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Reforms in Africa’s security sector require leaders with vision and the ability to persevere against inevitable resistance. Vignettes of African leaders who championed reforms demonstrate how these actions advance stability and increase public trust.
The DRC’s political crisis has galvanized and revived many of the estimated 70 armed groups currently active in the country, making the nexus between political and sectarian violence by armed militias a key feature of the DRC’s political instability.
The decision by the Court to nullify the results of the presidential election reflects the importance of independent institutions to legitimacy and stability in Africa.
Despite the serious humanitarian and economic tolls generated by Burundi’s crisis, the reaction of its neighbors has been remarkably subdued.
Ghana’s elections offer lessons on how transparency and public trust in electoral institutions contribute to a peaceful transition of power, finds the Africa Center’s Dorina Bekoe.
ECOWAS leadership in the Gambia crisis offers lessons for future regional security cooperation in Africa.
Gambia narrowly averted a regional crisis when Yahya Jammeh stepped down. The coordinated action of neighboring countries and regional organizations could provide a model for future governance crises.
Part 5. In previous DRC’s political crises, international and African actors have at some times been a moderating influence, and at others enabled further escalation. What role are they playing this time?
Part 3. The DRC’s nascent institutional checks and balances are too weak to curb executive overreach. And when state institutions are compromised, reform must come from the outside.
Part 2. The DRC’s oversight institutions have been actively undermined by the ruling party, dimming prospects for a genuine democratic transition.
Part 1. The DRC appears to be on a slow-motion path to tragedy. After 15 years in office, President Joseph Kabila will fulfill his term limits in December, but he has avoided organizing elections. Instead, he seems intent on holding onto power indefinitely.
Term-limit advocates are not framing their struggles within the context of Western norms. Rather, it is seen as an African normative framework that is being violated by the continent’s leaders.