 Welcome to Afro Gadaa Initiative.
Where young Africans share their views, trace back their values and strategize the future of the beloved Africa. Talking development, peace and change in Africa, without democracy and good governance is null and void.
Little has been said about African indigenous democratic values and the power of art and media to enhance to the understanding of the broader community in a sense to bring societal transformation.
We organize dialogue, round table discussions and seminars in our effort to realize our core objectives.
We hope you will find the resources on this website helpful.
In Senegal, presidents concede defeat
DAKAR, Senegal — President Abdoulaye Wade conceded defeat to his former protege Sall late Sunday, congratulating him several hours after polls closed when preliminary results showed the opposition candidate had trounced the 85-year-old incumbent.
The moment that crystallized this nation's reputation as one of Africa's established democracies came the morning after the presidential election 12 years ago. In the neoclassical presidential palace, Senegal's leader stayed awake all night, counting and re-counting the results that showed in no uncertain terms that he had lost.
President Abdou Diouf could have rigged the election from the start, as his neighbor to the north in Mauritania had the habit of doing. He could have stacked the court in charge of validating the election with supporters, the strategy his neighbor to the south in Ivory Coast would one day put to good use.
Or he could have deployed the army to keep his grasp on power like in nearby Guinea, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau all of which share a border with Senegal, a nation of 12.4 million on Africa's western edge.
Instead the 64-year-old president emerged from his office, told his aides to draft a statement conceding defeat and picked up the phone to congratulate the man who had beaten him, Abdoulaye Wade. Read more
Mali coup overthrows one of the few established democracies in Northwest Africa
Thursday, March 22, 2012
 Mali
Civilians walk past burning tires lit in support of mutinying soldiers, in Bamako, Mali, Wednesday. Gunshots could still be heard in the Malian capital late Wednesday, hours after angry troops started a mutiny at a military base near the presidential palace. Associated Press
BAMAKO, Mali — Soldiers looted the presidential palace Thursday hours after saying they were taking control of one of the few established democracies in this corner of Africa. There were conflicting reports on President Amadou Toumani Toure’s whereabouts.
Gunfire rang throughout the capital and soldiers carted televisions and other goods out of the palace following a coup announcement on state television. Toure had been due to leave office after elections on April 29, but now it appears the vote will not be held. Read more
Mo Ibrahim Foundation awarded £3.2 million African Good Governance prize for first time in three years
Pedro Veronia Pires, the former president of the Cape Verde Islands, was awarded the 2011 Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership for his "humility and personal integrity" in leading his nation into democracy.
Along with the lump sum, to be paid over 10 years, he will receive $200,000 (£127,000) annually for life. He can also apply for another $200,000 per year for 10 years towards his charitable activities and espoused good causes.
The decision to award Mr Pires avoids the potential embarrassment of going a third year without recognising a winner. Read More
The Muammar Gaddafi story
By Martin Asser, BBC News
How can you adequately describe someone like Col Muammar Gaddafi? During a period that spanned six decades, the Libyan leader paraded on the world stage with a style so unique and unpredictable that the words "maverick" or "eccentric" scarcely did him justice.
His rule saw him go from revolutionary hero to international pariah, to valued strategic partner and back to pariah again.
Gaddafi developed his own political philosophy, writing a book so influential - in the eyes of its author, at least - that it eclipsed anything dreamt up by Plato, Locke or Marx.
He made countless show-stopping appearances at Arab and international gatherings, standing out not just with his outlandish clothing, but also his blunt speeches and unconventional behaviour. Read the full article here
Libya declares country's official 'liberation'
Libyan revolutionary fighters returning from Sirte are welcomed at Al Guwarsha gate in Benghazi, Libya.
REUTERS - Libya’s new rulers declared the country freed from Muammar Gaddafi’s 42 years of one-man rule on Sunday, saying the "Pharaoh of the times" was now in history’s garbage bin and a democratic future beckoned. Tens of thousands who until this year’s revolt had known only Gaddafi’s all-powerful police state packed a square in the second city Benghazi to hear the interim National Transitional Council (NTC) announce Libya had liberated itself fully.
NTC chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil kneeled in prayer after taking the podium and promised to uphold Islamic law. "All the martyrs, the civilians and the army had waited for this moment. But now they are in the best of places ... eternal heaven," he said, shaking hands with supporters.
Some fear Jalil, a mild-mannered former justice minister, will find it difficult to impose his will on his fractious revolutionary alliance, pointing to the insistence of the city of Misrata on displaying the body of the former strongman three days after his death, in apparent breach of Islamic practice.
And there is international disquiet about increasingly graphic and disturbing images on the Internet of abuse of a body that appears to be Gaddafi’s following his capture and the fall of his hometown of Sirte on Thursday. But the immediate reaction to Sunday’s announcement was jubilation. "We are the Libyans. We have shown you who we are Gaddafi, you Pharaoh of the times. You have fallen into the garbage bin of history," said lawyer Abdel Rahman el-Qeesy, who announced the creation of a new government portfolio to deal with victims of the conflict.
"We declare to the whole world that we have liberated our beloved country, with its cities, villages, hilltops, mountains, deserts and skies," said an official who opened the ceremony in Benghazi, the place where the uprising erupted in February and which has been the headquarters for the NTC.
Cheering crowds waved the tri-colour flag. Read full news
After Years of Struggle, South Sudan Becomes a New Nation
JUBA, South Sudan — The celebrations erupted at midnight. Thousands of revelers poured into Juba’s steamy streets in the predawn hours on Saturday, hoisting enormous flags, singing, dancing and leaping on the back of cars.
“Freedom!” they screamed.
The New Flag of South Sudan
A new nation was being born in what used to be a forlorn, war-racked patch of Africa, and to many it seemed nothing short of miraculous. After more than five decades of an underdog, guerrilla struggle and two million lives lost, the Republic of South Sudan, Africa’s 54th state, was about to declare its independence in front of a who’s who of Africa, including the president of the country letting it go: Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan, a war-crimes suspect.
Many of those who turned out to celebrate, overcome with emotion, spoke of their fathers, mothers, sons and daughters killed in the long struggle to break free from the Arab-dominated north.
“My whole body feels happy,” said George Garang, an English teacher who lost his father, grandfather and 11 brothers in the war.
By sunrise, the crowds were surging through the streets of Juba, the capital, to the government quarter, where the declaration of independence would be read aloud. Thousands of soldiers lined the freshly painted curbs, tiger patches on their arms, assault rifles in their hands. This new nation is being built on a guerrilla army — the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, whose field commanders are now South Sudan’s political leaders — and the amount of firepower here is unnerving.
President of South Sudan, Mr. Salva Kiir
By 9 a.m., the sun was dangerous. The faces, necks and arms of the people packed thousands deep around a parade stand built for the occasion were glazed with sweat. A woman abruptly slumped to the dirt and was whisked away.
“She fainted because she’s happy,” said a man in the crowd. “There will be many others today.” Read More
Clinton Presses Africans to Abandon Authoritarian Rulers
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton bluntly warned African leaders on Monday that authoritarian governments ruled by aging despots were “no longer acceptable,” saying that those who refused democratic reforms would find themselves “on the wrong side of history.”
She also urged the African Union to end its lingering relations with Libya’s leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. American officials have been deeply frustrated by the organization’s efforts to mediate on behalf of Colonel Qaddafi, who for decades lavished support on African leaders — many of them autocratic — and led the group two years ago.
Read the full news
U.S. Underwrites Internet Detour Around Censors
By JAMES GLANZ and JOHN MARKOFF
The Obama administration is leading a global effort to deploy “shadow” Internet and mobile phone systems that dissidents can use to undermine repressive governments that seek to silence them by censoring or shutting down telecommunications networks. Read the full news
Hillary Clinton Warns Africa Of 'New Colonialism'
LUSAKA, Zambia -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday warned Africa of a creeping "new colonialism" from foreign investors and governments interested only in extracting the continent's natural resources to enrich themselves and not the African people. Clinton said that African leaders must ensure that foreign projects are sustainable and benefit all their citizens, not only elites. A day earlier, she cautioned that China's massive investments and business interests in Africa need to be closely watched so that the African people are not taken advantage of.
Read the full news
Gbagbo captured by pro-Ouattara forces in Abidjan
AFP - Ivory Coast leader Alassane Ouattara's forces, backed by French and UN troops, captured his besieged rival Laurent Gbagbo in Abidjan on Monday at the climax of a deadly months-long crisis. Ivory Coast's outgoing leader Laurent Gbagbo was detained at rival Alassane Ouattara's Golf Hotel headquarters on Monday, after French, UN and pro-Ouattara forces were reportedly deployed outside Gbagbo's Abidjan residence.
 
Gbagbo, who has held power since 2000 and stubbornly refused to admit defeat in November's presidential election, was detained and taken to his rival's temporary headquarters, with his wife Simone and son Michel.
"The nightmare is over," Ouattara's prime minister, former rebel leader Guillaume Soro, said on the Ouattara camp's television channel. Ouattara spokeswoman Anne Ouloto told AFP the former first couple had been brought to the Golf Hotel, where Ouattara's camp was for months besieged by Gbagbo's forces, at around 1.00 pm (1300 GMT), shortly after the arrest.
"He's here with his wife and his son Michel. I can see them now," she said, speaking by telephone from the former lagoon-side resort now turned into an armed camp protected by former rebel troops and UN peacekeepers. The situation in other districts of Abidjan, some still controlled by Gbagbo loyalists, including the downtown business district of Plateau and nearby Cocody, was not immediately clear after Gbagbo's arrest. Read more
Egypt's Arduous Road to Freedom
More than 300 people were killed in a treacherous, 18-day journey toward ending Hosni Mubarak's 30-year autocratic rule.
 Against a sky that had grown dark and cloudy, occasionally sprinkling the protesters with rain, two military helicopters circled. Barbed wire army barricades backed by tanks with their barrels facing the protesters kept the crowd hundreds of meters from the entrance to the presidential compound. Instead, people waited outside the gate of the posh Heliopolis Sporting Club.
A friend held a radio to his ear, antenna fully extended. Protesters set up a small, curbside medical clinic - an even more ramshackle version of the field hospitals arranged in Tahrir Square. Others sat on the edge of the Heliopolis tram line, rendered functionless by the army barricade stretched across it.
Occasional cheers went up. First, the tanks symbolically turned their barrels away from the crowd. Then, an officer stood to grab and hang an Egyptian flag from a lamppost.
Suddenly, a louder cheer spread through the crowd. The presidential statement was coming across the radio. Mubarak was resigning. The noise grew. Flags began to wave. Disbelief turned into reality. The crowd separated into cheering camps; men on the shoulders of their friends were swamped by seas of blue mobile phones, recording the moment for posterity. Read more
  
Maintaining good relations with autocrats is an unfortunate but often necessary component of the delicate balancing act that is U.S. foreign policy. But as Washington learned once again this week, supporting a strongman for the sake of stability can present risks of its own.
The 2010 election, in which Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's party won a remarkable 99.6 percent of the vote, was the culmination of what Human Rights Watch called "the government's five-year strategy of systematically closing down space for political dissent and independent criticism." This included attacks and arrests of prominent opposition figures, the shutting down of newspapers and assaults on journalists critical of the government, and doling out international food aid as an incentive to get poor Ethiopians to join the ruling party. Read more
Egyptian Dictator in a termoil
 
Talks between the Egyptian government and opposition groups on tackling the country's political crisis have failed to end protests in central Cairo. Crowds of protesters, who have occupied the city's Tahrir Square for two weeks, say they will leave only when President Hosni Mubarak stands down.
The government offered a series of concessions at Sunday's talks, but the opposition said they were not enough. US President Obama has said Egypt will not "go back to what it was". Opposition groups met members of the government on Sunday to discuss how to resolve the stand-off which has paralysed the country and left some 300 people dead. Vice-President Omar Suleiman hosted the talks. Six groups were represented, including a coalition of youth organisations, a group of "wise men" and the banned Muslim Brotherhood, in its first ever meeting with the government.
For the moment the talks don't seem to be going anywhere. There is a stalemate and there are two kinds of pillars to this: one of President Mubarak not going anywhere, and the other of the protesters not going anywhere. Read more
Finally running for life: The fate of one of Africans dictatorial leader in the hand of the Tunisian people
President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali leaves country following violent clashes in the capital, Tunis.
 14 Jan 2011
Tunisia's long-standing president has left the country amid violent protests and the prime minister has taken over control of the government from him.
The Tunisian prime minister, in a televised address, said on Friday that he has assumed control of the government as the president is "temporarily unable to exercise his duties".
Friday's developments come following violent clashes in the capital, Tunis, over unemployment and rising food prices.
State media earlier reported that Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the president, had imposed a state of emergency in the country and promised fresh legislative elections within six months in an attempt to quell the wave of dissent sweeping across the country.
There were also reports that the airport in Tunis had been surrounded by troops and the country's airspace has been closed. It was also said that gatherings of more than three people had been banned. Tunisian state television said on Friday it is expecting the announcement of an "historic decision" which will satisfy the desires of the north African country's people.
Ben Ali had been in power for the last 27 years. On Thursday, he vowed not to seek re-election and reduced food prices in a bid to placate protesters.
But the pledges seemed to have little effect as fresh streets erupted on Friday.
Source:http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/01/2011114172228117723.html
African Union suspends Ivory Coast
Kingsley Kobo, AfricaNews reporter in Abidjan, Ivory Coast
After ECOWAS [Economic Community of West African States], the African Union [AU] on Thursday suspended the Ivory Coast from all its activities until democratic order is restored in the West African country, according to a statement released by the regional bloc's Peace and Security Commissioner Ramtane Lamamra and published by AFP.
The defeated and self appointed Ex President, Laurent GbagboNewly elected Ivorian President Alassane Ouattar
Read More
Tanzania election: Jakaya Kikwete re-elected president
Mr Kikwete will serve a second and final term (BBC News)
Tanzania's incumbent President Jakaya Kikwete has been returned to office following last weekend's elections, officials say.
The election commission said Mr Kikwete won just over 61% of the votes, beating candidates from opposition parties. The commission dismissed claims of irregularities in the count.
Mr Kikwete has been credited with boosting the nation's economy, but his opponents say he has failed to tackle widespread poverty.
Tanzania boasts east Africa's second-biggest economy, although more than 50% of Tanzanians still live below the poverty line, according to the IMF.
The main opposition leader, Willibrod Slaa, had called for a vote recount, but the commission said there were not enough irregularities to change the final result.
The president, who is 60, will serve a second and final term.
John Kufuor to Establish a Leadership Foundation
Story by Isaac Essel, Myjoyonline.com, Ghana
 Former President Kufuor has disclosed his intention to establish a learning centre in Accra. Speaking at the launch of The Thabo Mbeki Foundation at the Convention Hall in Johannesburg on Monday, Mr. Kufuor hinted that the centre would be christened John A. Kufuor Foundation for Leadership, Governance and Development. Read more
How Did al-Shabab Emerge from the Chaos of Somalia?
 The concerns and agenda of Somalia's al-Shabab militia are very much rooted in local politics. However, its rise to prominence is tied to decisions taken by the U.S. and its regional allies in pursuit of the Bush Administration's "Global War on Terror." Following the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. deemed the 10-year power vacuum in Somalia a potential refuge for al-Qaeda, one that prompted Washington, together with African allies, to arm and fund various Somali warlords. In 2004, some warlords were drawn together into the Transitional Federal Government (TFG). However, successive attempts to establish a government were based on clan alliance, and were inherently unstable because of the zero-sum character of the clans' competition for resources. Full Article
Why Democracy Isn’t Working
 Africa’s own institutions have been unable to halt the trend, which has gained speed since a period of openness following the end of the Cold War. “The democratization process on the continent is not faring very well,” says Jean Ping, the Gabonese chairman of the African Union Commission, which has overseen a host of Pan-African agreements on democracy and human rights that many member states have either ignored or failed to ratify. “The measures that we take here are taken in a bid to make sure that we move forward. The crises, they are repeating themselves.” In country after country, the recipe for the new age of authoritarianism is the same: demonization and criminal prosecution of opposition leaders, dire warnings of ethnic conflict and chaos should the ruling party be toppled, stacking of electoral commissions, and the mammoth mobilization of security forces and government resources on behalf of the party in power. Full Article
The Worst of the Worst: Bad Dude Dictators and General Coconut Heads.
BY GEORGE B.N. AYITTEY; July/ August 2010
 
A continent away from Kyrgyzstan, Africans like myself cheered this spring as a coalition of opposition groups ousted the country's dictator, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. "One coconut down, 39 more to harvest!" we shouted. There are at least 40 dictators around the world today, and approximately 1.9 billion people live under the grip of the 23 autocrats on this list alone. There are plenty of coconuts to go around.Full Article
The Human-Rights Abuser on the G20 Guest List
Ahmed Hussen, National Post Jun. 8, 2010
Later this month, leaders from Ethiopia and Malawi will be in Toronto as invited guests of the G20. While it is to be expected that the Malawian President would be invited in his capacity as the Chair of the African Union, it is more surprising to see an invitation extended to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia.
Mr. Zenawi has been a disappointment to the international community. Since coming to power, he has not lived up to his promises to democratize Ethiopia and end the abuses of the country's minorities. In fact, the opposite has occurred: Mr. Zenawi heads a government that has been accused by the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch of systematically attempting to destroy ethnic minorities in the Ogaden region and southern Ethiopia. Full Article
No Winner for $5 Million African Leadership Prize
 Sun Jun 13, 2010
LONDON – For the second year in a row, organizers of a $5 million annual prize for good governance in Africa say they have decided not to give out the award. The winner of the Ibrahim Prize for African leadership was to be announced Monday. But the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, based in London, said Sunday the seven-member prize committee, led by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan, had not selected a winner.Full Article
The European Union Signs Deal to Boost AU Fight against Corruption, Human Rights
  Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - The European Union Commission has signed a landmark agreement with the African Union (AU), promising a joint partnership in the fight against corruption, human rights violations and pledging enhanced aid to deal with the internal refugees in African countries.Full Article
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