Blog
Helping the people of Zimbabwe
By ACAS | 1 December 2008
Understanding the Zimbabwean crises or acting on it, is only part of the story. Meanwhile, people lack access to basic necessities: medicines, health services and food. Here’s some ideas how you can help.
...read moreSomalia: Piracy and the Policy Vacuum
By ACAS | 22 November 2008
“While the responsibility for this crisis [in Somalia] lies first and foremost with the Somali leadership, the international community, principally the U.S. government and members of the UN Security Council, has also failed … They have failed repeatedly to take a principled engagement to solve the crisis, acknowledge the power realities on the ground, support peace negotiations without imposing external agendas, or provide independent humanitarian assistance.” - Refugees International
...read moreUgandan editor wins International Press Freedom Award; wanted by police back home
By Sean Jacobs | 21 November 2008
Today Ugandan editor Andrew Mwenda was awarded a Committee to Protect International Press Freedom Award. Meanwhile back in Kampala police summoned Mwenda for questioning over his magazine’s hard-hitting political coverage.
...read moreACAS Bulletin 80: Special Issue on the Zimbabwe Crisis - Two
By ACAS | 12 November 2008
Today the Association of Concerned African Scholars (ACAS) is proud to publish a new series of timely essays tackling the ongoing political crisis in Zimbabwe. Edited by Timothy Scarnecchia and Wendy Urban-Mead, the ten analyses presented here delve deep behind the headlines to expose the deeper realities of this protracted issue.
...read moreVideo: Sporadic fighting in Congo
By ACAS | 7 November 2008
...read moreThe Congo Re-erupts: Years of peace-building are at stake
By ACAS | 4 November 2008
The International Crisis Group argues, 'Ending this latest chapter of the Congo war will require sustained and significant pressure by the U.S., China, France, the U.K., South Africa and Belgium, the former colonial power. Specifically, they must demand that Kigali and Kinshasa implement the Nairobi declaration; insist that Mr. Nkunda retreat to his previous deployment points; and require Mr. Kabila to remove all army commanders collaborating with the Hutu extremists.'
...read moreU.S. defense contractors expanding business in Africa
By Daniel Volman | 31 October 2008
“If you look at the record for these programs in terms of teaching respect for human rights, professionalizing militaries, and preparing African armies for peacekeeping operations—all of which are perfectly laudable goals—the end result of the programs doesn’t contribute very much to those,” says Daniel Volman, who directs the African Security Research Project in Washington. “It’s much more likely to be used for purposes not intended by the U.S. government: counter-insurgency warfare, terrorizing populations, repressing internal dissent, etc.”
...read moreCommittee to Protect Journalists: Nigerian government crackdown on journalists, bloggers
By ACAS | 31 October 2008
New York, October 31, 2008—Nigeria’s national security agency today confirmed it is holding a U.S.-based Nigerian blogger in the capital, Abuja. This is the second online journalist held for questioning in the past two weeks. Local journalists told CPJ that the detentions are part of a government crackdown on foreign-based Nigerian political Web sites ever since controversial photos of President Umaru Yar’Adua’s son were published on a popular news blog.
...read moreUnited States and other major powers still doggedly refuse to negotiate their lifestyles.
By James H. Mittleman | 26 October 2008
Writing about the current financial debacle, Thomas L. Friedman holds that in a globalizing world, “we are all partners now.” He hopes that “globalization will saveth.” More than 20 years ago, a global commission headed by Willy Brandt, the former chancellor of West Germany, called for a partnership in international development. What have been the results?
...read moreWhat Should the United States Do in Western Sahara?
By Jacob Mundy | 13 October 2008
Autonomy is not the most realistic solution for Western Sahara because it will require an expensive international peacekeeping force to guarantee the safety of the population and mutual implementation of the agreement. Considering the lack of resources to stop genocide in Darfur, is there really enough international will for an even more robust intervention into Western Sahara? This, however, assumes Morocco and the Western Saharan independence movement can reach an agreement in the first place. In the case of Israel and the Palestinians, at least there is the fundamental agreement on a two-state solution. In Western Sahara, there is no fundamental agreement.
...read more