There may not be tears among many people at the exit of President Thabo Mbeki from the helm of affairs in South Africa: he was never that popular with people, not just inside but outside too. My regular readers will know that there has not been much love lost between us. Most of his [...]

Two very important meetings are being held in New York from 22-25 September 2008. Both are convened by UN Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-moon and the President of the General Assembly. The first, with the support of African leaders, has a focus on Africa’s development needs. The second, sponsored by the British Prime Minister [...]

We must be careful in forcing parallels between Kenya and Zimbabwe:
There are indications that after so many false starts, grandstanding, braggadocio and unrealistic demands, both sides in the Zimbabwe conflict are finally negotiating genuinely and a deal may be reached soon. It will be a tribute to the much criticised President Thabo Mbeki’s tenacity, but [...]

I have been attending a most inappropriately termed meeting in Accra: The 3rd High Level FORUM ON AID EFFECTIVENESS. It would have been more realistic to call it FORUM ON AID INEFFECTIVENESS. All the official reviews, evaluations and assessments, and there were plenty in supply at the 3 day meeting, admit that not enough progress [...]

I finally visited India recently. It was an opportunity to face the reality of the two India-related obsessions of my youth. One of the obsessions of my teenage years was Indian movies. These were days when these films were in Hindi with no subtitles. It is like the way many Muslims can read the Quran [...]