Blog Entries 1 to 10 of 178
"Fareed Zakaria GPS" this Sunday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET. Second-term presidencies come with a unique set of challenges. How have past American presidents handled them? Pulitzer Prize-winning historians Jon Meacham and Robert Caro look back, and offer advice to President Barack Obama. "Even in this era, where the president of the United [...]
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Two days ago, President Kabila removed Major-General Gabriel Amisi as head of the Congolese land forces, one of the most powerful positions in the military. Amisi, aka Tango Four, was a well-known racketeer, who had made a fortune from kickbacks and embezzlement in the army, and who has also been cited for grave human rights abuses, including the May 2002 Kisangani massacre. Yesterday, he named Lieutenant-General Francois Olenga as his replacement.
The rot in the Congolese army runs deep; naming a new commander will not change the way things are done. But we should still ask - who is Olenga?
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As the M23 crisis has unfolded in the eastern Congo, the US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice has emerged as a holdout within American foreign policy, a sort of minority report to the prevailing criticism of Rwanda and the M23.
The first indication of this emerged in June, when Rice delayed the publication of UN Group of Experts' interim report, insisting that Rwanda be given a chance to see the report first and respond. While these UN investigations are supposed to give the accused the opportunity to respond and explain--the Group says it was refused meetings by the Rwandan government, which Kigali denies--they rarely allow them to see the entire report before publication. In any case, the Group finally did brief a Rwandan delegation in New York in June in New York ...
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Malawi plans to re-open its High Commission in Nairobi as part of its initiative to strengthen relations with Kenya. This was revealed on Saturday, after discussions between President Mwai Kibaki and his Malawian counterpart Joyce Banda who paid him a courtesy call at Speke Resort, Munyonyo in Kampala. The Malawian High Commission in Nairobi was [...]
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Fresh clashes erupted in Cairo on Saturday as police confronted demonstrators protesting sweeping powers assumed by President Mohamed Morsi, exposing divisions between newly empowered Islamists and their opponents.
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Egypt has had quite a week, even by its inimitable standards. President Mohamed Morsi brokered a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, returning Egypt to the regional political balance and proving to be the pragmatic, realistic leader for which many had hoped. Almost immediately afterward, his government announced a preliminary deal with the International Monetary Fund for a desperately needed $4.8 billion loan. But then, just as Morsi stood poised to bask in the international acclaim, he suddenly released a presidential decree granting himself extraordinary powers and triggering a surge of popular mobilization protesting his decisions.
Morsi's move should be seen in the context of Cairo's intensely polarized, gridlocked politics rather than as some pure expression of Islamist intent. His ...
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President Joyce Banda's lack of a clear stance on homosexuality has sparked a fierce national debate with major political parties showing a sharp split in opinion over the matter. Banda, who pledged to repeal anti-gay laws soon after she became president, has of late shown indecisiveness on the matter, saying through her press secretary that [...]
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Atupele Muluzi had no serious contender for the UDF chairmanship. No wonder it was a walkover for him on Tuesday night. But the votes the son of the former president amassed make it highly probable he could have whacked any remnants of his father's regime, including sidelined interim party president Friday Jumbe who, by boycotting [...]
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