Rwanda’s diplomatic missions abroad are used by the regime in Kigali to coordinate assassination plots targeting President Kagame’s critics. That is what taxpayers are paying for. Meanwhile much of the ‘international community’ is busy applauding this tyrant

Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria has a long legacy of supporting the studies of economically disadvantaged students. As the university increases its tuition fees, an alumnus implores management to reconsider the additional fees and to maintain the legacy of OAU.

African independence has not resulted in better quality of life for the majority of the continent’s people. Lots of opportunities have been lost to address the problems that are already well known. A new mindset among the leadership class is necessary

Patrick Bond addresses questions raised by Yash Tandon in regards to the role of the BRICS in Africa and in the current configuration of the neoliberal international capitalist order. The challenge is for critics of BRICS to strategise with the world’s progressive forces to build a genuine anti-imperialist movement

The Chair of The National Congress of Black Women wants the World Bank to expeditiously establish an independent high-level commission to review the current situation of racism against blacks at the institution and provide recommendations for fundamental reforms.

Rev. Jesse Jackson urges the Bank to address the issue of rampant racism against Black people.

Previously touted as transparent, Malawi’s recent election proved chaotic amid polling day havoc and vote counting anomalies. Incumbent Joyce Banda cried foul over preliminary results, but an electoral commission recount upheld opposition leader Peter Mutharika’s win. Malawi’s leaders, the AU and SADC must now continue to promote stability to protect democracy and the will of the Malawian people.

The ‘banana campaign’ against racism is cheap as it fails to address the fact that racism is a serious crime that should be punished. Such depoliticised reactions from athletes, artists, opinion-shapers and policy-makers help to cover up the real meaning of racism

Circumcision of women and girls continues around the world even in countries where it has been expressly banned by law. More and diverse efforts are need to win this struggle, as this Kenyan film-maker explains

51 years after the founding of the OAU, now AU, Africa has largely failed to build effective unity, with countries ravaged by internal conflict and the AU failing to have any impact in global power. Internal failures are exploited by imperialist powers to continue their meddling in African affairs. A political alternative based upon revolutionary Pan-Africanism, anti-imperialism and socialism provides the only hope for Africa

The hardline military approach to Boko Haram by the Nigerian government is inadequate. Boko Haram's challenge has economic, political and social dimensions that government ignores to the detriment of Nigerians. All progressive forces will now have to wade in to oppose both Boko Haram and the states that provide the enabling conditions for the growth of terror elements

All current cases before the ICC are from Africa and case referrals are restricted by international politics. However, this should not be an excuse for African leaders to circumvent justice. As no African Court with efficient jurisdiction and capacity exists, the ICC remains vital to African victims and ending impunity.

Read the first of Fahamu’s monthly round ups of the African Union’s engagement with peace and human rights across the continent.
Headlines

1. Analysts Decry Lack of Progress of African Union in Counter-Terrorism
2. African Union strike kills 50 al-Shabab insurgents in Somalia
3. AU Commission of Inquiry for South Sudan considers hybrid court
4. AU meets to discuss immunity clause for ‘African ICC’
5. AU calls for further peace negotiations in Darfur
6. AU engaging with Burundi politicians amidst growing political tensions
7. AU praises Rwandan peacekeepers in in the CAR
Monthly roundup: May 2014

This special issue is a reflection on conceptualising and constructing a new Africa in 50 years’ time. It is also devoted to the memory of the late Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem who was a Pan-Africanist visionary. Whilst we must ‘dare to invent the future’ as Thomas Sankara heeded us, we must be realistic in assessing the obstacles in the long term plans for Africa’s development

Africa's people should be unchained by their own rulers and the imperialists with whom these despots happily collaborate, so that we can fly; we can invent; we can invest; we can develop our own continent.

Africa’s key strengths lie in its young population, women with potential, its big reserves of natural and mineral resources, especially huge reserves of water, vast arable land, hydropower potential and forests

After 50 years of independence, Africa is rippled with conflicts and it is foremost Africa’s leaders who are to blame. African leadership has to care about the African people and invest in them in the sense of Ubuntu.

Increasingly labeled hopeless, Africa’s future is often open to debate. Whilst there are those that doom the continent to a dire future citing corrupt leaders and deeply embedded poverty, the more optimistic types peg their hope on Africa’s youth to spearhead change on the continent.

Africa’s current development models tend to echo the priorities of colonialism, perpetuating structural inequalities that hinder development and exacerbate existing contradictions. To remedy this, development reciprocity and African-centred governance the promotes franchise, representation and responsiveness to basic needs should be adopted

Africa has no alternative but to invest in building the infrastructure of knowledge-based production. This means good governance, better school systems, excellent universities and a deliberate effort to bolster research and development across private and public sectors