Violence, lawlessness, and impunity—these words are common in the international vocabulary that surrounds the Central African Republic. As one of the least-developed countries in the world, this former French colony of Ubangi-Shari, sitting between the DRC, Sudan, and Chad, had been crippled by three decades of military misrule until the establishment of civilian government in … Read more
[LETTER FROM ACCRA] Sabria, a 17-year-old young woman from the Northern Region, came to Accra in early 2013 to make some money to provide for herself and her then one-year-old baby, Rashid. She now works as a head porter at Agbogloshie market, one of the major trading centers in the city. After becoming pregnant at … Read more
[LETTER FROM TEL AVIV] Ablel was born and raised in Eritrea, but he knew he needed to leave. One of the tens of thousands of refugees fleeing a repressive dictatorship and ongoing economic crisis, Ablel managed to cross the northern border, past the Eritrean soldiers who jail anyone they capture. He made it through all … Read more
Not surprisingly, Egypt has deteriorated into chaos and violence once again. Last week, hundreds were killed and thousands injured as the post-coup Egyptian government mauled thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters in Cairo. Usually when something like this happens anywhere in the world, the United States is either looked to for leadership, blamed for the bloodshed, … Read more
The past month has seen immense upheaval in the Central African Republic, a nation already renowned for its fragile political structure, rampant poverty, and highly erratic policymaking. On March 25, a rebel group dubbed Seleka, the word for ‘alliance’ in the Sango language, infiltrated the capital of the C.A.R., Bangui, and forced then-President François Bozizé … Read more
Chinua Achebe, the renowned Nigerian novelist, passed away at the age of 82 last Thursday. Author of the seminal novel, “Things Fall Apart,” Achebe was a vocal supporter of anti-colonialist sentiment, using literature as a tool to scrutinize and largely condemn Western colonial practices. And though the sun seems to have set on the British … Read more
Tension is running high in Kenya in the wake of an historic general election that took place March 4. On Saturday, March 16, presidential candidate and outgoing Prime Minister Raila Odinga filed a petition with the Kenyan Supreme Court, disputing the election results announced March 9, which state that he was defeated by a 50 … Read more
“If this was apartheid police we’d riot.” So tweeted social activist Zackie Achmat on February 28 in reference to recent episodes of police brutality in South Africa that have focused public scrutiny and ire on the much-maligned establishment. The latest outcry results from a recently-released video showing taxi driver Mido Macia being tied to the … Read more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMa-yfs1rzY&width=665 What is the situation in Azawad, Mali, and what are the lessons that we can learn from there for similarly situated countries? Staff writer Matthew Disler ’16 talks about his article “A Mirage in the Sahara: The Fragility of Azawad” in the 2012 winter issue of the Harvard Political Review. Read the full article here. … Read more
It is not every day that half a country secedes, but that is exactly what happened in Mali earlier this year. On April 6, after months of fighting, a representative of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) formally declared independence for Azawad, a region in north Mali. The rebel group drove the … Read more