Current thinking on African conflicts suffers from misinterpretations (oversimplification, lack of focus, lack of conceptual clarity, state-centrism and lack of vision). The paper analyses a variety of the dominant explanations of major international actors and donors, showing how these frequently do not distinguish with sufficient clarity between the 'root causes' of a conflict, its aggravating factors and its triggers. Specifically, a correct assessment of conflict prolonging (or sustaining) factors is of vital importance in Africa's lingering confrontations. Broader approaches (e.g. “structural stability”) offer a better analytical framework than familiar one-dimensional explanations. Moreover, for explaining and dealing with violent conflicts a shift of attention from the nation-state towards the local and sub-regional level is needed.
Intense domestic pressure has convinced Nigeria's President, Olusegun Obasanjo, to consider a deal that would eliminate the country's $31 billion of debt owed to the governments of the United Kingdom, France, and other aid-giving countries.
Topic:
International Relations, Debt, and Economics
Political Geography:
Africa, United Kingdom, Paris, France, and Nigeria
The Bush Administration has significantly increased aid to Africa, but that increase falls far short of what the President has claimed. U.S. aid to Africa from FY 2000 (the last full budget year of the Clinton Administration) to FY2004 (the last completed fiscal year of the Bush Administration) has not "tripled" or even doubled. Rather, in real dollars, it has increased 56% (or 67% in nominal dollar terms). The majority of that increase consists of emergency food aid, rather than assistance for sustainable development of the sort Africa needs to achieve lasting poverty reduction.
Intense domestic pressure has convinced Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to seek a deal that would eliminate the country's $31 billion of debt owed to the governments of the U.K., France, and other aid-giving countries that use the Paris Club process to restructure debt that countries cannot repay. The Paris Club creditors have proposed an unprecedented operation—its first-ever buyback at a discount—that would cancel all of Nigeria's debt to them in exchange for a cash payment of roughly $12 billion.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Relations, and Debt
Political Geography:
Africa, United Kingdom, Paris, France, and Nigeria
MUCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN in recent years about Islam and politics, Islam and democracy, and Islam's compatibility with the requirements of modernity. These debates cannot be settled conclusively by referring to the holy texts, because such texts lend themselves to conflicting interpretations. This paper, therefore, takes a different approach. Using Egypt as a case study, it focuses not on the relationship between Islam and politics in the abstract, but on the relationship between religious authority and political authority as it unfolds in practice. It outlines the motivations, interests, strategies, and agendas of the institutions that represent and speak for Islam and those that represent the state and act in its name. The interaction between them is a mix of complicity and rivalry that has profound effects on Egyptian society, the Egyptian state, and its relationship with the outside world.
The African Social Forum was born out of the larger World Social Forum, which provides an annual open meeting place where groups and movements of civil society come together to dialogue and network towards collaborative action. The Third African Social Forum (ASF) took place in Lusaka, Zambia in mid-December 2004. This report includes notes and analysis of the African Social Forum and provides reflection s on emerging social movements in Africa.
The legal definition of GENOCIDE: The international legal definition of the crime of genocide is found in Articles II and III of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. Article II describes the two elements that constitute the crime of genocide: The mental element , meaning the " intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such", and The physical element , which includes five types of violence described in sections [a] though [e] as follows: [a] Killing members of the group; [b] Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; [c] Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; [d] Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [e] Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
On Sunday, January 9, African leaders and world diplomats will gather in Nairobi, Kenya to witness the signing of an historic peace deal intended to end Africa's longest-running civil war. This conflict between the Sudanese government in the north and the Sudan People's Liberation Army /Movement (SPLA/M) in southern Sudan has raged for m o re than two decades. Sunday's signing ceremony marks the culmination of two years of form al peace talks and many years of periodic negotiations, sustained by regional and international diplomacy. The signing of this peace deal could mark an historic moment for Sudan, by bringing to an end decades of violence and devastation in Africa's largest country. It could similarly mark an important moment for the entire African continent. However, this peace agreement does not cover the ongoing conflict in Darfur, western Sudan, where the Sudanese government continues to wage a campaign of genocide against civilians from three ethnic groups. Over the past two years, up to 400,000 people have died, and 2 million more have been made homeless in Darfur as a consequence resulting in what the UN has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
L\'étude du processus d\'ingénierie institutionnelle de la Cour africaine des droits de l\'Homme et des peuples révèle le rôle central joué par les ONG : elles ont donné l\'impulsion initiale, orchestré la mobilisation, encadré les négociations et milité pour l\'adoption du Protocole. Ce nouveau mode de production du droit doit cependant être analysé avec un regard critique afin de déceler les logiques de pouvoir très fortes au sein du « monde multicentré ». La professionnalisation des ONG et l\'autonomisation du champ de la production des standards juridiques vont de pair avec la marginalisation des militants locaux. L\'activité de production de normes est l\'affaire des experts juridiques apolitiques qui entretiennent des relations de collaboration avec les notables des diplomaties d\'Etat et des organisations intergouvernementales.
Angola has undergone dramatic economic and political changes since independence from Portugal in 1975, and continues to face severe challenges three decades later. An open democratic process has not yet been established, the economy faces deep-rooted structural imbalances, and the country's international relations have undergone many shifts and changes, so that it is currently again in a major transitional era.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Development, Government, and Poverty