As a signatory to the Rome Statute, South Africa is obliged to arrest Omar al-Bashir and end his status as a fugitive from international law for war crimes allegedly committed in the conflict in Darfur.
Africa has suffered its fair share of military rule, but many countries are now electoral democracies.
Juda Ngwenya/Reuters
Democracy in Africa has yet to be firmly anchored to withstand the strong currents that threaten it. Although most African countries are electoral democracies, most hold dubious elections.
Muhammadu Buhari’s victory in Nigeria emboldens him to play a leading role in African affairs.
Reuters
Former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Olusegun Obasanjo led confidently on African affairs because they were elected by comfortable majorities at home and had solid control of their political parties.
Voters line up in Nigeria’s recent election. It was deemed free, fair and relatively peaceful.
EPA
Compared to other parts of the world, Africa is not a high-flyer in the area of election management. This can be attributed to the scourge of violence, fraud, corruption and intimidation.
A more enlightened approach to child labour would listen to what children say about work, balance work and school, and enhance the flexibility and quality of schooling to cater for working children.
Many Nigerians have been displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency.
Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde
The failures of the African Union raise serious questions about when to deploy its security apparatus in general and the Africa Standby Force in particular.
The colonial legacy of rigid approaches to sovereignty continue to hinder co-operative approaches to conservation in Africa.
EPA/Dai Kurokawa
Suspected Boko Haram militants have attacked Northern Cameroon in another escalation of their now regional war against Nigeria, Cameron, Chad and Niger. In a cross-border attack, the militants kidnapped…
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta at the International Criminal Court in The Hague yesterday. He has been accused of organising mass ethnic violence.
EPA/PETER DE JONG
The first appearance of a head of state at the International Criminal Court at The Hague yesterday was a landmark event. But instead of getting any closer to the truth about who was behind violence that…
The oil depot fire raging near Tripoli airport.
EPA
Libya’s already edgy security situation is suddenly in a steep decline. France has announced it is evacuating its nationals from the country by sea, and other countries are doing the same with their embassy…
A South Korean destroyer deploys to Somali waters to tackle piracy there.
EPA/Yonhap
When we sip our morning coffee or snack on a piece of chocolate, we hardly think about how these products came to us. The answer is: they were transported by sea. In fact, pretty much all the goods we…
He may look like a 90-year-old pariah, but Mugabe’s presence is as strong as ever.
EPA/STR
The Robert Mugabe who returned from Singapore for his 90th birthday celebrations was sprightly and energised. His Singapore sojourns, officially designated as trips to treat eye problems, invigorate more…
Avast there: a US Navy search and seizure team chasing suspected Somali pirates.
US Navy
Maritime security is fundamental to economic development all over the world, from local to regional up to international levels. The sea-based trading system, developed mostly by states with maritime borders…
A fight on her hands: CAR’s interim president, Catherine Samba-Panza.
Jerome Delay/AP
More than 2,000 people are feared killed since violence intensified in the Central African Republic (CAR) in early December of last year. Much of the violence erupted between the Séléka alliance of armed…
Get with it: AU chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma (left).
GovernmentZA
When the South African president, Jacob Zuma, returned from the African Union summit last weekend, his press statement said almost nothing that could not have been written before he left. The summit decided…
Jan Smuts Professor of International Relations and Director of the African Centre for the Study of the United States (ACSUS), University of the Witwatersrand