Côte d’Ivoire: The Difficult Legacy of Houphouët-Boigny

In Global Voices:

Left, Alassane Ouattara, right: Laurent Gbagbo.images by Stefan Meisel, copyright Demotix 

In order to better understand the origins of the current political crisis in Côte d'Ivoire, it is necessary to place recent events within the context of the post-colonial era.
Post-Colonial Politics
Félix Houphouët-Boigny was the first president of Côte d'Ivoire from its independence in 1960 to his death in 1993. Henri Konan Bédié, president of the national assembly succeeded the deceased president in accordance with the Ivorian constitution. In 1995, Henri Konan Bédié remained in power, having been elected with 96.44% of the vote.
Politician Laurent Koudou Gbagbo called a boycott of this presidential election due to reforms that had been implemented to the electoral code. He was elected as a member of parliament in his constituency after his party, the FPI (Ivorian Popular Front), won five of the eight seats in the elections.
General Robert Guéï overthrew President Bédié on December 24, 1999, after the latter attempted to change the constitution in his favor.
Presidential elections were then held in 2000 and Guéï was beaten by Laurent Koudou Gbagbo. The elections were marred however, by the elimination of several candidates by the Supreme Court including former president Bédié and politican Alassane Ouattara because of ”dubious nationality”, forgery and use of a false identity. During Ouattara's prime ministerial rule under President Houphouët-Boigny, Gbagbo was imprisoned as a political opponent in 1992 and sentenced to two years in jail, although he was released after seven months...[continue reading]

The Potential of Diaspora Bonds

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Dilip Ratha writing in NYTimes:

Africa needs not only greater investment in agriculture, but also in roads, ports and other facilities that are vital to moving the land’s products to consumers. Fortunately, part of the solution could lie with the almost 23 million African migrants around the globe, who together have an annual savings of more than $30 billion. Tapping into this money with so-called diaspora bonds could help provide Africa with the equipment and services it needs for long-term growth and poverty reduction.
These diaspora bonds would be in essence structured like any bonds on the market, but would be sold by governments, private companies and public-private partnerships to Africans living abroad. The bonds would be sold in small denominations, from $100 to $10,000, to individual investors or, in larger denominations, to institutional and foreign investors.

More here

Related articles

• An Egyptian diaspora bond? (ftalphaville.ft.com)
• A Greek diaspora bond odyssey (ftalphaville.ft.com)

An Ode to Spring in the Arab World

Celebrating the Arab Spring:

Via Al Jazeera

Pan Africa Chemistry

"...the Pan Africa Chemistry Network represents an innovative approach to working with universities, schools, scientists, teachers, and students in Africa..."It intends to "...Promote intra Africa scientific networking and conferencing on the key science issues facing the continent with a view to supporting the development of sustainable science programmes and expertise..."

Big Men Have Failed - Give Women Leaders a Chance

In AllAfrica via Peace Women:

Martha Karua

...women have unique leadership qualities that are critical to turning the tides and leading the region to peace and prosperity. It has been a few years since a study conducted by Caliper, a  and Aurora, a London-based advocacy organisation, women proved that women leaders are more assertive and persuasive than their male counterparts, have a stronger need to get things done, and are more willing to take risks than male leaders.Observation also reveals that women leaders are generally not tethered to 'old boys' networks and allegiances. Take for instance Kenya's Martha Karua, leader of the Narc Party and; a stalwart and fearless reformist who resigned her Cabinet position as minister for justice , on ethical grounds.

Related articles

• Revolutionary Women's (MLM) Movement Formed in Bangladesh (robertlindsay.wordpress.com)
• Assault on Women and Girls...Global Women's Rights Now! (minkoffminx.com)

Hiding the Real Africa

Karen Rothmyer in the Columbia Journalism Review:

The main reason for the continued dominance of negative stereotypes, I have come to believe, may well be the influence of Western-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international aid groups like United Nations agencies. These organizations understandably tend to focus not on what has been accomplished but on convincing people how much remains to be done. As a practical matter, they also need to attract funding. Together, these pressures create incentives to present as gloomy a picture of Africa as possible in order to keep attention and money flowing, and to enlist journalists in disseminating that picture.

Related articles

• A Closer Look at Journalism and NGOs (africommons.wordpress.com)
• Tutu: Africa must hold Gadhafi accountable (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• A problem with NGOs as sources (overtherejournalism.wordpress.com)
• NGOs: The Self-Appointed Altruists (nowpublic.com)

The New Scramble for Africa

Omoyele Sowore in the Guardian:

Fifty years after colonial battles were fought and independence won, Africans are still chafing under postcolonial regimes led by former liberation warriors transformed into power-hungry, super-rich, authoritarian autocrats. Socialist rhetoric has been replaced with talk of capitalist investment, while multinationals of the west are vying for place against the emerging development interests of China and other Asian countries.
Newly discovered oil fields, fertile lands, diamonds, rare minerals and export crops are being sold off to the most cooperative bidders. While African billionaires are created overnight, the gap between the rich and the poor widens tremendously. Is this colonialism in a new dress? How does this new accumulation of enormous wealth in a few hands compare to the pre-independence period – and what are the strategies of progressive Africans to retake control of their countries?

More here

Benin - Growing Pains for a Young Democracy

Over at Next Billion:

Despite political and economic gains since the 1990s, Benin may be more fragile than it appears on the surface. Corruption continues to pervade many aspects of society, and the revelation of the Ponzi scheme swindle only built on opposition allegations that the Yayi administration is involved in further dirty dealings, such as vote rigging and fraud. Regardless of the merit of these particular claims, Benin does not score particularly high on the World Bank's governance indicator scale. While the country enjoys significant freedom of the press, it ranks surprisingly low on measures of government effectiveness, rule of law, and control of corruption-indicators that have remained more or less stagnant over the last 15 years...[continue reading]

Related articles

• Provisional results: Benin president re-elected (sfgate.com)
• Benin votes for president in twice-delayed election (alternet.org)
• Bon Yayi Wins Benin Election Over Opposition Leader Houngbedji (businessweek.com)

They Failed in Ivory Coast yet offer Solutions for Libya-The AU

Rosebell writes:

Let’s now forget for the last four months this group of men who rule the continent have failed to resolve the situation in Ivory Coast which we may as well say has slipped back into a civil war. So far more than 400 people have died in Ivory Coast and all they do is hope on planes meet in Addis Ababa.
No wonder we have heard no calls on the AU from Libya’s opposition. But these African leaders were so anxious to enter Libya to bargain with Gaddafi who has bought his way around the continent over years. Gaddafi has personally supported rebellions that brought some of these leaders to power and provided them money to buy subsequent elections to appear democratically elected. I don’t understand the African solution neither do leaders like Museveni explain that solution that they peddle around to make Africans believe we are on the same page.

Concluding:

Africans want an African solution but current leaders like President Museveni who stifle freedoms in their own borders will not deliver us the much needed African solution. And that’s what North Africa has realized and therefore moved to rid their countries of these leaders. Like Desmond Tutu has Libya wouldn’t be seeing these strikes if African leaders were answerable to their peers and populace.

Sudan – the Quieter Revolution

Nesrine Malik's perspective on Sudan and its appetite for revolution:

Speaking to people in Khartoum and surrounding areas, I found a wariness, a feeling in the air that people have had enough of political instability. Unlike most other Arab countries, Sudan has witnessed several governments since independence, each with its own unique predilection for failure. Military dictatorships, flirtations with communism, Islamism and a toothless liberal civil government of elites have all instilled a sense of fatigue. Add to this the seismic shift of the separation of the south, and you have a recipe for caution – an almost unconscious cognisance of the fragility of the moment and a negligible appetite for more upheaval.

More here

Related articles

• Southern Sudan accuses north of planning genocide (independent.co.uk)
• Crisis Mapping Sudan: Protest Map of Khartoum (irevolution.wordpress.com)
• South Sudan army-militia clashes kill 69: army (reuters.com)

The Outsourcing of War

In Black Star News:

Earlier this week the Pentagon proclaimed that the last U.S. combat forces had left Iraq. This after an armored unit drove out of the country and crossed the border into Kuwait. However, there'll still be 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. An Iraq veteran turned war critic, Camillo Mejia, said that 4,000 U.S. troops who are leaving Iraq will be replaced by 7,000 employees of private military contractors. Other observers say the U.S. has long outsourced the Iraq occupation to troops from some of the world's poor
nations, such as Uganda, Angola, India, and Bangladesh, and that many of the mercenaries due to replace other U.S. troops will also come from those countries, especially from Uganda. KPFA's Ann Garrison has the story.

More here
via Independent Global Citizen

Egypt: From Revolutions to Institutions

Reboot reports:

As Egyptians head to the polls for a historic constitutional vote, the world watches and waits to understand just how structural long-term changes to the country’s governance system will be. While mainstream media stories focus on admittedly appealing narratives of technology-enabled change, numerous groups and institutions continue to work outside the spotlight to build a new political structure.

More here

Related articles

• Egyptians turn out in big numbers to vote (guardian.co.uk)
• Egypt: Does the Revolution Include the Copts? (3quarksdaily.com)
• After Revolt, Egyptians Try to Shape New Politics (nytimes.com)
• Adel Iskandar: Egypt's Revolutionaries Face Constitutional Battle (huffingtonpost.com)
• Communist Party of Egypt Resumes Public Existence (cedarlounge.wordpress.com)

Politicians should be held accountable: Tutu

Desmond Tutu in Times Live:

Image via Wikipedia

"If Africa's leaders held their peers to account there would be no need for the people of Libya to suffer human rights violations," he said in a statement.
"And there would be no need for United Nations sanctioned military interventions in Libya. Instead, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has for more than 40 years honed his skills in the art of resource management to win friends and influence people. And as a result, Africa seems powerless to stop him."

More here

A Nigerian Revolution? Or Maybe Not

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in the Guardian:

Nigeria suffered years of military dictatorships, but has had a democracy since 1999. There is discontent and dissent but the political climate is not repressive – the press is relatively free, people are no longer under the spell of fear. As Nigerians prepare for presidential elections next month, what is happening, much less dramatically than in north Africa but with perhaps as much long-term significance, is that the youth is finally awake.

More here
For an opposing view read a comment by Nwachi

There is one Nigeria and many Nigerias. There are also many types of Nigeria youth. The Nigerian youth Chimamanda is referring to are bright young things - well educated, overwhelmingly christian and overwhelmingly from Southern Nigeria.
They are hopelessly naive. Their knowledge of Nigeria is confined to Lagos and Abuja (which they don't even understand fully). They have little interraction with (and see no need to interract with) anyone outside their neat little circle...[continue reading]

Asabaako! Music Festival Ghana

Blogging Tracks reports:

The Asabaako Music Festival train pulled into Busua village last weekend for two days of live music and SERIOUS beach parties!! After 2 years of figuring out how this might work and a mad few weeks of preparation, everybody came together to make the Asabaako Music Festival a very special event, combining the most beautiful beach setting with a mix of traditional to modern African and African-inspired music. People came from around Ghana and mixed with those from around the world, alongside a village of people whose energy, enthusiasm and welcome left everybody awestruck.

More here

Related articles

• Fabolous to Headline Ghana Music Festival (theboombox.com)

Being a Lady and a Rally Driver

Al Jazeera highlights the documentary Super Ladies by Samantha Asumadu:

Rose, Leila and Susan are three seemingly ordinary Ugandan women concerned with homes, families and jobs, but they also share the dream of becoming champion rally drivers.
In Uganda, women traditionally defer to the men in their families and face discrimination in many areas of life.So the three women face the double challenge of achieving sporting success while fighting prejudice and sexism in the male world of motor rallying.

"Drums that Talk"

Over at Bombastic Elements:

In James Gleick’s new book, The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood. He looks closely at the chapter, “Drums That Talk,” which explains the concept of information using a now extinct drum language that was used in a part of the Democratic Republic of Congo where the human language is Kele...[continue reading]

Tata's Values

In the Economist:

Tata is also held together by a common culture that has been marinating for 140 years. Employees love to tell tales of how Tata got the better of the British overlords. They also love to point out that Tata created many of India’s greatest institutions, such as the Indian Institute of Science, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and the Tata Memorial Hospital. Reverence for Jamsetji Tata, the group’s founder, borders on ancestor worship: his ever-present busts are garlanded with fresh flowers daily. On March 3rd thousands marched through the streets of Jamshedpur, as they do every year, to celebrate his birthday.

More here

Related articles

• J.N. Tata Endowment Scholarship (economistindia.wordpress.com)
• The universal provider (economist.com)

The River of Revolution flows from North to South

This Is Africa reports on tremors in Burkina Faso:

...a high school student, Justin Zongo, was taken into police custody in the city of Koudougou after an altercation with a female student who, as the story goes, comes from a family with close political ties. Days later, Zongo died while still in police custody – of meningitis, according to the official report, though Zongo’s family and friends believe that maltreatment from the police was to blame. The death sparked a series of student protests – in Koudougou and Fada N’Gourma, in Tougan and Sabou. Government offices were ransacked; police cars went up in flames. At least five people died during two days of protests just days before FESPACO was set to begin. When students at the University of Ouagadougou threatened to join in, the government took the drastic step of shutting down the entire school system. Student protests were bad enough; student protests during the country’s most high-profile event just couldn’t be tolerated.

More here

Study the Creativity of Informal Businesses

Are African business schools taking notice? In Stealth of Nations:

Anil Gupta, a professor at the Indian Institute of Management, is calling on students to study the creativity of informal businesses.His idea is that, in a work-study intiative called the shodhyatra, students should spend their time with small-scale fabricators, weavers, leather workers, chemical formulators or garment manufacturers--visiting and learning from these businesses that most business schools don't recognize as legitimate...[continue reading]

Sahara Reporters

Al Jazeera profiles investigative reporting powerhouse Sahara Reporters:

Learning from Mauritius

Other African countries should take a peek at one of their brethren,Joseph E. Stiglitz reporting in Slate:

Image via Wikipedia

Mauritius's GDP has grown faster than 5 percent annually for almost 30 years. Surely, you think, this must be some "trick." Mauritius must be rich in diamonds, oil, or some other valuable commodity. But Mauritius has no exploitable natural resources. Indeed, so dismal were its prospects as it approached independence from Britain, which came in 1968, that the Nobel Prize-winning economist James Meade wrote in 1961: "It is going to be a great achievement if [the country] can find productive employment for its population without a serious reduction in the existing standard of living. … [T]he outlook for peaceful development is weak."
As if to prove Meade wrong, the Mauritians have increased per capita income from less than $400 around the time of independence to more than $6,700 today. The country has progressed from the sugar-based monoculture of 50 years ago to a diversified economy that includes tourism, finance, textiles, and, if current plans bear fruit, advanced technology.

More here

Golden Baobab Prize for Litreature

Idea Scout highlights the Golden Baobab Prize co-founded by Deborah Ahenkorah. Her approach was to:

Create a Pan-African literary award, the Golden Baobab prize, to inspire the creation of African stories for children and young adults, written by African authors. As stated on her organizations’ website, “A continent so large and richly diverse has tons of wonderful stories to share with young people everywhere: where [are] these stories?”
Where are these stories? Deborah believes they are in the hearts and minds of many aspiring writers both young and old. Her award, which is in its second year, hopes to bring these nascent authors to a global audience.

More here

Growth of South-South Trade

Frank Brandmaier at Global Policy Forum:

Trade between developing nations is booming, which potentially marks the beginning of a new era of "rapid growth." The developed world during the 1950s and 1960s experienced a similar growth trajectory. The trade flows, termed South-South trade, has grown dramatically over the past two decades. Nearly half of all the goods and services produced in developing countries are exported to other developing countries. Stronger trade ties among developing countries may yield positive outcomes, but fears are growing that some emerging powers are exploiting these relationships merely to extract raw materials...[continue reading]

Production, not innovation, will win the Future

Is Africa listening? Clyde Prestowitz writes in the FP:

No country has been more innovative in the past thirty years than the United States. The reason America is increasingly losing out and lagging behind is that it lacks production. And that lack of production capability is now also leading to a decline in innovative capability... if Obama wants to win the future for America he'll need to reverse his priorities -- focus less on innovation and exports and more on domestic production that can competitively substitute for imports.

More here

In the "Church Forests" of Ethiopia

T. DeLene Beeland writing in Plos Blogs:

In America, some fundamental Christians believe that man has a God-given right to use the earth and all its resources to meet their needs. After all, Genesis says so. But across the Atlantic, a different attitude prevails among followers in Ethiopia, which has the longest continuous tradition of Christianity of any African country. Followers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Churches believe they should maintain a home for all of God’s creatures around their places of worship. The result? Forests ringing churches...[continue reading]

via Boing Boing

Adapting to the lack of land rights

G. Pascal Zachary writing in a Property and Environment Research Center report:

The major obstacle to a broadbased campaign for expanded land rights is the relatively weak position of rural people throughout the sub-Saharan area. There are flickering signs of change. The African Union, the region’s leading political association, raised the profile of land issues in 2009 with a declaration on “the need for strong systems of land governance.” But there has been no agreement on what those systems should look like. In some highly centralized countries, such as Ethiopia, the government appears to want weak land rights in order to facilitate land sales to foreign agribusiness companies. In countries with strong democratic traditions, such as Ghana, the power of land is so distributed and shared that making refinements to customary principles in rural areas is difficult. And then there are countries such as Kenya, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, where white settlers appropriated land during colonial periods and where efforts at redress have often been stalled, abandoned, or mishandled. In these countries, legacy land issues overshadow the everyday practical reforms that are still needed. In short, despite a growing awareness of the importance of improving “systems of land governance,” land reform remains a low priority in Africa.

More here

Badilisha Poetry Radio

"...Badilisha Poetry Radio uniquely focuses on podcasts by poets from the African continent and its Diaspora. This online platform creates a dynamic space in which to appreciate, celebrate and discover contemporary Pan-African poetry. The weekly podcasts feature a vast spectrum of voices across poetic genres..."-site Watch overview video after the jump

via Global Voices & Thoughts from Botswana

Iyeoka - Singer

TED Fellow Iyeoka Ivie Okoawo sings Simply Falling

Why do some countries economies grow faster ?

MIT News on the economic growth theories of César Hidalgo and Ricardo Hausman,they contend amongst other things the importance of dense variegated clusters:

“Countries get trapped because they are in a sparse part of the product space.”-Ricardo Hausman

The standard theoretical framework for development economics was established more than 50 years ago by the MIT economist Robert Solow, who developed a mathematical model that predicts countries’ economic growth on the basis of labor and capital (the tools of production); subsequent work expanded the model to include factors such as land and human capital (expert knowledge). The model proved highly influential, ultimately earning Solow the 1987 Nobel Prize in economics.
Hidalgo argues, by lumping together a huge variety of resources under the general heading “capital,” it can obscure distinctions that are crucial to an accurate understanding of countries’ economies. In a series of papers cowritten with Ricardo Hausmann, director of the Center for International Development at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Hidalgo has argued that, indeed, the best predictor of a country’s future economic health is not the magnitude but the diversity of its production capacity.

More here
After the jump watch César A. Hidalgo's overview of the  "Global Product Space"

via Next Big Future

Nigeria's Zimbabwen Farmers

How We Made It Africa spotlights expatriate farmers from Zimbabwe in an interview:

courtesy of how we made it in Africa

Give us an overview of the current situation at your farm?

At present we have 400 hectares of cassava in the land, growing well due to recent rains. We now also have six boreholes in place, plus a holding dam.
Irrigation is key to our project but there have been many delays in this area.
The promise of a constant electricity supply has not yet materialised, although there are many electrical poles and wires on our farm.
Finance is also still a problem. We battle to get the financial institutions to understand the concept of short-, medium- and long-term loans and the real need to have finance before the rainy season starts. We are geared up to plant another 300 hectares in 2010 and just need the finance to do it.

Read the rest of the interview here

Related articles

• White farmers return to Zimbabwe land (telegraph.co.uk)
• Tapping a Continent's Growth From Home (online.wsj.com)

The Aspiring Dictator's Guide

In the Mail & Guardian, Binyavanga Wainaina on tips to becoming a dictator:

Rule 1. Be the richest man in your country (Daniel arap Moi, Robert Mugabe).
If you are a second-generation dictator, this is not hard; just blackmail the guy who came before you (Frederick Chiluba). If you come from an oil-producing country, this is even easier (many Nigerians and Angolans, Chad). If you are a Kenyan, the National Social Security Council is always good for a few billion. Defence contracts even better (all presidents). Money-printing contracts, the best (all presidents). If you are a South African, then anything with the word "black empowerment" works fine.

More here

Related articles

• African Union; Why Include A Dictator (Mugabe) in Ivory Coast's Mediation? (macjordangh.wordpress.com)
• Zambia court clears Mrs Chiluba (bbc.co.uk)
• Hope Deferred: Life Under Zimbabwe's Cruel Dictator (alternet.org)
• The staying power of sub-Saharan strongmen (theglobeandmail.com)
• Put out the welcome mat for Mugabe (newstatesman.com)

Kleptocracy in Angola

In the Economist:

Since ending a 27-year civil war in 2002, Angola has become one of sub-Saharan Africa’s richest countries. Angolan mines are the fifth-largest source of diamonds worldwide. Its oil wells already produce 1.9m barrels a day; on present trends, it could overtake Nigeria to become Africa’s largest producer. It has huge agricultural potential. Roads and railways that were destroyed during the fighting have been rebuilt. New schools and hospitals have sprung up.
But Angola is also one of the world’s most unequal countries. (Its Gini coefficient—a measure of income distribution in which zero indicates perfect equality—is 0.55). Most of the benefits of the resource boom have gone to a fairly small elite that lives in an African version of St Tropez, with ritzy beach clubs inside walled enclaves. A crop of skyscrapers encircles a harbour decorated with sleek motorboats and a Ferretti yacht costing $5.5m.

More here