Africa’s refugees and homeless Counting refugees in conflict situations is a dangerous and imprecise task, sometimes clouded by politics In a world of suffering, journalists play uncomfortable games with humanitarian disasters. Just how many people must die before a disaster makes the front page? How many must flee their homes and countries before it is a crisis of sufficient gravity to interest readers, viewers and listeners? The answer is subjective, as each editor and audience is different. But the underlying principle is the same: tragedies can be measured and compared; suffering is quantifiable. To do this, journalists need numbers: body…
Simon Allison
Africa: the worst continent in the world to be gay by Simon Allison On Tuesday June 4th, Britain’s House of Lords—a bunch of reactionary old codgers, for the most part—passed a bill that would legalise same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom. This was by no means a foregone conclusion and the vote was preceded by two days of intense debate. But the final tally was in favour of the bill by a stunning margin of two to one. Meanwhile, in Nigeria, the House of Representatives in Abuja—another bunch of even more reactionary elder statesmen—had also passed a bill on the…
Africa is often referred to as the dark continent and a former Belgian colony as the heart of darkness. These descriptions, referring to an earlier time, are today appropriate reflections of the continent’s desperate electricity poverty. Simon Allison highlights how governments and the private sector could develop a far-sighted energy infrastructure in Africa. Viewed from space, the African continent at night bears a disturbing resemblance to some of the world’s most desolate, uninhabited places: Alaska, Siberia and the Australian outback. From this distance Africa is almost completely shrouded in darkness. You would never guess that one billion people inhabit this…
South Sudan risks economic disaster if it joins the East African Community, but farming could improve the odds and reduce its reliance on oil by Simon Allison Regional economic integration is all the rage these days. In development circles, everyone from the African Development Bank to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation praises the benefits of countries working together to remove trade barriers and ease continental cooperation, holding up these alliances as a possible solution to many of Africa’s economic ills. So when the new nation of South Sudan was born on July 9th 2011, it was only natural for its leaders…
What can be measured can be improved. But what if the measurement is flawed, outdated or biased? This is the situation confronting governments, businesses and other organisations in Africa. Simon Allison looks at data on Africa and discusses how it could be made more reliable. Statistics are important, particularly for gauging development, and particularly in Africa. If we cannot measure and compare, we cannot understand, analyse and look for solutions. Governments, donors and businesses rely on numbers measuring healthcare, poverty, education, the economy and other issues. These numbers determine policy. How reliable are they? In short, not very. Despite the…
Foreign reporters and African news by Simon Allison There is not a lot of money in African journalism. As an African journalist, I know this all too well. An illustrative example: I was in South Sudan in November 2012, on a trip I was financing myself. Weeks in flea-ridden hostels culminated in a four-day stay at a refugee camp near the border with Sudan. I was the only reporter there and pleased with myself for getting a story that no one else had. Not so fast. On my last day there, a small plane descended unannounced on the tiny airstrip…
Somalia: Doctors Without Borders pulls out after 22 years Lack of trust in local authorities drives French medical charity away by Simon Allison Doctors Without Borders (known by its French initials MSF, for Médecins Sans Frontières) worked in Somalia for 22 years. It was a rough ride. During its time in this chronically unstable country, 16 staff members died in violent incidents, while others were abducted, threatened and intimidated. The organisation bent over backwards and had to negotiate its way through the byzantine and constantly shifting alliances of clans, armed groups and government and pseudo-government entities which make up this…
Last June, the African Union moved its summit to Ethiopia. Malawi, the planned host, had refused entry to Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s president, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Africans have often accused the ICC of targeting African leaders excessively and unfairly. Will a new court formed by Africans for Africans bring about impartial justice on the continent? Africa and the ICC do not get along very well. This is a problem for the ICC considering that all their investigations are centred on African countries and all their suspects are African men. It is even more of…
All politics is local: Africa is no exception by Simon Allison I have a confession to make. It is an uncomfortable admission as I am a South African journalist, a political analyst, someone who considers himself a reasonably engaged citizen: I do not know the name of my municipal councillor or other local representatives. I do not know which ward I reside in or which party holds it. I may be able to speak for hours about the upper echelons of our political society — presidents and parliament, ministers and national opposition leaders — but I am completely clueless about…
Lesotho’s constitutional crisis The opposition parties in this southern African mountain kingdom have few policy differences Saturday August 30th 2014 began as a regular lazy weekend morning in Maseru, the picturesque capital of Lesotho. It ended with the prime minister in exile, a policeman shot dead in his barracks, and the army patrolling the streets. Suddenly, Lesotho was facing its most serious constitutional crisis since the South African invasion of 1998— and most observers were taken completely by surprise. They should not have been. Like most political dramas, this one had been building for quite some time. The chain of…
