Review of “The Fear: The Last Days of Robert Mugabe”

Peter Godwin grew up in Zimbabwe and knows the country, its people and their politics extremely well. He lives in exile in Manhattan but has returned sufficiently often and maintained informed contacts such that he is able to give an up to date account of the tragedy that is Zimbabwe. He has written two autobiographical books “Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa” (1996) which is an account of his childhood and early adulthood, and in 2007 “When Crocodile Eats the Sun: a memoir” which contains some moving personal stories. “The Fear” is more of a current account of the result of the collapse of a country that was once regarded as the breadbasket of Southern Africa into a ‘basket-case’ brought about by political and economic incompetence combined with the malevolence of dictatorship.

Rethink Africa: Rebranding in the broader interest

[Save 50% of your Rethink Africa ticket. Details below.]

Lions? Yes. Elephants? Sure. But there’s so much more. From tourism to business development opportunities, Africa is a rich continent offering countless opportunities. In today’s economy, it is crucial to build relationships with emerging economies such as Nigeria’s, Ghana’s and South Africa’s just to name a few.

Nigeria on the Brink: A Rejoinder

Originally posted on Huffington Post. This is a response to an article by Former Ambassador Campbell in the web edition of Foreign Affairs.

[October 1, 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of Nigeria's independence.]

Former U.S. Ambassador John Campbell’s recent article, “Nigeria on the Brink: What Happens If the 2011 Elections Fail?”, published in the September/October web edition of the journal Foreign Affairs, has seized the attention of dedicated Nigeria-watchers and evoked the wrath of Nigeria’s official establishment.

Sad News: Bombing in Nigeria, A Worrying Sign. What Next for Nigeria?

[October 1, 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of Nigeria's independence.]

On what should have been a day of reflection and recognition of its 50th anniversary of independence, the capital of Nigeria, Abuja, was rocked on October 1 by two car bombs, killing at least eight people.

Planting Seeds

John Legend and the Roots are everywhere. You can see and hear them on The View, a free show in Brooklyn, a Spike Lee-directed online event, Billboard Magazine and, yes, The International POP Festival – to benefit All For Africa’s Palm Out Poverty initiative.

Do Not Underestimate Nigerian Resilience and Resolve

[October 1, 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of Nigeria's independence.  To celebrate this historic date, Africa.com welcomes our newest "featured blogger," Ambassador Robin Renee Sanders, the former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria.]

Nigeria’s next, critically important elections appear to be slated for April 2011. In the months leading up to those elections, there are two key things to keep in mind. I call them the two R’s: Nigeria’s Resilience and Nigeria’s Resolve. Do not underestimate either.

Carpaccio: A Thin Slice of South Africa

What does the only Black member of the 2006-07 Class of Loeb Fellows, whose fellowship year was dominated, if not defined, by the topic of race and architecture, do when he goes to South Africa? He goes in search of Black African architects, of course. While America continues to revisit the lingering social, economic and political conditions of our post-Katrina society that are so clearly connected to issues of race and class, our Loeb class traveled from the Harvard Graduate School of Design to South Africa for two weeks this past May to learn as much as we could from a country in transition after generations of apartheid.

Flames on both sides of the Atlantic

Sathima Bea Benjamin is a jazz vocalist from Cape Town, South Africa who has made the shores of America her home and she pours the spirit of South Africa in every note she sings. With the help of Duke Ellington, Benjamin arrived in New York City with her pianist husband, Abdullah Ibrahim, in the 1960s and never looked back. Escaping the brutality of apartheid, Ibrahim and Benjamin hoped that through music, they could survive being in exile through four-part harmony. And they did.

Economic Downturn as an Opportunity: Investing in Small and Medium Sized Businesses Now

[This Changemakers article is Part One of a three-part series focused on SME investment opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa, also featured on Social Edge and Changemakers.]

The global economic downturn may seem an unlikely opportunity for creating jobs and wealth, but optimists at the forefront of developing world finance and business argue that now is precisely the moment for big things.

Nigeria at 50: Education is the Imperative for Nigeria’s Future

Nigeria is a major driver of the economic boom sweeping through Africa.  At a conference at the New York Stock Exchange last week, Emmanuel Ikazaboh, the acting CEO of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, predicted that 1000 companies will be actively traded within the next five years. The investment bank, Goldman Sachs, has placed Nigeria in the “Next Eleven,” a list of countries whose economies will lead the world in GDP growth by 2050.