Dispatches

Home to about 115 million people, Ethiopia is the second-most-populous nation in Africa and has one of the fastest-growing economies in the region. According to the World Bank (2020), Ethiopia’s economy experienced strong, broad-based growth averaging 9.8% a year from 2008/2009 to 2018/2019, with the share of the population living below the national poverty line declining from 38% to 24% over the same period.

For Africa watchers, the 1990s ushered in a period of democratic renewal (Joseph, 1997; Schraeder, 1995). Democracy’s retreat globally over the past decade (Freedom House, 2019) has touched Africa as well (Logan & Penar, 2019; Gadjanova, 2018), although Afrobarometer survey findings suggest that it’s in the delivery of democratic goods, rather than citizens’ aspirations, that democracy in Africa is falling short (Gyimah-Boadi, 2019).

Kenya’s economy has been one of the fastest-growing in Africa. Economic growth averaged 5.7% in 2019, third-highest in sub-Saharan Africa, boosted by a stable macroeconomic environment, positive investor confidence, and a resilient services sector (African Development Bank, 2020). 

Developing countries lose $1.26 trillion a year to corruption, theft, and tax evasion, according to analysts’ estimates – a sum large enough to lift 1.4 billion people above the poverty line for six years (Fleming, 2019). Unless we control corruption, development experts say, achieving the other Sustainable Development Goals will be all but impossible (United Nations, 2019; Rubio & Andvig, 2019).

Liberia has won international praise for its response to the coronavirus (Front Page Africa, 2021). Perhaps drawing on its experience with the Ebola pandemic, the government moved early with measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including screening at airports and a Special Presidential Advisory Committee on Coronavirus (SPACOC) set up months ahead of the first recorded case in the country.

D’après les recherches du Groupe d'Experts Intergouvernemental sur l'Evolution du Climat (2019, 2007), les changements climatiques s’accompagnent de nombreuses conséquences qui correspondent d’une part à des perturbations météorologiques comme l’élévation des températures et du niveau des mers, les pluies diluviennes, les tempêtes, et les sécheresses et d’autre part à des atteintes sur le fonctionnement des écosystèmes naturels, ainsi que les espèces qui sont inféodées. 

Addressing the needs of youth – for education, engagement, and livelihoods – has become a central tenet of global and continental policy discussions over the past decade. The African Youth Charter underscores the rights of youth to participate in political and decision- making processes and calls upon states to prepare them with the necessary skills to do so (African Union, 2006). The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) consider youth essential partners for achieving inclusive and peaceful societies (United Nations, 2018).

Elections play a crucial role in every democratic system of government as a mechanism for producing a legislature that is representative of the policy preferences of the electorate (Thomassen, 2014), linking citizens’ priorities to the behavior of their policy makers (Powell, 2000). By the same logic, elections enable voters to select leaders and hold them accountable for their performance in office. In other words, the electoral process determines who should stay in office, who should be thrown out of office, and who should replace those who are thrown out (Harrop & Miller, 1987).

Le premier semestre 2018 en Côte d’Ivoire avait enregistré des cas de pénurie d’eau potable dans plusieurs localités dont Bouaké, Niakaramandougou, Ferkessédougou, Doropo, Odienné, et Tiéningboué (Konan, 2018). Pour endiguer ce problème, la Banque Mondiale avait apporté 5 milliards de FCFA à la Côte d’Ivoire afin de mener des actions d’urgence telles que les forages de puits (Tiémoko, 2018).

Buying and selling votes is illegal in Uganda, punishable by up to three years in prison and/or a fine, according to the Parliamentary Elections Act (Government of Uganda, 2005). Analysts argue that voter bribery fosters a broader environment of corruption that impedes economic development, political accountability, and the provision of public goods (Stokes, 2005; Robinson & Verdier, 2013; Khemani, 2015).

L'Organisation Internationale du Travail (2013) a défini des concepts clefs par rapport au marché du travail lors de sa 19ème Conférence Internationale des Statisticiens du Travail. Ce sont la population en âge de travailler, la main-d'œuvre, la population hors main-d'œuvre, la population en emploi, la population au chômage, et plusieurs autres indicateurs de sous- utilisation de la main-d'œuvre. Tous les indicateurs liés à ces concepts sont ici estimés sur les données d'enquêtes Afrobarometer de 2014-2020, enquêtes régulières et périodiques menées au Mali depuis 2001.

Studies on the role of traditional leaders in post-independence African societies show that they have remained relevant in most countries across the continent. Rather than wither in the face of Africa’s progression toward democracy, traditional leadership has continued to evolve and co-exist alongside modern institutions of governance that are associated with democracy (Logan, 2008).

In this year of COVID-19, the ability of societies to work collectively to respond to challenges has taken center stage. In fact, early public support for and adherence to public health measures has been cited as one factor explaining Africa’s far lower per-capita infection and death rates compared to other global regions (BBC, 2020).

The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) – the oldest organization of its kind in the world, with roots dating back to 1889 – unites Botswana, eSwatini, Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa in promoting economic development through regional coordination of trade.

La cohabitation entre l’homme et la faune sauvage a toujours été conflictuelle pour des raisons d’occupation de l’espace et d’accès aux ressources naturelles (FAO, 2020). Cependant, on observe depuis quelques années une recrudescence des tensions dans le partage de l’espace entre la faune et les êtres humains. Deuxième vaste étendu de forêts tropicales dans le monde, le bassin du Congo situé en Afrique Centrale n’échappe pas à cette problématique. Selon un rapport de l'Union Européenne (2017), les conflits homme- faune sont devenus légion en Afrique Centrale (L’Union, 2018).

Africa’s media landscape is changing rapidly. Regular reliance on digital sources for news has nearly doubled in just five years, with more than one-third of respondents across 18 countries surveyed reporting that they turn to the Internet or social media at least a few times a week for news. While radio remains the most popular mass medium on the continent due to its accessibility and reach, digital media are reshaping information landscapes, and consequently politics, in remarkable ways.

Lesotho’s public school teachers were on intermittent strike for most of the 2019 academic year, working just one week per month (Ramolibeli, 2020). With the economy in the doldrums (Majoro, 2019), teachers pursued their protest action against the government, pressing for better salaries and working conditions, payment of salary arrears, and a restructuring of the teaching service (Segoete & Phakisi, 2019; Lesotho Times, 2019).

Home to some of the world’s fastest-growing economies (Mitchell, 2019), Africa has attracted the attention of leaders and economic strategists everywhere, including China. Over the past two decades, political and economic relations between China and Africa have grown rapidly, with trade volumes increasing from about $11 billion in 2000 to $185 billion in 2018 (Amoah, Hodzi, & Castillo, 2020; China Africa Research Initiative, 2018).

China’s relationship with Africa, formalized in the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), has received considerable attention and debate. Critics consider it lopsided and exploitative, giving China access to natural resources, jobs for its labourers, and markets for its traders while undermining efforts to promote democracy and human rights on the continent, exacerbating corruption, and creating unsustainable debt (Green, 2019; Brautigam, 2010; Shinn & Brown, 2012; Albert, 2020). But others see it as more multifaceted with benefits for both sides (Mugabe, 2015; Brown, 2012).

En une semaine en octobre 2020, au moins 200 personnes ont péri aux larges des côtes sénégalaises et mauritaniennes (Carretero, 2020). Les naufrages de pirogues quittant le Sénégal se succèdent. Selon l’Organisation Internationale pour les Migrations (OIM), 414 personnes ont péri en voulant regagner l’Europe depuis janvier dernier, et rien qu’en septembre, 14 bateaux transportant 663 migrants ont quitté le Sénégal (Carretero, 2020).

The Gambia does not have a history of ethnic and religious tensions. But starting under former President Yahya Jammeh and continuing since the change of government in 2017, political rivalries are increasingly taking an ethnic form (Courtright, 2018).

With echoes of the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, massive demonstrations against police brutality have recently rocked Nigeria (Busari, 2020; Obaji, 2020). Protests that initially focused on the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) have broadened to demands for systemic police reform (Amnesty International, 2020; Adegoke, 2020).

Even in the best of times, unemployment is a major challenge for most African countries. The continent’s relatively robust economic growth over the past two decades has failed to translate into sustained employment gains and poverty reduction (Baah-Boateng, 2016). Adding about 3 million jobs a year will not come close to absorbing the 10-12 million people entering the labor market annually as the workforce grows more rapidly in Africa than in any other region (International Labour Organization, 2016; Yeboah & Jayne, 2016; African Development Bank Group, 2020).