The ‘rainbow nation’ still retains deep social divisions arising from its troubled past and the mixed results of various initiatives over the last 18 years to build a truly cohesive society. A number of things need to be done to aid this process.

What is happening in eastern DR Congo is not a civil war, but continuation of a 16-year aggression by the country’s two neighbours, financed and directed by the United States and Britain.

Like Berlin in 1884-85, the BRICS Durban summit is expected to carve up Africa more efficiently, unburdened – now as then – by what will be derided as 'Western' concerns about democracy and human rights.

The underlying cause of the Zimbabwean crisis lies in the State’s failure to initiate and sustain a growth process that is robust and inclusive.

The new regime has proven to be incapable of tackling sensitive economic issues. The loan from IMF is not inevitable or necessary to pull the economy out of an imminent recession, but rather risks pushing Egypt into a spiral of public debt.

The commission is mute in the face of egregious human rights violations perpetrated by the Museveni regime. The political leanings of its officials undermines their commitment to building a just society

The bank’s governance structure has denied Africa a voice for many decades, but utterly appalling is the deeply entrenched bias against black people in the World Bank’s human resources practices.

The power of knowledge in Africa is immeasurable. To emancipate themselves from oppressive political rulers and to achieve advancement, the people should seek education.

The recent conference on the M23 rebellion in DR Congo achieved little. With increasing international disinterest in the crisis, Africa must unite to end this conflict.

It is not necessarily land scarcity, but rather improper land administration, abuse of power and systems that are key land conflict triggers in northern Uganda.

World Bank’s much trumpeted ‘alternative’ model of growth – the utilisation of low-cost, skilled labour in the developing world for the export of IT and IT-enabled services to the West – has found a receptive audience amongst certain African politicians and policymakers. But the costs of adopting this model will far outweigh any benefits.

Rarely are positive stories of Africa represented in the Western media about African people. Steve Sharra shares some inspiring examples of young Malawians that should inspire young and old alike across the African continent.

Winning essay in the 2012 Royal Commonwealth Competition

Hurricane Sandy, coming fast and furious after the numerous storms of this century, is one more wake-up call for humans to retreat from the wrong headedness of private accumulation of wealth.

Many people who are critical about the legacy of Nelson Mandela have beeb outraged by the South African Reserve Bank's decision to place his iconic image on the South African paper currency. Some say Madiba is being appropriated by capitalists and government officials.

Though Africa did not feature much in Obama’s campaigns, it does not mean his administration has no interest in the continent of his father’s birth. But that interest has little to do with the wellbeing of Africans themselves.

It is a big shame that UN peacekeepers could not protect the Congolese in Goma from the onslaught of Rwandan-backed rebels M23. Washington and London, Kagame's allies, have made him more intransigent.

The ongoing Israeli onslaught on Palestinians should be a major source of frustration for peace-loving individuals and groups who envisage a peaceful resolution to the Middle East crisis.

Obama’s second term opens with the worst kind of display of US power – backing two clients, Rwanda and Israel, who are hell-bent on creating mayhem against their neighbours. UN will do nothing against these two.

Designated a ‘failed state’ Somalia’s problems lie partly in the geopolitical strategy of Somalia’s neighbours for managing the liberated areas from Al Shabab, which compartmentalizes the Somali territory, politics and devalues citizenship.