Politics African Politics.

[Onyx Darkmatter]

Considering how we already have an American Politics and European Politics thread up, why not throw in African Politics as well?

In the light of news:

http://www.africanews.com/2017/01/3...-the-african-union-after-32-years-of-absence/

The Kingdom of Morocco has rejoined the ranks of the African Union since 1984, as a protest against the AU for recognizing the Western Sahara as a Nation (and still remains a controversial and sensitive topic today).
Thoughts about this?

Personally, I have mixed feelings about this (but I do have limited information about this, so feel free to correct me). On the bright side, it would mean we have a durable gear that would help the African Union out greatly (considering how the founder, Muamar Ghaddafi, was killed in the civil war and Libya remains unstable). So having Morocco rejoin could mean something.
However, the African Union isn't really "united", mainly due to tensions between the Maghreb countries.

 

[shionoro]

I feel like a problem of the AU is that it includes all african countries (with some of them being suspended like Mauretania, but still).

It must be hard to really find consensus like that.

But i do think that it is a good thing that Morocco rejoined it. After all, that step will make it more likely that conflicts are calmed down, not more likely.
I wonder why many southern african countries voted against Morrocco rejoining.
I might be due to the westsahara conflict, but i do not know enough abotu that to say for sure.

 

[Onyx Darkmatter]

I feel like a problem of the AU is that it includes all african countries (with some of them being suspended like Mauretania, but still).

It must be hard to really find consensus like that.

But i do think that it is a good thing that Morocco rejoined it. After all, that step will make it more likely that conflicts are calmed down, not more likely.
I wonder why many southern african countries voted against Morrocco rejoining.
I might be due to the westsahara conflict, but i do not know enough abotu that to say for sure.

South Africa, IIR, has been an advocate for the Polisario in the Territory, along with other nations including Algeria (which doesn't get along with the Moroccan Government).

 

[shionoro]

South Africa, IIR, has been an advocate for the Polisario in the Territory, along with other nations including Algeria (which doesn't get along with the Moroccan Government).

I actually think i will launch a thread about african politics, since we got one about the US and EU already.
Africa is often overlooked but a lot of important future developements will be based in africa, exspecially arround Nigeria.

In any case, yes, the divide among the maghreb states is a significant instability factor in the region
If those states would find a common ground to work more closely together it would probably help to bring more stability to the neighbouring states too, exspecially Darfur, Sudan and Mali (and west sahara, but that is another story all together).

In that light, the rejoining of the African Union might be one first step to that.

 

[Onyx Darkmatter]

I actually think i will launch a thread about african politics, since we got one about the US and EU already.
Africa is often overlooked but a lot of important future developements will be based in africa, exspecially arround Nigeria.

In any case, yes, the divide among the maghreb states is a significant instability factor in the region
If those states would find a common ground to work more closely together it would probably help to bring more stability to the neighbouring states too, exspecially Darfur, Sudan and Mali (and west sahara, but that is another story all together).

In that light, the rejoining of the African Union might be one first step to that.

I'll edit the thread then, so it'll be a broad discussion about various countries in Africa instead of a single nation.

As for the Maghreb nations, I think the main problem among them (mainly countries like Algeria) is that the government tends to play a big role in this type of conflict. I may have a terrible memory, but I seem to recall that they made a propaganda about how Morocco "wants to invade Algeria", which only causes further divisions and distrust towards the neighbors (not that Morocco has been innocent by any means, despite that I am a bit biased for them. But I've never recalled any news about how the Algerians are invading us). It's just a big mess caused by government corruption.

Hopefully, the African Union does help solve any tension between the nations.

 

[shionoro]

Since we got a thread about EU and US, we might as well have this one.

It might appear strange at first to have a thread about the continent as a whole, since it has no political identity (even with the african union) such as the US or the EU, but on the other hand, even with the big diversity between north and south, many problems are interconnected and it would be hard to find a clear line for a divide.

While the US and EU thread at the moment are a parade of downer news and things that should be worrying everyone with a sane mind, Africa has a lot more problems but also seems to face at least some uplifting news lately.

We see it more often that dictators or 'presidents' which do not want to give up their power are either chased out of office or at least are given some obstacles to chew on, like with Gambia's Jammeh as the latest case.
He lost the election, didn't want to give up power and neighbouring states threatened to invade the country to make him step down. In the process, he fled into exile.
Similar things are true for the still extremely chaotic but at least somewhat controlled situation in Somalia.
The local terror group al Schaba lost a lot of influence and power and has to resort to controlling rural areas while the African Union supports a central government (which still has not power over the whole country (cue Somaliland) but it is slowly getting better).

Another uplifting news is how effectively a coalition between Nigeria and its neighbouring states were able to fight Boko Haram after Buhari was elected as Nigeria's president.
By now, every country knows that it is not easy to fight against islamist terror, but that coalition still managed to bring the terror group to a point that only two small factions which are busy with infighting among themselves now are left of what was a very dangerous terror group just a year ago.

Developements like these give some hope that on the long run, Africa, or at least regions of it, can get rid of the stigma of being a poor hellhole of a continent.

As another interesting tidbit, in times of economical struggle in souther europe, some european workers find a solution to their unemployment in former colonies https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015...rants-struggle-to-find-relief-in-angola/?_r=0 .
This is not something common, but it could be the first of a possibly significant developement on the long run if at least some african economies grow larger while souther europe still stays in peril.


I will try to update the thread with small (or big) news every now and then.
It is a shame that a lot of rather important developements on the african continent are not really published in english (or european languages besides maybe french), so my focus is limited, but oh well.

 

[Philia]

***Deleted, probably fake news***

 

[Onyx Darkmatter]

http://www.africanews.com/2017/02/11/egypt-s-annual-headline-inflation-soars/

Looks like Egypt is hitting some inflation. Even though it isn't a Hyperinflation, 25% is still a big increase.

 

[shionoro]

While the world is busy with new about Trump, Putin and Erdogan, UN officials estimate that if they couldn't get 4,4 billion dollars until july, up to 20 million people in Somalia, Yemen, Southsudan and Nigeria will starve.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=56223

 

[Onyx Darkmatter]

The losses would be extremely devastating if they failed to achieve $4.4 Billion USD by July. They'd have to collect at least $40 Million USD per day from now until July 1 if they were to help fight starvation.

--- Double Post Merged, May 7, 2017, Original Post Date: Mar 12, 2017 ---

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-39833309

Boko Haram released 80 schoolgirls, which is at least some good news.

 

[John Flume]

South Africa also seems to be under some sort of stress too. I think there have been some more escalating racial tensions there, but how much of it is real and how much is stoked by newspaper headlines is hard to say.