I fully agree with the Washington Post’s Jim Hoagland that there is “something to celebrate in South Africa” and join with him in hoping that President Jacob Zuma will receive an invitation to the White House at the earliest possible opportunity. South Africa conducted its latest general election — the fourth since the end of apartheid in 1994 — magnificently last month. Continue reading
Tag Archives: African Elections
Lesotho Update Winter 2008-9
In this issue: progress on the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, Lesotho assumes leadership role in the African Union, tackling HIV/AIDS and getting ready for Peer Review. Continue reading
Ghana Special Election Update
Ghanaians, who led the decolonization of Africa more than 50 years ago, have once again proved they are in the vanguard of the continent’s political development by peacefully electing opposition leader Prof. John Evans Atta Mills President. The election made history because Ghana is only the second African nation (after Benin) that has twice achieved a peaceful transition of power through the ballot box. It was the fifth consecutive time Ghanaians have gone to the polls to democratically elect a leader. Continue reading
Uganda Update Fall 2008
Africa moved one step closer to full economic integration in October when representatives from three regional trade blocs, including six Heads of State, agreed at a summit hosted by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in Kampala, to form a new cross-regional free trade bloc and customs union. The new bloc, to be comprised of the 26 member nations of the Common Market of Southern and Eastern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), will create the largest free trade area on the African continent with a market of over 527 million people and a combined GDP of $624 billion.
Laurent Gbagbo, President of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, addresses global media: “the main goal is to re-unite our country.”
Following his speech to the United Nations General Assembly, His Excellency Laurent Gbagbo, President of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, hailed the progress made under the Ouagadougou Peace Accord – which was signed in neighboring Burkina Faso in March, ending the years-long conflict that had divided Côte d’Ivoire – and called for the United Nations and the international community to support the process of national reconciliation. Continue reading
