Our website use cookies to improve and personalize your experience and to display advertisements (if any). Our website may also include cookies from third parties like Google Adsense, Google Analytics, and Youtube. By using the website, you consent to the use of cookies.

Senegal: Macky Sall’s reputation is dented, but the former president did a lot at home and abroad

Senegal: Macky Sall’s reputation is dented, but the former president did a lot at home and abroad

MACKY Sall’s legacy as Senegal’s president since 2012 became more complex in his last year in office. The year was so filled with transgressions that they appeared to have tarnished his reputation indelibly. For some months he gave the impression to his adversaries and critics that he had third-term ambitions – not uncommon in contemporary west African politics. A public outcry followed his decision on 3 February 2024 to postpone the polls that had originally been scheduled for three weeks later. Then his deputies in the national assembly voted unanimously to postpone the elections and prolong Sall’s term in office…
Read More
From prison to palace: Faye’s road to Senegal’s presidency

From prison to palace: Faye’s road to Senegal’s presidency

JUST a few months ago, the man set to be Senegal's next president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, was sitting in a prison cell, a relatively unknown figure outside his opposition party Pastef. Everything changed for him when the party's firebrand leader, Ousmane Sonko, who was also detained, was charged with insurrection in July and barred from running in elections to succeed President Macky Sall. That cleared the way for Faye to emerge from the shadow of his former boss and eventually from prison, take over the race and on Monday - the day of his 44th birthday - emerge as the victor after his opponent conceded…
Read More
Hundreds of Nigerian children are being kidnapped – the government must change its security strategy

Hundreds of Nigerian children are being kidnapped – the government must change its security strategy

SCHOOL abductions have been a trend in Nigeria. The latest took place in Kaduna and Sokoto states, both in the northwest region, when over 300 children were abducted at different times in March 2024. Previous prominent cases have included the Chibok, Dapchi and Kankara abductions, which insurgents claimed to have perpetrated. As a security scholar and analyst who has researched and written extensively on aspects of Nigeria’s security challenges, including kidnapping and allied crimes, I see school abductions as a symptom of government neglect of territorial and human security. Territorial security refers to keeping the country’s geographical spaces (land, borders,…
Read More
This is how President Ramaphosa got to the 25% figure of progress in land reform in South Africa

This is how President Ramaphosa got to the 25% figure of progress in land reform in South Africa

NEARLY three decades into democracy, land reform remains central to South Africa’s transformation policies and agricultural policy. We have over the years pointed out that the progress on land reform has been incorrectly reported. It’s been consistently understated. We have argued that, if the statistics are treated carefully, the progress has been much better than politicians and activists often claim. We were encouraged earlier this year when South African president Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged in his State of the Nation address that there had been better progress in land reform. The commonly cited argument is that land reform has been a…
Read More
South Africa’s election management body has done a good job for 30 years: here’s why

South Africa’s election management body has done a good job for 30 years: here’s why

MORE than in previous elections, South Africa’s Electoral Commission (IEC) will be tested to the hilt in this year’s national and provincial elections on 29 May. For the first time in 30 years, the electoral majority of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is in jeopardy. This makes the upcoming poll the most consequential one since 1994 when the country commenced with its democratisation. The electoral commission’s tasks are to enforce the rules of the electoral game and the parties’ ethical conduct. It must also be the dispute resolution champion and ensure that the election is free and fair. These…
Read More
2024 Senegal election crisis points to deeper issues with Macky Sall and his preferred successor

2024 Senegal election crisis points to deeper issues with Macky Sall and his preferred successor

THE botched attempt by Senegalese president Macky Sall to postpone the presidential election has stirred unnecessary tension in an already strained electoral process. The move reflected deeper governance problems in the country. Sall’s decree, subsequently annulled by the Constitutional Council, was the latest in a range of government interventions that exceeded the scope of the executive authority. These have included the disqualification of key opposition candidates, the manipulation of judicial procedures, and the arbitrary detention of dissenting figures. Sall’s 12-year tenure has been marked by contradictions. His administration boosted investment in transport and urban infrastructure. Notably, he worked on the…
Read More
South Africa will work harder, sparing neither strength nor courage, to fulfil the basic human rights of her people

South Africa will work harder, sparing neither strength nor courage, to fulfil the basic human rights of her people

THE adoption of our Constitution with its Bill of Rights by the Constitutional Assembly on the 8th of May 1996 was a great moment in our struggle to achieve a free and equal society.  As I said at the time, it marked the day our country and our people came of age. I referred to our constitution as the birth certificate of our nation. On that occasion, we proclaimed to the world that we are a society committed to democracy, to the rule of law and to the protection of human rights.  The Constitution came to be as a result…
Read More
Undersea cables for Africa’s internet retrace history and leave digital gaps as they connect continents

Undersea cables for Africa’s internet retrace history and leave digital gaps as they connect continents

LARGE parts of west and central Africa, as well as some countries in the south of the continent, were left without internet services on 14 March because of failures on four of the fibre optic cables that run below the world’s oceans. Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Ghana, Burkina Faso and South Africa were among the worst affected. By midday on 15 March the problem had not been resolved. Microsoft warned its customers that there was a delay in repairing the cables. South Africa’s News24 reported that, while the cause of the damage had not been confirmed, it was believed that…
Read More
Cameroon’s rebels may not achieve their goal of creating the Ambazonian state – but they’re still a threat to stability

Cameroon’s rebels may not achieve their goal of creating the Ambazonian state – but they’re still a threat to stability

CAMEROON’S separatist insurgency is an armed conflict in the country’s North West (NW) and South West (SW) regions that began in 2017. It pits government forces against several non-state armed groups, locally known as “Amba rebels”. The rebels seek to create a state called Ambazonia out of Cameroon’s English-speaking regions. The conflict has killed over 6,000 people and displaced 765,000. Over 70,000 are refugees in Nigeria. More than 2 million need humanitarian support and 600,000 children have been deprived of effective schooling. MANU LEKUNZE, Lecturer, University of Aberdeen As an international security scholar with an interest in small wars, I…
Read More
Rwanda: Paul Kagame is a dictator who clings to power but it’s not just for his own gain

Rwanda: Paul Kagame is a dictator who clings to power but it’s not just for his own gain

RWANDA’S president Paul Kagame recently said he was looking forward to his retirement after 23 years in power. Speaking to the press in April 2023, he claimed he “may join journalism in my old age” – a somewhat surprising choice, given the poor state of the freedom of the press in Rwanda. But the chances that Kagame will actually step down seem rather small. After a controversial referendum in 2015, Rwandans voted to extend presidential term limits, allowing Kagame to rule potentially until 2034. More recently, Kagame was re-elected to head the ruling party – the Rwandan Patriotic Front –…
Read More