Africa

Can Africa’s First Woman President Get Liberia Back on Track?

When Condoleezza Rice traveled to Liberia to celebrate the inauguration of Africa’s first woman president Monday, it was an inspiring sign that women of African descent are reaching new levels of political leadership and recognition. Yet Liberia’s new president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, will need more than photo-ops with the America’s first female African-American secretary of State to lift her country out of the ruins of two decades of war. Dr. Rice and other US officials who traveled to the inauguration must bring a serious commitment to help jump-start Liberia’s economic recovery.

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African Women Confront Bushs AIDS Policy

Rebecca Lolosoli radiates a quiet authority beneath layers of elaborate beadwork that cover her forehead, neck, chest, and wrists. She smiles readily while addressing an audience of U.S. college students, though to them, her topic is a metaphor for hopelessness. Rebecca is talking about AIDS in Africa, specifically among women in her indigenous, Samburu village of Umoja, Kenya. “For years, people were dying and we did not know why,” she recalls. “Now we know that AIDS can be avoided, but only by making great changes in our lives.”

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The War Between Ethiopia and Eritrea

The War Between Ethiopia and Eritrea

Key Points

During the 30-year war against the Ethiopian military dictatorship, the EPLF and TPLF guerrilla movements worked closely together and achieved victory in 1991 as the firmest of friends.
Despite claims to the contrary, Ethiopia and Eritrea have been fighting not over a border but over rival hegemonic claims in the Horn of Africa and over “national pride” and “territorial integrity.”
Its neighbors see Eritrea as having deliberately chosen an aggressive foreign policy as a central element in its nation building strategy; Eritrea fears the threat of Ethiopian regional dominance.

Even by the shocking standards of recent African conflicts, the May 1998-June 2000 war in the Horn of Africa is truly appalling. As many as 100,000 people have been killed in the intermittent, but savage fighting; up to one million people have been driven into exile or internal displacement; hundreds of millions of dollars have been diverted from development into arms procurement.

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