On July 9, 2014, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, addressed the widespread modification of national constitutions by African leaders to enable them to constitutionally remain in power for life. Assistant Secretary...
An Interview by Barthelemy Bazemo, AFJN Policy Analyst South Sudan became the world’s youngest nation on July 9, 2011, following a referendum to be independent from Sudan. But the excitement over its independence did not last long because fighting soon erupted...
There is a consensus among African analysts that one of the continent’s greatest problems is lack of good governance. This article will make the case for presidential terms limits as a path forward to much needed political stability to spur economic development and...
By Melaura Homan-Smith, AFJN Program Coordinator On June 20-27 of this year the African Union met in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, for its 23rd Ordinary Session. The theme for this year, “2014, the Year of Agriculture and Food Security,” indicates that Africa looks to...
In November 2013, a report, known as “the Simon Nyandu Report” after the nation’s Attorney General, was completed but never officially released. The DRC government attempted to suppress it, but it was leaked. The investigators concluded 11 companies...
By Nicole Ngambwa What sort of crime did Meriam Yehya Ibrahim commit for the Sudanese government in Khartoum to imprison her while pregnant, sentence her to 100 lashes and death by hanging, and in an unexpected twist re-arrest her a day after she was freed? Meriam...
Originally published in the June-Sept Edition of Around Africa. By Aniedi Okure, OP. On May 19, 2014 I set out on an eleven day trip to Accra to prepare the groundwork for AFJN’s empowerment project workshop scheduled for the fall. While in Accra, my host Fr. Eric...
Barthelemy Bazemo Since assuming office in early February 2013, Secretary of State John Kerry made his first trip to Africa from April 29-May 5. The six-day trip took him respectively to Ethiopia, South-Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Angola....
News reports from East Africa indicate that Ethiopian Security Forces are using live bullets against unarmed students and farmers who are protesting against Ethiopian authorities’ plan to extend the boundaries of the capital city Addis Ababa to surrounding...