Democracy and Political Party Systems: Opinion
Democracy and Political Party Systems - Opinion editorials
Herewith the listing of news and media items written by researchers involved in SAIIA's Party System Development in Africa project in PDF format:
Op-Eds - May 2007
- Ayesha Kajee co-authored these 3 articles featured as a package by IWPR on 4 May 2007:
- No Lasting Peace Without Border Solution
- A Question of Justice
- Kickstarting the Peace Process
Op-Eds - April 2007
- Zimbabwe as South Africa Circa 1990 (Part II), by Ayesha Kajee, as featured in The Globalist, 3 April 2007.
- Zimbabwe as South Africa Circa 1990 (Part I), by Ayesha Kajee, as featured in The Globalist, 2 April 2007.
- The Dirty Political Underbelly of the Darfur Conflict as published in Pambazuka News on 25 April 2007 and All Africa on 26 April 2007.
Op-Eds - March 2007
- Fixing Zimbabwe, by Ayesha Kajee, as featured in Africa Report No.104, 22 March 2007.
- A Blot on Africa's Copybook, by Ayesha Kajee, as featured in Africa Report No.103, 20 March 2007.
Op-Eds - December 2006
- Eastern Sudan: A Forgotten Crisis, by Ayesha Kajee, as featured in Africa Report No.87, 13 December 2006.
- Breaking the Darfur Impasse by Ayesha Kajee, as featured in the Africa Report No.78, 2 October 2006.
Op-Eds - August 2006
- Dateline Darfur: Of Monster and Saints, Villains and Victims, by Ayesha Kajee, as featured in The Globalist, 23 August 2006.
- No Taylor-Made Solutions for Justice in West Africa (article available in Finnish), by Ayesha Kajee, as featured in the Finnish journal, Kumppani, 25 May 2006.
- Presidential Power Shift: The rise of women in politics, by Ayesha Kajee, as featured in the Aboveboard magazine, April/May 2006.
Op-Eds - March 2006
- War Criminals: Beware the Ides of March, by Ayesha Kajee, as featured in The Globalist, 31 March 2006.
- The Launch of ECOSOCC: Participation of the People, By the People and for the People?, by Ayesha Kajee, as featured in Drums of Change, June 2005
Zimbabwe as South Africa Circa 1990
Zimbabwe as South Africa Circa 1990 (Part I), by Ayesha Kajee, as featured in The Globalist, 2 April 2007.
Zimbabwe as South Africa Circa 1990 (Part II), by Ayesha Kajee, as featured in The Globalist, 3 April 2007.
The Dirty Political Underbelly of the Darfur Conflict. as published in Pambazuka News on 25 April 2007
and All Africa on 26 April 2007.
Many paths to recovery, but Africa needs one map: African Diaspora
Lerato Mbele
Business Day, 29 December 2004
Following many attempts at political and economic integration, the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) appears to be the road map with which the continent will extricate itself from exploitation, poverty and global weakness.
Crown princess faces big challenges: Succession in Zimbabwe
Lerato Mbele
Business Day, 10 December 2004
It is curious how the South African public has only just awoken to the fact that Zimbabwe's next president may be a woman from Zanu (PF). The narrow focus on the David and Goliath battle between Zanu (PF) and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has obscured some remarkable theatrics.
Expectations ahead of the start of PAP
Melanie Govindasamy
SABCnews.com, 28 March 2005
With the opening of the Pan-African Parliament's (PAP) third session tomorrow, there are many expectations of what will be on the agenda for PAP. Ayesha Kajee of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), says three major issues that will be touched on. These include the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) process, peace and security issues as well as democracy processes around the continent.
Prosecution at last — but at a price
Ayesha Kajee
Business Day, 6 April 2005
JANJAWEED and the Lord’s Resistance Army are the armed groups accused of gross human rights violations in Sudan and Uganda respectively. Both are under international scrutiny, and a landmark United Nations (UN) Security Council decision on March 31 could herald a renewed focus on justice in Africa.
Zim Elections Expose Africa to Ridicule
Ayesha Kajee
News From Africa, Nairobi
21 April 2005
The upshot is that the South African government and SADC have seriously compromised their credibility in global eyes by rubber-stamping a process that even domestic observers within Zimbabwe have disputed.
No-Stress Diet for African Forum
Ayesha Kajee
Business Day, 9 May 2005
THE mixed results achieved at the close of the Pan African Parliament’s third sitting provide food for thought. While it commendably resolved to send peace missions to Côte d’Ivoire and Congo, and made cogent recommendations on the Darfur conflict, it missed opportunities to exercise a crucial function of parliaments: that of oversight.
Mehr Biss für Afrikas Parlament
Von Ayesha Kajee
July 2005
Vor einem Jahr schuf die Afrikanische Union ihr Panafrikanisches Parlament. Die Bilanz bisher ist durchwachsen: Die Abgeordneten votierten einerseits für Friedensmissionen in Côte d’Ivoire und Kongo und gaben Empfehlungen für den Darfur-Konflikt. Andererseits verpassten sie einige Gelegenheiten, eine wesentliche Funktion von Parlamenten auszuüben: Kontrolle. Die Versammlung braucht mutige Vertreter, die verhindern, dass sie zu einem bloßen Debattierklub verkommt.
A New Wind of Change is Stirring
By Ayesha Kajee
15 November 2005, Business Day
IN A first for Africa, Liberia’s Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf will become the continent’s first democratically elected female president when the results of Tuesday’s presidential run-off elections are confirmed. Since this follows hard on the heels of the 15th ratification of the African Union Protocol on Women’s Rights, it seems Africa may well be on the cusp of a long-delayed wave of empowerment of women.
Continental Body Bares Its Teeth
By Ayesha Kajee
14 December 2005, Business Day
When the Pan African Parliament (PAP) began its fourth sitting late last month, it seemed that the pomp and ceremony accompanying the unveiling of the assembly’s new chambers would not be matched by any increase in the initiative displayed by its members.
Netting Uganda’s Rebels
Ayesha Kajee
22 March 2006, Africa Report No.57
The International Criminal Court, ICC, made legal history last October when it issued arrest warrants for key rebel leaders in northern Uganda. But reeling in the suspects is likely to prove extremely difficult, and will only be possible if neighbouring states are forced to cooperate with the detention order.
Lubanga Case Signals Hope for Child Soldiers
Arraignment of Congolese militia leader welcomed by many campaigners as milestone in protection of children’s rights.
By Ayesha Kajee in Johannesburg
29 March 2006, Africa Report No.58
The conscription of children under the age of 15 in war is internationally-recognised as a war crime, yet child-soldiers have been used in almost all of the wars fought in Africa over the past three decades. Children from Liberia to Zimbabwe have been brutalised and turned into killing machines in conflicts whose motivations and origins they scarcely understand, and the warlords who press-gang them have generally done so with impunity.
Sudan: Mixed Signals on Peace Deal
By Ayesha Kajee in Khartoum
31 May 2006, Africa Report No.65
Khartoum wants to restrict any future role for the United Nations role in Darfur.
The Sudanese capital Khartoum is fraught with diplomatic tension as political manoeuvring continues over how to bring peace to the war-torn western province of Darfur.
South Africa Can Help Sudan Because Our Past Mirrors Its Present
By Ayesha Kajee
7 June 2006, The Sowetan
Sudan’s optimistically-named government of national unity was formed after the signing of a comprehensive peace agreement in January last year.
Trying Times for Sierra Leone Court
By Ayesha Kajee
9 June 2006, Institute for War and Peace Reporting
Sweden offers a prison cell as debate continues over where former Liberian leader Charles Taylor should stand trial.
A decision by the Swedish parliament to allow former Liberian president Charles Taylor to be imprisoned in Sweden if he is convicted of war crimes has removed a major blockage to a trial in The Hague.
World Court Probes Ex-African Leader
By Ayesha Kajee
9 June 2006, Institute for War and Peace Reporting
The Central African Republic’s former president may face prosecution at the International Criminal Court.
After years of being overshadowed by its neighbours, the Central African Republic, ravaged by decades of civil strife, and among the world’s poorest nations, looks set to win much-needed attention as the focus of a high-profile prosecution at the International Criminal Court, ICC.
Darfur Stereotyping Fraught with Danger
By Ayesha Kajee
31 October 2006, Africa Report No.81, an IWPR publication
Widespread dissemination of misperceptions may impede peace negotiations.
The summary expulsion of Jan Pronk, the United Nations’ envoy to Sudan, from that country this month, following remarks he made on the Darfur conflict, reflects the Khartoum government's unilateral and uncompromising stance towards any of its detractors.
Congolese Braced for More Trouble
By Ayesha Kajee
8 November 2006, Africa Reports No.82, an IWPR publication
There are widespread fears that the eventual loser in the presidential race will revert to violence.
At the end of the last millennium, the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, truly seemed to be, in Joseph Conrad's words, Africa’s “Heart of Darkness”.
