Ivorian First Lady: trash peace accords

Simone Gbagbo, Côte d'Ivoire's Lady Macbeth, wants to trash the Ouagadougou accords that finally brought peace to her country. The Ivorian presidential spouse said that the state couldn't afford to integrate former northern rebels into the national army. She said they should instead be sent back to their villages. Sending waves of unemployed young males with no money and few skills other than war making isn't exactly the most brilliant idea to foster an already fragile national stability.

Why Darfur?

Ethan over at My Heart's In Accra blog has a thought-provoking essay on why the west is paying attention to Darfur and not on other, comparably compelling situations.

Biofuels taking over African farmland

Black Looks blog has an interesting look at 'how biofuels are taking over farmland' in eastern and southern Africa.

With the continent suffering more than any other place from the skyrocketing food prices, multinationals taking over huge chunks of African farmland for grow fuel is an idea nearly as insane as using food crops like corn/maize for fuel.

Elections, elections, elections

Note: Sorry to all readers for my hiatus. Things have been pretty crazy the last few weeks but I hope to resume regular blogging now.

The South African Institute of International Affairs in Johannesburg has an analysis of the upcoming elections in Africa this year.

It notes that Angola, Rwanda, Swaziland, Zambia, Côte d'Ivoire (in theory) and Ghana will all have parliamentary and/or presidential elections between now and the end of the year.

The analysis offers some very detailed explanations of the flaws in various electoral systems.

Cited in the Zimbabwean and Kenyan crises are some problems with wide resonance: Elections can create a winner-take-all mentality. There is too much at stake for leaders to admit defeat gracefully and vacate State House quietly. Voter registration is restrictive, voters' rolls are suspect and constituency maps gerrymandered, all to suit incumbents.

State institutions - including those overseeing voting - are increasingly militarised, and not averse to ballot box stuffing. State media churn out pro-government stories. Voters are intimidated for months before elections, even if polling day is peaceful.

Observers appear oblivious, complicit or impotent. Ethnic and economic cleavages are manipulated. Vicious violence ensues. It culminates, at best, in messy, compromise pacts among elites, bloated cabinets and unresolved issues, left to fester until the next vote.

One country whose elections have been plagued by these problems but will not be holding polls this year is Guinea. The country's Independent National Electoral Commission has announced that legislative elections originally scheduled for June 2007 and already postponed three times will be pushed back again and will not be held in November of this year.