honorable Raila Odinga on February 28th, putting an end to the crisis which engulfed the nation and took the world by surprise.
Topic:
Political Violence and Democratization
Political Geography:
Kenya and Africa

1925. The Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) and Genocide Prevention in Africa

Author:
Jenna Slotin, Castro Wesamba, and Teemt Bekele
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Peace Institute
Abstract:
Within the United Nations, the concept of the responsibility to protect (RtoP) has regained considerable momentum after nearly two years of stasis following the 2005 World Summit. Outside the corridors of the world body, discussions about RtoP and its application to specific regional situations, as well as the mandate of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, one of the crimes specified in the Summit's Outcome Document, are still at a nascent stage. In order to contribute to rectifying this imbalance, the International Peace Institute, the UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, and the InterAfrica Group convened an expert roundtable on “The Responsibility to Protect and Genocide Prevention in Africa” in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on October 23 and 24, 2008.
Topic:
Genocide, Human Rights, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Africa, United Nations, and Ethiopia

1926. Media Briefing Booklet: President Barack Obama's Visit to Ghana July 10, 2009

Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Africa Policy Information Center
Abstract:
Over the past decade, Africa's status in U.S. national security policy has risen dramatically, for three main reasons: America's growing dependence on Africa's oil exports, Africa's importance as a major battlefield in America's “Global War on Terrorism,” and Africa's central position in the global competition between America and China for economic and political power.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Oil, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, China, America, and Ghana

1927. Somalia, Redux: A More Hands-Off Approach

Author:
David Axe
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
The two-decade-old conflict in Somalia has entered a new phase, which presents both a challenge and an opportunity for the United States. The elections of new U.S. and Somali presidents in late 2008 and early 2009 provide an opportunity to reframe U.S.-Somali relations. To best encourage peace in the devastated country, Washington needs a new strategy that takes into account hard-learned lessons from multiple failed U.S. interventions. The old strategy favoring military force and reflexive opposition to all Islamists should give way to one emphasizing regional diplomacy and at least tacit acceptance of a government that is capable of bringing order to Somalia.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Islam, Terrorism, and Fragile/Failed State
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, and Somalia

1928. Governing Khat Drugs and Democracy in Somaliland

Author:
Peter Hansen
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper examines the role of the mild stimulant khat in the economic and political transformation of the independent, yet internationally unrecognized Republic of Somaliland. Rather than seeing khat as a hindrance for nation-state formation and as a developmental problem, the paper argues that khat has been important to the economic viability of Somaliland and to the formation of political practices and identities. In this sense, khat should be seen not only as a drug contributing to violence, state failure and inadequate development, but also as underpinning economic processes, political identities and societal structures that have been crucial to the formation and political success of Somaliland. The paper adds to our understanding of the links between emerging political and economic orders in a post-conflict society.
Topic:
Economics, Peace Studies, Political Economy, Narcotics Trafficking, and Fragile/Failed State
Political Geography:
Africa and Somalia

1929. Band Aids and Beyond: Tackling disasters in Ethiopia 25 years after the famine

Author:
Nick Martlew
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
In 1984, one million Ethiopians died during a catastrophic famine. The government at the time hid the scale of hunger until a shocking BBC television report ignited a massive relief effort, supported by the Band Aid movement. Though this was too late for too many, thousands of lives were saved.
Topic:
Foreign Aid, Food, and Famine
Political Geography:
Africa and Ethiopia

1930. What Happened to the Seasons? Changing seasonality may be one of the major impacts of climate change

Author:
Steve Jennings and John Magrath
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The timing of rain, and intra-seasonal rainfall patterns are critical to smallholder farmers in developing countries. Seasonality influences farmers' decisions about when to cultivate and sow and harvest. It ultimately contributes to the success or failure of their crops. Worryingly, therefore, farmers are reporting that both the timing of rainy seasons and the pattern of rains within seasons are changing. These perceptions of change are striking in that they are geographically widespread and because the changes are described in remarkably consistent terms. In this paper, we relate the perceptions of farmers from several regions(East Asia, South Asia, Southern and East Africa, and Latin America) of how seasons are changing, and in some cases, how once distinct seasons appear to be disappearing altogether, and the impacts that these changes are having. We then go on to ask two critical questions. Firstly, do meteorological observations support farmers' perceptions of changing seasonality? Secondly, to what extent are these changes consistent with predictions from climate models? We conclude that changing seasonality may be one of the major impacts of climate change faced by smallholder farmers in developing countries over the next few decades. Indeed, this may already be the case. Yet it is relatively unexplored in the literature. We also suggest some of the key adaptation responses that might help farmers cope with these changes.
Topic:
Agriculture, Climate Change, Development, and Energy Policy
Political Geography:
Africa, East Asia, and Latin America