Who Writes History....

Visiting friends in Charleston, South Carolina and this morning had coffee at an African-theme, hipster-filled coffeehouse called "Kudu."  Loved this poster.  Any thoughts as to the identity of the man in the foreground? 

The Two Faces of Abuja

Long known as a country of poverty in which 60% of the population lives on less than $1 a day, the windfalls of Nigeria's oil boom have nevertheless produced a rather wealthy elite in the country that has long been by noted by Nigerians and outsiders alike.  (A friend who had grown up in Lagos told me recently of the "Red BMW" parties he went to in the city as a youth, in which every attendee had to arrive in a pre-determined color of the German car or be denied admission.) Planning a stay in Abuja, Nigeria this summer, I've recently been led to believe that Nigeria's new capital city of Abuja (purpose-built in the 1980s to relieve both congestion and ethnic tensions from then-capital Lagos), is the epitome of the disparities of wealth that exist in the country. 

Articles by the New York Times  and BBC highlight the fact that for diplomats and government employees, life within Abuja is infused with the opulence that might be expected from a city purpose-built to serve as host to branches of global IGOs (like the United Nations), regional IGOS (like the headquarters of ECOWAS) and as the seat of the Nigerian government; however, for those employed in Abuja's service industry (like chauffeurs, housekeepers, cooks, etc.) life is less fabulous. Indeed, Abuja's cost of living is often cited as being roughly equivalent to living in Manhattan, rendering it one of the most expensive cities in Africa.  Consequently, service workers live in shanty towns outside the capital, unable to pay the cost of living in the "elite" city of Abuja, which the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nasir el-Rufai has infamously claimed "is not a city for poor people." 

Despite the apparent inequities between the elites and service industry,  Abuja announced yesterday in the Nigerian daily This Day  that it now seeks to be named among the '20 Best Cities in the World.'  In addition to being known as one of the most efficient capitals in Africa, Abuja garnered acclaim in 2003 for hosting the All-Africa Games, a continental equivalent to the Olympics.  Logistical gaffes aside, Abuja then put its name in the hat to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games, which would have marked the first time an African nation had hosted; it eventually lost out to Glasglow, Scotland, when committee members decided that Abuja wasn't quite yet capable of hosting such a large event.  Abuja thus appears a city optimistically energetic yet perhaps overly-ambitious of its own current capacity.

The question simplified: Should Abuja be lauded for creating a stable, clean, navigable and enviable capital for Nigeria, even if life there is so prohibitively expensive for the average Nigerian?  Will the comparative opulence of Abuja spur on the creation of a new Nigeria technocratic class, or will it simply elicit disdain from those citizens unable to afford its elite style of life?  Comments welcome...

African Leaders Offer Support to War Criminal

The International Criminal Court's indictment of Sudan's Omar al-Bashir (over the alleged orchestration of the mass murders happening in the country's western Darfur region) has been met with disdain by African leaders and others in the Global South.  Yesterday, the African regional bloc of COMESA (Common Market of Eastern and Southern African States) condemned the indictment as neo-colonial and unfair, citing the fact only African heads of state (Charles Taylor of Liberia as well) have been chastised by the ICC, whereas Western heads of state (Bush Deux, namely) are war criminals who've faced no repercussions for their actions. 

COMESA's support for al-Bashir is particularly interesting when integrated into a framework elucidated by Yale political scientist Bruce Russett in his book, Triangulating Peace: Democracy, Interdependence and International Organizations.  In essence, Russett and co-author Oneal argue that democracy, economic interdependence and international organizations all contribute to peace, and peace in turn fortifies each individual institution.  I'm currently conducting an ongoing study to gauge the applicability of this paradigm to Africa; specifically, I'm interested in the extent to which African international organizations (like COMESA, ECOWAS, or SADC) contribute to or hinder the possibilities for peace. 

While al-Bashir's trial by the ICC isn't causally linked to a propagation of peace, it is unlikely that by excusing him from any culpability, COMESA is helping to bring about peace in its own backyard.  At least in the case study of COMESA, al-Bashir and the ICC, Russet and Oneal's thesis appears not to hold. Rather than contributing to the peaceful resolution of a conflict that appears clearly orchestrated by al-Bahsir, COMESA is contributing to, not mitigating violence in Darfur. More news on African international organizations and peace to follow...

De-Constructing Obama's Trip to Ghana

One of the great ironies of the utterly failed Bush administration was that despite its seemingly un-ending series of political gaffes, the one (comparatively) strong point of his foreign policy agenda was his relationship with Africa.  Though goodwill from the continent could be owed simply to the fact that he doubled aid to Africa (primarily in the form of PEPFAR funds), Bush nevertheless left Obama with surprisingly amicable relations with the continent. 

Fast forward to 2009. The White House announced last week that President Obama would be making his first trip to Africa since his inauguration as a President. While many assumed that the trip would undoubtedly take him to the much-publicized homeland of his father, Kenya, such was not the case.  Rather, Obama will make a brief, one night stop in Accra, Ghana. African media has been agog with speculation with three queries:  Why did the White House overlook Kenya? Why did it choose Ghana? And why weren't other African countries included on the tour?  

The answer to the final question is clear: Obama's stopover on the continent has been tacked on to the end of a longer G-8 trip to Russia, a move intended to help him stop the erosion of political capital he currently enjoys on the continent.  As a New York Times article explains, the stopover in Ghana was intended to "at least get a marker down before too much time passed," noting that by July, Obama would have visited Europe three times, without having been to Sub-Saharan Africa once.  Other countries weren't included in the tour because it is largely a  chronological place holder until a more prolonged Africa trip can be scheduled.  As to why Kenya was not chosen: this seems obvious.  Long the darling of East Africa, Kenya's presidential poll that was marred by ethnic violence in late 2007 and early 2008 still tempers the international community's vision of the country.  Such is exemplified by the highly publicized decision of the US Transportation Safety Administration to demand that Delta Airways pull out of a previously-agreed to direct flight from Atlanta to Nairobi.  (A flight to Monrovia, Liberia was also reneged, though direct flights into Abuja, Nigeria will go ahead as planned.)  Despite its deep admiration for Obama, Kenya's unending political tug-of-war between Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki doesn't speak highly of its democratic capacity, and the celebrity of Obama in his patrimony would likely cause security risks for what is intended to be but a brief appearance. Finally, why Ghana?  The seemingly obvious answer is Ghana's admirable presidential election in December 2008, which saw a peaceful and largely transparent run-off between between eventual winner John Atta Mills and challenger Nana Akufo-Adodo.  In stark contrast to Kenya, Ghana proved capable and determined to prove itself an African state committed to democracy and peaceful transitions of power, a fact which Obama no doubt leveraged when choosing a destination on a continent enamored with him. Further, Ghana will provide Obama with a rather low-stress option for a one-night African appearance; as Lizzie Williams has said, Ghana may be described (in contrast to Nigeria, for instance) as "Africa for beginners." Obama's Africa trip, while not producing meaningful policy, will nevertheless have implications for the way that the continent views his administration, and doubly offers  slight insight into how his administration will approach Africa.  Rather than simply returning to the land of his father, Obama's largely cosmetic visit to Ghana does set the right precedent for US engagement by placing high value on democracy and peace rather than simply familial linkages.