Online Presentation: Africa - Politics

Introduction:

The continent of Africa was forever changed by the colonization from the western powers. Now the continent is a land of political struggles and mass genocides, often lost in the news. However, There remains to be hope and strong culture which keeps Africa alive and having a potential future. while a majority of the news out there today is negative, the states and people of Africa remain rich in culture and passion.

Background

Current Situation

What's happening in Africa's News?

*Flooding in northern, western and central Africa from BBC

• Eastern Africa
  • On a Positive note
  • Ebola Virus
  • Ivory Coast Ex-head in rare rally
  • UK targets Nigeria's stolen loot

• Southern Africa
  • Zimbabwe bishop 'victim of state'
  • Zimbabwe diaspora 'may get vote'
  • South Africa
  • Zimbabwe

• Horn-western Africa
  • Somali violence amid sacking row
  • Eritrea rejects Ethiopia warning
  • Twelve shot dead by Kenyan police
  • Somalia
  • Somalia-2

• Central Africa

• Democratic Repubilc of the Congo
• Ninjas in the DR Congo

• Northern Africa
  • Bombing in Algeria
  • Second Bombing in Algeria
  • Al Qauda Says it Targeted Algerian President

• Libya to Sit on Security Council

• Background info on Darfur
• U.N. Condemns Darfur Violence
• Cater in Darfur
• World Leaders on Mission in Sudan
• Revenge attack on Darfur town
• New Attack from Sudan army and allies
• North-South Peace Deal Falling Apart in Sudan

Sudan Backs Darfur cease-fire as main rebel boycots talks

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/10/27/libya.darfur.ap/index.html

Sierra Leone just had an election and many experts are impressed with the transparency of the voting process. There were many incidents of ballot stuffing and voting fruad but they were dealt with in a very fair and effiecent way. The article from BBC explains more

Themes in African Politics-

these are just themes that we could possibly organize our presentation around

• corruption/ overcoming corruption
• combating poverty
• ethinic struggles - due to poorely drawn borders, religious differences ect

Hope for the future

This is a general article from International Herald Tribune. It talks about the new program trhe UN and World Bank are working on to help developing countries recover assets stolen by corrupt leaders. This article does not specifically deal with Africa but I thought it was a good source.

Government Corruption and Recent Democratic Elections:

Power struggles have been the basis of most African conflict since the end of colonialism. Since most nations were left without education or any system of government, deciding who should hold the power has been very difficult. In some cases, leaders agree to a democratic system and abide by the constitutions they have; meaning they step down from power when their term is over. In other countries it is not that simple. For the majority of African countries, they have been in a state of political turmoil since receiving independence from their colonial powers. Every few years, there is a revolt and the leader is ousted, only to be replaced with a more corrupt and power hungry leader. Click below to see more information about the various government situations across Africa.

Examples of Democratic Systems in Africa

African Nations On The Way To Democracy

Corrupt African Nations

News Stories About Corruption and Recent Democratic Elections:

Corruption Rules Over Africa