India, South Africa and Africa in a changing global landscape

On 9 and 10 June 2011 the South African Institute of International Affairs is hosting a two-day conference entitled: ‘India, South Africa and Africa in a challenging global landscape’. The conference aims to stimulate more debate on the multifaceted nature of the India-Africa relationship.  The conference is made possible by SIDA, DANIDA and is supported by the Indian High Commission in South Africa.

Relations between the African continent and India go back many centuries. In the 20th century India’s role as a leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, a supporter of national liberation movements and the struggle against apartheid further augmented those ties. However, it is the potential synergies between Africa and the subcontinent, created by the changing economic and geopolitical landscape, that have deepened their interactions over the last several years.

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Youth @ SAIIA: Remembering and celebrating June 16

Thirty-five years ago, on June 16, high school students took to the streets of Soweto to protest against the use of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction. Their protests were met with police beatings and bullets. The students marched and demonstrated with the school bags on their backs and many died still wearing their school uniforms. The actions those students took in their classrooms that day had repercussions beyond their fight for a quality education. Many see the student uprisings of 1976 as a turning point that eventually led to the fall of apartheid. It’s an example of how the actions of just a few young people can change the course of history.

Youth @ SAIIA, the Institute’s youth programme, aims to build on this idea through its three core initiatives aimed at high school students from around South Africa. Through programmes such as Model United Nations, the Environmental Sustainability Project and Inter-schools quizzes, youngsters are heeding the call for action not only at a local, but also on a global level.

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As the AU meets in Malabo, Civil Society Rates Governance in South Africa

By Steven Gruzd

During the 17th African Union Summit in tropical Malabo, Equatorial Guinea from 23 June to 1 July 2011, governance will once again come under the spotlight. On 29 June, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Forum of Heads of State and Government convene, where Zambia is set to become the 15th country to be peer reviewed, a revised APRM Questionnaire is being considered, and many states will report on implementing their National Programmes of Action. Governance gaps will also be considered in Midrand, South Africa on 28 June, when the APRM Monitoring Project (AMP) – run jointly by SAIIA, the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) and the Africa Governance, Monitoring and Advocacy Project (AfriMAP) – will launch its independent assessment of governance in South Africa entitled “Implementing the APRM: Views from Civil Society”.

A novel highlight of the report is the South African Ratings page.

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The celebrations and tribulations of Southern Sudan’s Independence

By Petrus de Kock

Since gaining independence from the United Kingdom on New Year’s Day in 1956, Sudanese people from both the north and south have had to endure two civil wars that lasted a total of forty years. The first civil war began in 1955, a few months before independence as the state of Sudan, and lasted until 1973. The second civil war started in 1983 and ended 23 years later in 2005, with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). In addition to the massive displacement of people during the most recent war, 2.5 million people lost their lives. Southern Sudan’s independence thus ends a long and very painful history of North-South conflict.

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