AFR 110: Intro to Contemporary Africa

After decades of brutal civil war that left about two and a half million dead, the devastated and vastly underdeveloped southern part of Sudan secured independence in 2011. The world’s youngest nation came into existence amid great challenges. Secession from Sudan marked as a major milestone and a fresh opportunity for South Sudanese, but massive state-corroding corruption, political instability within the ruling party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), and persistent tensions with Sudan over the sharing of oil revenues left South Sudan deeply vulnerable to renewed conflict. Actually, I recognized this movement itself as one of the great challenges and revolutions that Africa is currently suffering and confronting from its political brutalism.

On December 15, 2013, tensions between factions loyal to President Salva Kiir, of the Dinka ethnic group, and those aligned with his former Vice President, Riek Machar, of theNuer ethnic group, exploded into fighting on the streets of Juba, the capital city. South Sudan’s dramatic return to war has torn communities apart and left countless thousands dead. As of September 2014, 1.8 million people were still too afraid to return to their homes.

In order to secure a durable peace, South Sudan’s warring elites need to begin to feel the consequences of their actions. Negotiations led by the East African Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which includes Kenya, Ethiopia, and Uganda, have so far failed to yield an agreement. Although neighboring states have threatened to impose punitive measures, including asset freezes and travel bans, on individuals obstructing the peace process, deadlines have passed without action. The regional heads of state have met over a half a dozen times to discuss the situation in South Sudan, but these extraordinary summits have done little to stem the violence. Without regionally and globally enforced sanctions on key individuals and credible threat of prosecution for mass atrocities and human rights violations, the civil war looks set to intensify

Even with this hard suffering and hardships, since 2012, Sudan and the newly created South Sudan have been excluded from the index but that will change when enough data on both countries is again available. That may take another year or so. The index shows nations fluctuating in their absolute ratings, although their rank in the index is less likely to change. The countries that improved the most in the last year were Ivory Coast, Guinea, Niger, Zimbabwe and Senegal. It is quite hard to hear much about those places in the media. But the five nations that slipped the most (Egypt, Libya, Guinea-Bissau, Central African Republic and Mali) are in the news a lot.

Indexes like this have become increasingly common and popular, except with the leaders of those nations shown to perform the worst. Because all these indexes use data that is verifiable it is difficult for the poorly performing leaders to dismiss them out of hand. That puts pressure on the poor performers to improve, or face the wrath of a population that is better informed of why they are getting screwed. Most of the poorly performing nations are also dependent on foreign aid and these surveys because donor nations to apply pressure as well. And the most important thing is that more and more people began to having interest on African society with careful eyesight.

When most people think of Somalia the image of things like black hawk down comes to mind. They have no idea of the politics, culture, art, music, or even the beautiful locations that reside in the country. To the everyday person Somalia is just a disease-infested country that has continuous problems, and has to rely on the rest of the world to solve its issues with military action. Now to say that the country doesn’t have its share of problems would be a lie, but looking at all the bad without focusing on the good is one sided. There are still some people that even through the turmoil, attacks, and threats continue to move forward.

For instance, in 1991 Somalia, after their civil war split in two with Somaliland, residing in the Gulf of Aden. Since this divide Somaliland has held peaceful elections and has began to slowly grow. They have done so without the aid of foreign countries, because all the support goes only to Somalia. They have also done so without the recognition from other countries. They have been a self-declared country for 23 years with a functional political system and its own currency. This is a good example of strong willed people that are willing to progress against all odds.

The self- declared country also maintains its own national defense and helps maintain order in their region. They do so by effectively dealing with pirates, disarming aggressive militant tribal groups, and even have anti-terrorism laws set in place. Also even with the neglect of aid from outside sources Somaliland still contributes to public goods in key areas. These are things like basic security, the investment climate, and service delivery at the local level, and they do all this by taxation from local businesses.

Besides from the political situation there are also many beautiful things to be seen in Somaliland. There is the Sheikh Mountains and the bypass offers a host of natural attractions and extraordinary driving experience. In Berbera there is a coastal city, which serves as the biggest seaport for Somaliland. Activities on the coast include swimming, snorkeling, fishing, and scuba diving, and there is also the Hargeisa Zoo which houses a menagerie that includes lions, leopards, antelopes, birds and reptiles. These attractions can all be seen because Somaliland has tourist locations within the country that offer hotels and a variety of food.

Now a perception that I had before this article was dealing with food. It was not until I did some research that I discovered that Somali like many other nations has many different foods. For instance they have the sabaayad flatbread, which is a Somali flat bread made with flour cooked on a hot griddle, and it can be rolled with butter, sugar, or honey. A lot of other cuisines that Somalia has have been influenced by English, French, and Italian cuisines. However since Somalia and Somaliland are Muslim they do not use pork in any of there dishes.

Finally the last thing I will discuss is how all of this research has impacted my original thinking on the country. I’ve spent a lot of time near Somalia, and have had an image of what that region must have looked like. From all my travels and the countries that I have lived in I have learned that every country has its beautiful things. They all have their attractions, cultures, music, and the best of all foods. These experiences have allowed me to look at the world differently than most Americans that have never left the sanctity of the country. In conclusion Somalia like many other countries is one country I would like to visit, and experience their cultures in a different habituated environment.

My film project was about Botswana and its booming economy and industry. I wanted to shed light an African nation that has been made strong my taking advantage of its natural wealth with the backing of a strong and stable government. Many African nations that have mineral wealth are full of corruption. However, Botswana has used its diamonds to transform the country causing many of its citizens to be in the middle class.

Citation

Grynberg, Roman. Botswana Polishes its prospects. 2012. MailGaurdian.com. Web 5 December.

Harris, Edward. Botswana Diamond Boom. 2010. Rueters Africa Journal. Youtube.com. Video. 5 December , 2014.

 The Okavango Delta: Africa’s Last Frontier. 2014. Hiddentrails.com. Botswana. Web.5 December, 2014.

 Gaborne-Capital of Botswana.2011. Einfopedia.com. Web.5 December, 2014

Botswana Africans Shining Jewel? 2008. BBC News.com. UK. Web. 5 December, 2014.

 Where Diamonds Come from. 2013. Gaukartifact.com. Web. 5 December 2014.

 Tati Nickle Mining Company, Botswana.2014.Proudlyafrican.info.Botswana.Web. 5 December, 2014