Africa
Clinton Tone-Deaf During Africa Trip
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 11-day trip to Africa, which came less than a month after President Barack Obama’s visit to Egypt and Ghana in July, was an attempt to emphasize Africa’s importance to the United States. Clinton was supposed to reassure African leaders that the Obama administration intends to engage with the continent, despite wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and perennial problems in Israel and the Korean peninsula.
African Union Declaration Against the ICC Not What it Seems
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 11-day visit to Africa is intended to affirm the Obama administration’s commitment to engage the conflict-ridden continent. However, a resolution has recently been issued by the African Union (AU) allowing Sudanese president and wanted war criminal Omar al Bashir to travel in Africa with impunity. This could easily cause Clinton to believe that Africa has no interest in holding human rights abusers responsible for their actions. It’s important for her to realize that this resolution isn’t what it seems, and that there is still hope for human rights and justice in Africa.
Postcard from…Eastleigh
The streets of Eastleigh, a neighborhood of Nairobi known as "Little Mogadishu," are full of deep potholes, dust, and exhaust fumes. Somali women, many covered from head to toe, are braving the traffic. The smell of traditional Somali spices competes with the smoke from badly maintained engines. The traffic eases and the hubbub dies down only after the calls for prayer from countless neighborhood mosques.
Obama to Africa: Tough Love or Tough Luck?
Africans are wading knee-deep in world financial institutions and leaders advising "good governance," "transparency," "accountability," and the ever-elusive "democracy." We did not need to hear these catchphrases that laced Obama’s Ghana speech. They are so benign that even Africa’s dictators, such as Kenya’s former dictator Daniel Arap Moi, promised them with each stolen election.
Fighting the Forgotten War: Students’ Activism for the Congo
Kambale Musavuli isn’t your average student.
Postcard From…the Niger Delta
60-Second Expert: A Tipping Point in the Niger Delta
For the past two months, the Nigerian military has been engaged in a standoff with armed resistance groups in the Niger Delta. The full-scale offensive, launched by Nigerian forces on May 13 with fighter-planes and gunboats, has destroyed villages and displaced upwards of 30,000 people from the region.
Niger Delta Standoff
Behind fighter-planes and gunboats, Nigerian forces launched a full-scale offensive in the Niger Delta on May 13, displacing 30,000 people and sparking a humanitarian crisis. Thousands of civilians fleeing destroyed villages are now trapped between armed resistance groups and the Nigerian military. These civilians are hiding in the bush without food, water, or medical supplies, let alone Internet access to alert the world of their plight, as Iranians are doing via Twitter.
What Obama Should Say in Ghana
Editor’s Note: FPIF and a coalition of organizations recently held a press briefing on Obama’s visit to Ghana. You can read the press booklet here.
That there is a carnival spirit in Accra, Ghana, ahead of President Barack Obama’s visit to this small West African country is to be expected. In March 1998, amidst low approval ratings and sex scandals, the Clintons took Accra by storm. Bill Clinton was mobbed like a rock star and later draped in colorful Ghanaian kente cloths. He preached hope for Africa and offered aid, but also apologized for America standing by as hundreds of thousands were slaughtered in the Rwandan genocide. A decade later, President George W. Bush, suffering dismal approval ratings and waging an illegal and murderous war in Iraq, rolled into town. He was received a hero, a savior of Africa from diseases. He danced and was feted. He preached freedom and democracy and promised to increase assistance for HIV/AIDS and malaria, while denying that there was an aggressive American agenda to militarize the continent to secure strategic access to its oil resources.