AfricaPundit's Regional Briefing: 2003-07-16

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Africa, courtesy of AfricaPundit.

TOP TOPICS

• Christian churches are growing quickly in Africa, and this is creating new tensions between them and their more liberal European and American counterparts. Frank Rocca writes of the coming Christian schism at The American Prowler.

• Tom Donelson offers some insights from his interviews with Dr. George Ayittey, who explains why there may be hope for Africa.

Other Topics Today Include: Bush's trip; Chaos in Liberia and Burundi; al-Qaeda in Malawi; Tyranny in Zimbabwe; Riots in Nigeria; and terrorism in Uganda.

• The major news of the month was President Bush's tour of Africa during the second week of July with visits to Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda, and Nigeria; and a major speech about slavery. Although largely intended to boost Bush's African anti-AIDS agenda, the tour took place against a backdrop of continued war in Congo, chaos in Liberia, tyranny in Zimbabwe, riots in Nigeria, terrorism in Uganda, and an uncertain peace in Sudan.

• Liberia's dictator Charles Taylor continues to look more precarious. After multiple promises to resign from office, he was reported to have accepted an asylum offer from Nigeria, but he still refuses to leave the country until the arrival of international peacekeepers. Nearly simultaneously, President Bush calls for Taylor's immediate resignation.

• Meanwhile, American pundits debated the pros and cons of US military intervention in Liberia. Opinionjournal.com makes a fairly convincing case against intervention. Many intervention proponents have cited humanitarianism and America's "special relationship" with Liberia, but I find James S. Robbins' security argument much more compelling.

• The issue of Liberian intervention, pro and con, was also covered and discussed here at Winds of Change.NET.

• Major oil strikes in Nigeria threatened to disrupt Bush's visit, but were ended by a last-minute deal between the government and the major unions. Protesters were angry at the government's recent decision to end fuel subsidies, thereby allowing the price of gas to rise.

• Five al Qaeda suspects were recently arrested in Malawi and immediately handed over to American authorities under rather dubious circumstances. Not surprisingly, one of those guys turned out to have connections to the Saudi royal family.

• Vodkapundit's Burundi report isn't optimistic. U.N. peacekeepers who refuse to keep the peace. Sound familiar?

• Zimbabwe's tyrant-in-chief has apparently pulled off another diplomatic coup by getting his country appointed to a senior position in the African Union. This occurs despite continued calls from American officials for African governments to put increasing pressure on Mugabe's government. Apparently "African solidarity" trumps all other considerations.

• Uganda continues its own War on Terrorists as the government accuses the LRA rebels of spreading AIDS. The more immediate concern, though, seems to be the LRA's habit of kidnapping young girls for sex slaves.

The next installment of AfricaPundit's Regional Briefing will be August 13. Meanwhile, regular updates concerning African events can be found at AfricaPundit.