THOUGHT LEADERSHIP - The African Mirror

Mar

08

2024

By TONNY RAYMOND KIRABIRA and MIRACLE CHINWENMERI UCHE

Lord’s Resistance Army: ICC awards reparations to victims of commander Dominic Ongwen – what happens next

THE International Criminal Court (ICC) has recently ordered reparations for victims of Dominic Ongwen, an ex-child soldier turned commander in the Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel group that terrorised northern Uganda for two decades. The court’s order, the first in the Ugandan situation, awards collective community-based symbolic payment for each victim. International criminal law scholars Tonny Raymond Kirabira and Miracle Chinwenmeri Uche answer questions about the ruling. Who are the victims in this case? The victims are part of the post-war affected communities in northern Uganda. Ongwen is one of the top Lord’s Resistance Army commanders charged by the International…

Mar

07

2024

By DAVID MILIBAND, INGER ASHING, JAN EGELAND, CHARLOTTE SLENTE, MICHELLE NUNN and STEPHEN OMOLLO

Sudan’s collapse is a test for the international community. We are failing it.

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

IN the deafening silence of global indifference, the war in Sudan recently entered its 10-month mark. Since April 2023, close to 8 million people have fled their homes, of whom more than 1.6 million have sought refuge in Chad, South Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Central African Republic – countries already grappling with immense difficulties. Close to 25 million people need humanitarian assistance, including around 5 million people on the brink of famine and nearly 7 million severely undernourished children. Mass graves conceal evidence of widespread, systematic, and targeted mass atrocities that could be repeated at any moment as the…

Mar

06

2024

By MOSOTHO MOEPYA

South Africa heads to the 2024 general elections with the highest number of young voters

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

AS we commemorate 30 years of electoral democracy, we cannot overlook the profound contributions made by successive generations of South African youth. The heroes of the struggle against apartheid were not only found in the pages of history but among the young men and women who stood up, took arms, and fast-tracked the journey to liberation in 1976. The 2024 generation now faces a unique challenge - to continue building the future and democracy that others have fought for. Our democracy is not merely a system of governance; it is a dynamic and living entity that thrives on the engagement…

Mar

04

2024

By NICODEMUS MINDE

Ali Hassan Mwinyi: the Tanzanian former president who oversaw the transition to market economy

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ALI Hassan Mwinyi, Tanzania’s second president who has died aged 98, pushed through tough economic and political reforms that transformed the East Africa nation from socialism to an open economy and a multi-party democracy. He was president from 1985 to 1995. NICODEMUS MINDE, Adjunct Lecturer, United States International University He did all of this in the shadow of Julius Nyerere who had led Tanzania since independence in 1961 and turned the country into a one-party socialist state. Tanganyika joined together with Zanzibar in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. Nyerere stepped down in 1985 but remained chairman of…

Feb

29

2024

By NARNIA BOHLER-MULLER

It took 16 years but South Africa has impeached a senior judge – who is John Hlophe and what went wrong?

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

FORMER Western Cape judge president John Mandlakayise Hlophe has become one of the first two members of South Africa’s judiciary to be impeached since the country became a constitutional democracy in 1994. A vote in parliament in late February 2024 stripped him of his title and barred him from accessing his retirement package. Judges can earn as much as R2 million (over US$100,000) a year in retirement. Narnia Bohler-Muller, a constitutional law expert, answers some questions about the impeachment. NARNIA BOHLER-MULLER, Divisional Executive, Developmental, Capable and Ethical State research division, Human Sciences Research Council What were the high and low…

Feb

28

2024

By EDGAR GITHUA

South Sudan: some spoilers want peace to fail, putting 2024 elections at risk

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

SOUTH Sudan is expected to hold its first general election in December 2024. It became an independent state in 2011. The long overdue election is one of the pillars of a peace agreement signed in 2018. It helped end the 2013-2018 civil war that killed nearly 400,000 people and displaced millions. EDGAR GITHUA, Lecturer in International Studies, Strathmore University Since then, the country has progressed in relative peace, with fewer incidences of conflict reported between 2018 and 2023. However, UN experts have voiced concerns about the likelihood of elections being held within agreed timelines. The election has been slated for…

Feb

23

2024

By FRANZISCA ZANKER, AMANDA BISONG and LEONIE JEGEN

Free movement in West Africa: three countries leaving Ecowas could face migration hurdles

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

FOR Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, a recent decision to withdraw from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has thrown up questions about how they will navigate regional mobility in future. Ecowas covers a variety of sectors, but migration is a major one. The bloc’s protocols since 1979 have long been seen as a shining example of free movement on the continent. They gave citizens the right to move between countries in the region without a visa, and a prospective right of residence and setting up businesses. As multidisciplinary scholars, we have previously researched migration governance in west…

Feb

23

2024

By HARRY VERHOEVEN

Sudan Armed Forces are on a path to self-destruction – risking state collapse

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP, EDITORS CHOICE

IT is now 10 months since the outbreak of civil war in Sudan in April 2023, pitting the Sudan Armed Forces against the Rapid Support Forces, a powerful paramilitary group. The war, which erupted after relations between the two wings of Sudan’s security apparatus broke down, rapidly spread beyond the capital, Khartoum. HARRY VERHOEVEN, Senior Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University More recently, the Sudan Armed Forces have suffered numerous setbacks at the hands of the Rapid Support Forces. For months, army units have struggled to break their grip on much of the capital. The…

Feb

22

2024

By HAWA RAHMA

A Sudanese journalist describes the horrors of a war she cannot cover

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

YOU cannot become a war correspondent overnight. That’s a reality I’ve been wrestling with for the past 10 months of bitter fighting in Sudan – a conflict that I am personally caught up in, where I’m no longer just a journalist and impartial witness, but a victim as well. HAWA RAHMASudanese journalist covering human rights, peacebuilding, and community issues War correspondents have training and protective gear. They have sympathetic editors and a distance from the story. I don’t have any of those defences. I have, instead, a tormented conscience. Unable anymore to do my job as an independent reporter, it…

Feb

20

2024

By The African Mirror

DRC protests: expert explains why Congolese anger against the west is justified – and useful to the government

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

SINCE early February, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, has been rocked by protests directed against Western embassies. Protests took place in front of the British and French embassies and in front of United Nations buildings. Throughout the city, American and Belgian flags were burned. KRISTOF TITECA, Professor in International Development, University of Antwerp The protesters are denouncing what they believed to be Western complicity in the war in the east of the DRC. These protests were triggered by the renewed advance of the rebel movement M23. M23 is led by Congolese Tutsi and is the latest in the…