Hopes are running high for Liberia’s second presidential elections since the end of its brutal civil war. The first round of polling appears to be credible. And with former warlord and current senator Prince Johnson’s endorsement, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first female head of state, is likely to win the run-off in November in [...]
Tens of thousands of Somalis have died of hunger and related causes in the last few months, according to the Red Cross. It is hard to know the exact figure as they are scattered across a huge area from Mogadishu down to Jubaland and into northern Kenya. Many thousands, particularly children, are still at risk. [...]
For once the government has reacted speedily to violence between supporters of the ruling and opposition parties. More needs to be done, though, to stop next year’s election campaign degenerating into mindless bloodshed, says Desmond Davies. The 2012 presidential candidate for the opposition Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), Julius Maada Bio, on the campaign trail [...]
Lydia Scott in Freetown, on how a former head of state, who has been abandoned by successive governments, is coping with hard times. Valentine Esegragbo Melvine Strasser was the world’s youngest head of state when, at just 25, he and his military colleagues usurped power in Sierra Leone in 1992. Yet, since he lost power [...]
The opposition in Sierra Leone has chosen a presidential candidate with a political past that could make or mar his chances in next year’s election, writes Desmond Davies The grandees of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) have plumped for Julius Maada Bio as the party’s candidate for the crucial presidential election scheduled for the [...]
Three powerful NATO countries have announced that Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi could stay in Libya if he is willing to step down from his 42-year reign of power. The International Criminal Court (ICC), who issued an arrest warrant against him in June, is saying that he can’t be left in Libya. The question now is: [...]
The worst drought in two decades has left about 11 million East Africans in acute need of food and water. Western NGOs are urging people to donate money while images of malnourished children appear on the world’s TV screens. Is Africa still the helpless and weak continent the media portrayed it to be twenty years [...]
The new president, Alassane Ouattara, in his inaugural speech said he hopes to reunite Ivorians after the ‘the victory of democracy’, and promised parliamentary elections before the end of the year. Ouattara was inaugurated Saturday 21st May 2011 as president following a bloody crisis caused by his predecessor’s refusal to concede election defeat. ‘The time [...]
Politicians and Royals often share the common characteristic of a love of pomp and ceremony. An apparent 2 billion people tuned into Britain’s Royal Wedding Celebrations on Friday 29th April, watching Prince William and Kate Middleton tie the knot in what was said to be an ‘understated’ and yet elegant and glamorous affair. While it [...]
As Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni commences another five years in office – a tenure that will have spanned 30 years by the time of the next elections – a significant rise in protests among the Ugandan people has posed the question of whether history is repeating itself. When opposition leader Kizza Besigye joined with Museveni [...]
