The Gambian election dispute is not the first that ECOWAS has confronted. Côte d’Ivoire’s 2010 presidential election is a case in point. There it resorted to military action to enforce the outcome.
A mural depicting populist dictators painted onto remnants of the Berlin Wall in Berlin in 2014.
Henning Melber
The legitimacy and credibility of those in power has been eroded by bad governance, patronage and the obsession to claim an exclusive agency representing the people.
A farm worker tends to a tobacco crop in Beatrice, Zimbabwe. The county has struggled to deliver land reform that benefits landless communities.
REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo
Besides worries that Donald Trump might not make Africa a priority of his presidency, his temperament and views bode ill for democracy on the continent.
President Robert Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe for 36 years.
Reuters/Juda Ngwenya
Outsiders might not understand how someone who led his country’s downfall from breadbasket to basket case has remained in the presidency for so many years
If the Donald Trumps of the world want to find out how the masters of manufacturing elections work, they had better visit Zimbabwe before their internecine struggles close them down
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame is seen as having promoted economic growth at the expense of human rights.
Ruben Sprich/Reuters
To improve, African countries need to find a balance between political and economic matters. This is where leadership becomes particularly important. But this is currently lacking on the continent.
Unemployed graduates are among those demanding political change in Zimbabwe.
Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters
The new forms of protest in Zimbabwe raise the possibility that the country’s long-simmering crisis may have reached boiling point. The time could indeed be ripe for a unique form of politics.
Riot police detain residents of Epworth suburb after a protest by taxi drivers turned violent in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Reuters/Philimon Bulawayo
Zimbabwe has experienced another wave of discontent, manifesting in protests by its citizenry. This may well herald a change in the idea of citizenship in the country.
Going nowhere: Robert and Grace Mugabe.
EPA/Aaron Ufumeli
Charles King, Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Consensual same-sex conduct is a crime in 38 African countries. The media in those countries are very much in cahoots with their rulers. But they’re getting their comeuppance from Twitter.
African leaders meet at the African Union Summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2015.
EPA/Kim Ludbrook
Silencing the guns in Africa by 2020 will require a Herculean effort on the part of the AU Peace and Security Council, whose remit is to prevent, manage and resolve conflicts.
Julius Malema, leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), greets supporters at the launch of the party’s local election manifesto in Soweto.
EPA/Cornell Tukiri
Understandable anger about the excessive inequality in South Africa lies at the heart of the rise of the radical Economic Freedom Fighters. The problem is how the party wants to address these issues.
Crowds cheer as Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe arrives to address the country’s Independence Day celebrations in Harare.
Reuters/Philimon Bulawayo
Namibia’s new elite has used “affirmative action” for self-enrichment, while the majority of the population remains excluded from its the wealth. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s socio-economic woes continue.
Joice Mujuru, leader of the new opposition Zimbabwe People First party.
EPA/Aaron Ufumeli
It is normal for resistance movements to adopt rough survival strategies and techniques while fighting an oppressive regime. Unfortunately that culture takes root and is permanently nurtured.
Supporters of Robert Mugabe campaign ahead of the February 1980 election.
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