THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

May

17

2021

South Africa stands with Palestine – Ramaphosa

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

CYRIL RAMAPHOSA OUR experience with the democratic transition is a lesson about the power of empathy, negotiation and compromise. The escalating situation in Israel and Palestine affirms once more what we South Africans know too well, that intractable conflicts can only be solved through peaceful negotiation. It also demonstrates that unless the root causes of a conflict are addressed, in this case, the illegal occupation by Israel of Palestinian land and the denial of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, there will never be peace. The latest violence was sparked by an Israeli court decision to evict a group of…

The UN’s Guterres, an incumbent with strong backing by Europe, is bound to win another term

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

BARBARA CROSSETTE IT was all over in one crucial week. Barring an unforeseen hitch, António Guterres is the clear winner of a second, five-year term as secretary-general of the United Nations, beginning on Jan.1, 2022. This was not a surprise: he had no major competition and the process moved faster than expected. A three-hour question-and-answer session with UN diplomats from around the world in the General Assembly on May 7 appeared to support a growing sense internationally that the Security Council may decide by late June or July, three months before the normal deadline for a candidacy to go to the General Assembly for…

Ghana’s secessionist conflict has its genesis in colonialism: it’s time to drop the threats

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

GHANA'S secessionist conflict is rooted in a system that was meant to promote peace. JULIUS HEISE, Research Fellow, Center for Conflict Studies, University of Marburg WERNER DISTLER, Research Fellow, Center for Conflict Studies, University of Marburg Since the advent of decolonisation after World War II, secessionist conflicts have been the main cause of civil wars worldwide. A historical example is the Biafra War (1967-1970). A current one is Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis around the calls for the secession of “Ambazonia”. Over the past couple of years, Ghana has also been kept on tenterhooks by calls for secession. In November 2019, the…