Africa

Increased partnerships with the world’s foremost democracy may undermine the democratic process by reducing the importance of public opinion, increasing ‘rent seeking behavior’ in governments, and strengthening autocratic aspects of governments in Africa.

The African Union should be working hard to ensure that there is no impunity in Africa.

The tasks facing Mali's new president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, are many and difficult. The government administration and services — never very strong — have largely stopped working and must be restructured. Relations with the north of the country need to be harmonized, and new local leadership needs to come to the fore, and the role of Islam as a religious/political ideology needs to be discussed calmly and with good will.

This phase of the revolution will require clarity from those who understand that the future of Egypt depends on the conscious and organized action of the people to avoid open warfare. The agents of militarism are ready to use the excuse of violence and security to hijack the will of the people.

On February 11, 1958 Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was asked about Tunisia during a press conference. A few days earlier French planes had bombed and strafed schools and a local market in the village of Sakiet. Dulles’ reply was ignored by the daily press, and before the Internet that meant it almost didn’t happen. But Toward Freedom obtained a transcript and printed it verbatim.

In recent years, the United States has increasingly been sidelined in areas of deep economic transformation in Africa because US engagement with Africa has been primarily through militarism and military relations. The current visit of US President Barack Obama to Africa should be viewed against this background.