Attempts to deepen democracy in Africa by limiting presidential terms to two have not entirely quashed a culture of entitlement to rule. Glimpses of it persist, much against citizens’ wishes.
Burundian refugees wait at the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Kagunga village in Kigoma region, western Tanzania.
Reuters/Stringer
Several countries across Africa are overburdened by a lack of space and financial support for refugees.
A protestor uses grass to obscure his identity during a protest against President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to run for a third term in Bujumbura, Burundi.
Reuters/Goran Tomasevic
The prospects for reconciliation are bleak. Formal gestures by the government to nudge the opposition parties to join an intra-Burundi dialogue have consistently failed.
Rumours of the ICC’s imminent demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Uhuru Kenyatta, then Kenya’s Finance Minister (rear) appears at the International Criminal Court in 2011. Kenyatta, now President and off the hook, is weighing his country’s options.
Reuters/Bas Czerwinski
It is a question of when, not whether, Kenya will pull out of the ICC. But it is also clear that there is some incentive for Nairobi not to withdraw immediately
Former Chadian leader Hissene Habre being escorted in to stand trial at the Palais de Justice in Dakar, Senegal in 2015. He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in 2016 by judges of the Extraordinary African Chambers for crimes against humanity, rape, sexual slavery.
EPA/Stringer
There are fears that the withdrawal of countries from the ICC would mark the end of international criminal justice in Africa. This need not be the case.
Presidents Jacob Zuma and Uhuru Kenyatta. Their countries are at the forefront of efforts to have Africa leave the ICC.
GCIS
Ironically the campaign to withdraw from the ICC was mainly initiated by the very same governments and heads of state that had earlier referred cases to the ICC when it suited their own interests.
South Africa’s planned withdrawal from the ICC is considered a detraction from Nelson Mandela’s “inspiring legacy”.
Jim Bourg/Reuters
The ICC has made important advances by investigating cases outside Africa and completing ones that further define what is not allowed in war. South Africa’s withdrawal is concerning, but not fatal.
Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir during a rally against the ICC.
Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters
The South African government’s decision to withdraw from the ICC should not be seen in isolation. The African Union has called on its member states to withdraw from the court.
Media freedom activists protest against the draconian Protection of Information Bill in Cape Town, South Africa.
Sumaya Hisham/Reuters
While some African countries have shown an improvement in press freedom and freedom of expression ratings, others, including South Africa, are seeing worrying trends and a drop in rankings.
Voting in Burundi, where 36% of women do not agree that democracy is the best form of government.
Mike Hutchings/Reuters
The competition between the two authoritarian regimes has become a fact that, given the regional context, is here to last. It justifies repression and indefinitely postpones democratic expression.
The strongest resistance to the United Nations resolution to promote LGBTI rights came from Muslim and African states. Many of these countries still criminalise same-sex relationships.
Robert Sobukwe developed the philosophy of African nationalism to even higher intellectual heights. The lesson for humanity was his ideological stand that there is only one race - the human race.
The president of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza.
GovernmentZA/Flickr
Regular changes of government through free and fair elections that reflect the wishes of the majority of citizens are a critical component of democratisation. But how significant are polls in Africa?
Burundi’s president (centre) on a visit in 2014. He would do well to meet now for peace talks.
Ilyas A. Abukar/AMISOM Public Information
For the grand plans unveiled at the China-Africa summit to succeed, Africa will have to cooperate more extensively. The larger and more successful nations need to become sub-regional leaders.
Maintaining law and order in Burundi is proving increasingly difficult as the number of militias organised along ethnic lines increases.
Reuters/Goran Tomasevic
The “quick fix” nature of the Arusha Peace Agreement seems to have come back to haunt Burundi. Ethnic protests threaten to tear the country apart, leading it to the path of a failed state.