Mar 14th 2012, 17:31 by The Economist online | JOHANNESBURG AND KINSHASA
JUST three months shy of its tenth birthday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has handed down its first verdict. On March 14th its three-judge trial chamber found Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a Congolese warlord, guilty of abducting children in the eastern Ituri region in 2002-03 and of forcing them to serve as soldiers—a war crime. Against the 5m death toll and untold victims of rape, arson and looting, the charges were narrow. Nonetheless the unanimous ruling is a victory for international justice and for Mr Lubanga’s myriad child victims.
But in Bunia, the capital of Ituri, ravaged in two months of fighting in 2003, the announcement from the ICC barely registered.
Mar 8th 2012, 15:18 by J.L. | NAIROBI
JEFFREY SACHS, a macro-economist at Columbia University, is campaigning to become the next president of the World Bank. A decision will be taken next month. Mr Sachs has two obvious advantages. First he is American—and the leadership of the World Bank is an American fief. Second he knows what he is talking about. As head of the multi-disciplinary Earth Institute at Columbia, a special advisor on poverty to the United Nations secretary-general, founder of the Millennium Villages project, and author of such books as "The End of Poverty", Mr Sachs has a more comprehensive understanding of "development" than any previous World Bank president. Mr Sachs works hard; he is often on the ground.
Mar 8th 2012, 10:14 by J.L. | NAIROBI
MARCH 6th saw the opening of the trial in Ethiopia of Eskinder Nega, a journalist whose case Baobab has already highlighted. Mr Nega stands accused of treason and could face the death penalty. His supporters say the case reflects Ethiopia's harsh laws: certainly, the government appears able to punish its critics while avoiding close examination of its own performance.
Ethiopia is not alone. Indeed there are signs that the country's prime minister, Meles Zenawi, may agree to an amnesty for Mr Nega, as well as, separately, for two Swedish journalists who were imprisoned last year for 11 years after entering the country illegally with a separatist terrorist group.
Mar 2nd 2012, 17:35 by J.L. | KAMPALA
JUST how sustainable is Ethiopia's advance out of poverty? This is a vexed topic among bankers and others in Ethiopia who hold large wads of birr, the oft devalued currency. Despite hard work by the World Bank, oversight from the International Monetary Fund, and studies by economists from donor countries, it is not clear how factual Ethiopia's economic data are. Life is intolerably expensive for Ethiopians in Addis Ababa, the capital, and its outlying towns. Some think Ethiopia's inflation figures are fiddled with even more than those in Argentina. Even if the data are deemed usable, the double-digit growth rates predicted by the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi look fanciful.
Feb 28th 2012, 18:32 by M.D.
COULD smartphones help reduce electoral fraud in Africa and in other regions? At a recent forum hosted by the Brookings Institution on the ways that wireless technologies are affecting politics in various countries, Clark Gibson, a professor at the University of California, San Diego (USCD), presented findings from experiments in Afghanistan and Uganda which suggest that they can. Local researchers were deployed to polling stations armed with digital cameras and smartphones to take photographs of the publicly posted election tallies. The research found that this alone can cut electoral fraud by up to 60%.
Feb 23rd 2012, 16:48 by J.L. | NAIROBI
FEBRUARY 23rd has been the biggest day in Somalia's recent history. There is an expectation that today's London conference on Somalia, organised by the British government and backed by almost all interested parties, will give the benighted country a chance to move forward. That does not mean that it will necessarily pull together. As our story in this week's paper makes clear, the plan is to give up on a centralised state, for now, and to concentrate instead strengthening local rule. But in order for Somalia to have any chance of making a cantonal arrangement of six or seven regions work, it must first get some important things right.
Continue reading "How do you solve a problem like Somalia?" »
Feb 22nd 2012, 18:36 by J.L. | NAIROBI
ON TUESDAY night, when the news broke that Kenya's environment minister, John Michuki, had passed away in the Aga Khan hospital in Nairobi, Kenyans reacted with sorrow. Here was a big man who had actually done something for them. It was true, in a way. Mr Michuki served his country from before its independence and throughout his sickness. Those who worked with the 80-year-old politician on environmental issues were amazed at his energy and ferocity. Mr Michuki set out to save the Nairobi river from the sludge of human waste and to preserve the Mau forest for future Kenyans. As transport minister took on the anarchic minibus industry.
Feb 20th 2012, 14:49 by M.K. | KINSHASA
THE Democratic Republic of Congo is a country rich with rumours. After one of President Joseph Kabila's most trusted advisers, Augustin Katumba Mwanke, was killed in a plane crash on February 12th, speculation that Mr Kabila perished too was rife. There was some precedent: in 2001 after the assassination of Mr Kabila’s father, Laurent-Desiré, his body was flown to Zimbabwe and the announcement of his death was delayed while his advisers chose a successor.
That successor was Joseph. Mr Katumba kept him in power. For more than a decade, the two men have between them ruled Congo, Mr Kabila reluctantly in front, Mr Katumba in the shadows. Since his death Congolese politicians have described Mr Katumba as "the brain” behind the presidency.
Feb 18th 2012, 9:06 by J.L. | BERBERA
THIS week Baobab wrote about Africa's oceans to coincide with the upcoming World Oceans Summit in Singapore. Blue water presents a challenge to pan-Africanists. Ocean-related African Union initiatives are just talk. Only a few African countries have fisheries patrols, and even then, money and influence distract officials' attention. Many other things are unreported or unknown. Levels of pollution in the shallow Gulf of Guinea? The future effects of oil drilling, gas fields, and offshore mining? The annual catch of industrial trawlers? Their by-catch? Whether or not the dugong is extinct? No one knows. Statistics are often unfounded. The World Bank says Japan is paying Tanzania "up to $200m" for tuna fishing rights. $1m is probably more like it.
Feb 16th 2012, 18:06 by E.F.
OVER the last decade, the number of people with malaria in Zanzibar, Tanzania's main island, has plummeted. Today just 1% of the population is infected at any one time. But Sanaa Said, a doctor at Mnazi Mmoja Hospital on the island, says that most patients who complain of headaches and fevers are nonethless still treated for malaria. Concerned about misdiagnoses, she enrolled in a new course launched by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
It is the first degree in tropical medicine to be taught anywhere Africa apart from South Africa. Dr Said is not surprised: "People assume that doctors working in tropical countries are capable of treating tropical diseases," she says.
Feb 13th 2012, 18:02 by P.L. | LONDON
A DRAMATIC climax, a triumph for an underdog and a story to stir the heart: sport often brings the first, sometimes delivers the second and only rarely produces the third. The final of the Africa Cup of Nations, the continent’s biennial football championship, in Libreville, capital of Gabon, on February 12th was one of those blessed occasions that supplied all three. Unfancied Zambia, nicknamed the "Copper Bullets", felled the "Elephants" of Côte d’Ivoire, 8-7 on penalty kicks after 120 minutes of play had yielded no goals. Didier Drogba, a striker who plays for Chelsea in the English Premier League, had a golden chance to win the final for Côte d’Ivoire with a penalty in normal time, but blasted his kick high and wide.
Jan 31st 2012, 17:03 by D.G. | JOHANNESBURG
THE façade of African unity has been blown asunder and South Africa's hopes of leading the continent dashed after elections on January 30th for the head of the 54-member African Union ended in a stalemate. Neither Jean Ping, the incumbent from francophone Gabon, nor his challenger, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, ex-wife of the South African president, Jacob Zuma, managed to garner the two-thirds majority required. Fresh elections will be held at the
Jan 26th 2012, 16:07 by J.L. | NAIROBI
THE Kenyan government has just annouced that two leading Kenyans will step aside while they defend themselves against charges brought by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Uhuru Kenyatta, the finance minister, and Francis Muthaura, the country's top civil servant, are leaving their positions for the duration of the ICC case. Mr Kenyatta looks likely still to run in presidential elections due early next year. He may even benefit politically from the about-face, particularly as he will continue in the position of deputy prime minister. But Kenya will benefit more from an example of higher standards being applied according to the terms of the country's inclusive new constitution.
Jan 25th 2012, 17:23 by J.L. | ADDIS ABABA
Editor's note and correction
Acceleration is the word for Africa in 2012. The continent is moving forward at speed. No matter whether it is in control or veering out of control, Africa stands in marked contrast to slowing down and decomposition in the West. The acceleration is especially true in Ethiopia which is in the first stages of industrialisation.
The Entoto mountains encircle Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. The ancient forest on their peaks has given way to Australian eucalyptus and scrub, but leopards roam there still. On the lower slopes and in the bowl below live Addis' five million inhabitants. The city is booming, but its future is likely to be decided by Ethiopians living in the countryside.
Jan 25th 2012, 17:01 by J.L. | MOMBASA
BILAL AL-BERJAWI was British, but no friend of Britain. Lebanese, he grew up in London. He went to Afghanistan to fight as a mujahid. In 2006, he pitched up in Somalia. In recent years he was said to be involved in logistics for the al-Qaeda linked Shabab militia. Last year, he was stripped of his British citizenship. His family deny the allegations. They say Berjawi wanted to appeal the decision but feared any phone call would be tracked and followed by a drone strike.
His fears were not entirely misplaced. Last year he was said to have been injured in an air strike on a Shabab base in south Somalia. His wife, who had been with him in Somalia, returned to Britain. Three days ago, she gave birth at a London hospital. Berjawi took a chance and called her.
On this blog our correspondents delve into the politics, economics and culture of the continent of Africa, from Cairo to the Cape. The blog takes its name from the baobab, a massive tree that grows throughout much of Africa. It stores water, provides food and is often called the tree of life.
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