Posted September 12, 2008

AFJN stands in solidarity with the people of Angola as they participate in the first parliamentary election in 16 years. The election is a huge stride toward sustainable peace, democracy, and development that Angolans desire.

By Sr. Elizabeth Kolmer, an AFJN Board Member and Sister of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ

Posted August 18, 2008

What’s happening in Liberia?  Is the war over ?  Is it safe to travel there? These are the most common questions I’ve been asked regarding the situation in the West African country of Liberia. My three weeks on the ground in post-conflict Liberia in June gave me a glimpse of the present position of the country as it tries to restore and rebuild itself after a 14-year civil war.  Certainly it would take much longer than 3 weeks to comprehend all that is going on in this restoration process.

The City       
What strikes one most in the capital city of Monrovia is the sheer number of people everywhere.  The recently completed census indicates that there are 3.48 million people in the country, with 1.14 million of them living in the confines of Monrovia. It is estimated that the infrastructure of the city is capable of sustaining a population of at most 350,000, so the strain on any kind of services is very obvious. There are people everywhere, many of them children. Due to conflict, disease, and poor nutrition, the median age of the population hovers around 15 or 16.

Unemployment is high. Some say 80 percent of the population does not work in the formal sector.  The small market-stands provide a meager and uncertain source of income for many. The World Bank estimates that over three-quarters of Liberia's population live below the poverty line of 1 USD per day.  Many others, among them young men returning from the war, have no employment and often resort to thievery, especially in the crowded market areas and on state and private properties.

In 2007, a short term poverty reduction plan was put in place with a primary aim of creating jobs.  This year, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf presented a more extensive proposal to the IMF and World Bank.  Also in place is a newly unveiled plan to relocate willing and qualified Liberians into rural areas by offering them jobs, benefits and good salaries. The Rural Incentives Pilot Program will focus initially on health, educational, and agricultural areas. Although we do not yet know the potential impact of these programs, it is clear that President Sirleaf is making an effort to address the extreme poverty in her country.

Still, there are many challenges for President Sirleaf.  The electrical and sewer infrastructure of the country must be rebuilt completely. Many people use generators for power at least for several hours after dark, and use wells which fill the private water towers they have erected.

Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., Chair of AFJN Board, Assistant Prof. of Political Science, Notre Dame University

Published  March 25, 2008 

Many observers have expressed at least some surprise at the post-election crisis in Kenya, a crisis that has so far left more than six hundred people dead, at least 200,000 people displaced and is affecting the economies of the entire region. Kenya has been known as one of Africa’s most stable and peaceful countries. The Kenyan economy has been growing over the last several years and tourists until a few weeks ago had started to return to the country’s national parks and Indian-Ocean beaches after being scared off by the 1998 U.S- embassy bombing, other terrorist activities along the coast and crime in Nairobi. How could things become so unhinged in Kenya when things were going so well?  The short answer is, things were not going so well for most Kenyans.

For anyone who has spent more than five minutes off the well-worn tourist paths, who knows something of the rapid rural to urban migration born of rural poverty, and who knows about the powers concentrated in the Kenyan presidency, the post-election crisis is terribly regrettable but not totally surprising. In part this is because the economic growth over the last few years has taken place without a corresponding improvement in the quality of life or standard of living for the majority of Kenyans, regardless of the ethnic group to which they belong. Although Gross Domestic Product per capita has been on the rise in the last few years, most Kenyans have struggled to find decent work and unemployment has hovered around forty percent. Every year, tens of thousands of young people leave impoverished villages to look for education and work, particularly in Nairobi. All too often they find neither. The competition for work is intense and family connections or links to one’s ethnic community are often the key to survival.

By Beth Tuckey

Published Feb 25, 2008

We’ve been told over and over again: the train has left the station. The new U.S. military command for Africa (AFRICOM) is already operational in Stuttgart, Germany. It has temporary funding, much of which has been transferred from other branches of the Department of Defense (DoD). It has a commander – General William “Kip” Ward. It has an agenda – counter terrorism on African soil, protect oil resources, and halt further movements by the Chinese on the continent.

At AFJN, we believe that the train may have left the station, but it can still be derailed at some point down the line. Or, if we are willing to work hard enough, it might never gather enough steam to reach its first stop. AFJN has been following US military involvement in the African continent since our publication of a document by Paul Rutayisire in 1986 entitled The Militarization of Sub-Saharan Africa. We continue to commit ourselves to working for an Africa that does not suffer at the mercy of Western interests and weaponry.

AFRICOM has been pushed through by the Bush Administration without a vote from Congress and without the consent of our African partners. It is a command still seeking a headquarters and a clear mandate. Make no mistake; those elements are slowly but surely being acquired – by President Bush, by the charm of General Ward, by neoconservatives, and by private military contractors – but the American people have the capability to act. We can join voices with our brothers and sisters in Africa and say ‘no’ to AFRICOM.