THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

Jul

11

2024

The changing face of peacekeeping: What’s gone wrong with the UN?

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian. By Obi Anyadike AT the end of this year, the last UN peacekeepers are scheduled to leave the Democratic Republic of the Congo after two difficult decades, a withdrawal that reflects broader changes underway to the international security system. The peacekeeping mission – known by its French acronym, MONUSCO – has been the biggest and most expensive deployment in UN history. Yet eastern DRC remains a humanitarian disaster zone, and the government of President Félix Tshisekedi has insisted on the accelerated departure of the unpopular blue helmets. The mission’s 16,000 uniformed…

Jul

10

2024

By RÉGINAS NDAYIRAGIJE and MARIJKE VERPOORTEN

Rwanda’s Tutsi minority has been in power for 30 years – but study finds ethnicity doesn’t matter to people if their needs are met

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THIRTY years ago, the Rwandan Patriotic Front, a predominantly Tutsi armed group, took over Kigali, Rwanda’s capital city – and soon after, the country’s governance. This victory occurred amid a horrific genocide masterminded by a Hutu-dominated regime. Rwanda’s main ethnic groups are the Hutu, who make up a majority of the population, and the Tutsi. Since 1994, the Rwandan Patriotic Front – led by Paul Kagame, who was first elected president in April 2000 – has been at the country’s helm. Kagame is expected to extend his rule in the July 2024 elections. The law allows him to serve two…

Jul

05

2024

By WANDILE SIHLOBO

South Africa’s new agricultural leadership should focus on getting things done, not designing new policies

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

SOUTH Africa’s primary agriculture sector accounts for nearly 3% of GDP and about 8% when considering the value of agro-processing. But it can contribute even more to economic growth that delivers benefits fairly across society and creates jobs. This can’t happen, however, if new policies and plans keep getting introduced. Fortunately, the views of the new agricultural minister, John Steenhuisen, may not be far from the existing policy path. Steenhuisen is the leader of the Democratic Alliance, the second biggest party in parliament, which has joined a unity government with the African National Congress after the latter failed to win…

Jul

04

2024

By ABBEY MAKOE

70 years on – China still builds a global community “with a shared future for mankind”

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

SEVENTY years ago, China launched the “Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence” aimed at ameliorating the dangers and threats posed by growing unilateralism in the international world order. With a greater emphasis on mutuality and equality, the principles provide a whole set of basic norms for peaceful coexistence among countries across political, security, economic and diplomatic domains. The five principles, which are consistent with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, have become the cornerstone of China’s foreign policy. A “peaceful coexistence” is a formula for a “shared future” and “win-win” international relations architecture that the founding…

Jul

01

2024

By CYRIL RAMAPHOSA

The Cabinet of National Unity must work to build a South Africa for all

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP, EDITORS CHOICE

IN the coming days, the ministers and deputy ministers of the new Government of National Unity will be sworn in. This is a significant moment in our country’s democracy. We have made good on our promise to the South African people to work together as political parties for the good of the country, and to deliver a government that will be united in action and purpose. This provides a firm basis for greater stability, coherence and a focus on implementation. Even in some of the world’s most established democracies, the formation of multi-party governments is often protracted and fraught with…

Jul

01

2024

By TSHILIDZI MARWALA

AI can transform global food security and climate action

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

TSHILIDZI Marwala is the Rector of the United Nations University and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. Like all sustainable development challenges, achieving food security is a complex objective intertwined with the environment, economics, peace and security, and technology. But, alarmingly, since 2020 global food insecurity has doubled to over 300 million people. This dramatic decline of food security, a fundamental human right, demands urgent intervention to ensure its four dimensions - availability, access, utilization and stability - do not crumble under the weight of intensifying pressure from climate change. As weather patterns become increasingly disrupted, so too are lives and livelihoods throughout the…

Jun

29

2024

By LIBBY GEORGE, KARIN STROHECKER and AARON ROSS

Kenya clashes and Bolivia’s failed coup show perils of economic hardship

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

DEADLY Kenyan protests that scuppered tax hikes and a failed coup amid fading economic prospects in Bolivia this week are violent reminders of the dangers posed by faltering economies and punishing austerity measures. Bolivia's President and former economy minister Luis Arce fended off the putsch on Wednesday, but faces ongoing U.S. dollar shortages and soaring borrowing costs that pushed the country's credit rating to "junk." Kenya's President William Ruto, who reversed support for a tax-hike measure, now must find another path to make his nation's debt pile of some $80 billion more manageable. Around the world, low-income nations were sucked into economic crisis - and in…

Jun

28

2024

By MOINA SPOONER

Kenyan police and protests: researchers on a violent, corrupt security force that’s beyond reform

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

KENYA’S police are being criticised for their violent response to protests over the past week against government proposals to raise US$2.7 billion in additional taxes. Hundreds of thousands of people, across 35 of Kenya’s 37 counties, poured out onto the streets in opposition to the tax hikes. The police have reacted with force, using live bullets and tear gas. At least five people are known to have been killed and hundreds have been injured. The reaction by the police force didn’t come as a surprise. Kenya has a long history of policing with excessive force, often resulting in unnecessary deaths.…

Jun

28

2024

By BOB BAULCH

Saulos Chilima: personal tribute to a Malawian leader who stood against hunger and poverty but courted controversy

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

SAULOS Klaus Chilima, the former vice-president of Malawi who died recently in a plane crash, brought to Malawian politics several qualities that made him stand out. But he was also a controversial character. He had a business background and an unusual combination of social science and economics qualifications. Above all, he struck me as someone who was deeply committed to reducing hunger and poverty in Malawi. I got to know Vice-President Chilima between 2016 and 2021 when I was the leader of the International Food Policy Research Institute’s country programme in Malawi. The organisation’s mission is to provide research-based solutions…

Jun

25

2024

By SAMUEL OYEWOLE

Nigeria’s national anthem change was a tactic to distract attention from the country’s real problems – political analyst

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

A year into his administration, Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed the National Anthem Bill into law, replacing an anthem adopted in 1978 with its predecessor. The decision generated debate among Nigerians, some of whom felt it did not rank on the list of social, economic and security challenges confronting the country. Samuel Oyewole, a political scientist, says it is a “distract and rule” tactic, which he described in his published research as serving the political elite’s goal of a democracy in name only and promoting a democratic setup where people’s involvement in governance is not respected. The recent change…