Is southern Africa entering its own ‘War on Terror’?
Posted: 6 July, 2021 Filed under: Marko Svicevic | Tags: acts of terrorism, Al-Qaeda, Angola, Ansar al-Sunna, apartheid, Cabo Delgado, conflict, DRC, extremism, foreign fighters, ISIS, Lesotho, military, Mozambique, Namibia, SADC, SADC Deployment, SADC interventions, SADC Standby Force Mission to Mozambique, SADC Summit, South Africa, Southern African Development Community (SADC), Southern African Development Coordination Conference, Tanzania, terror, terrorists, violent extremism, war, war on terror Leave a comment
Author: Marko Svicevic
Post-doctoral research fellow, South African Research Chair in International Law (SARCIL), University of Johannesburg
What the proposed SADC deployment in Mozambique means for the sub-region
Leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) met again on 23 June 2021 in Maputo to discuss the expanding insurgency in northern Mozambique. It’s the first time the Summit has met since a technical assessment to Mozambique recommended a 3000 strong military deployment. In a communique issued following the meeting, the SADC Summit – its highest decision-making body – endorsed the recommendations made by the technical assessment and approved a mandate for the SADC Standby Force Mission to Mozambique.
From domestic grievances to terrorist acts and foreign aggression
Now approaching its fourth year, the conflict in Mozambique has raged across Cabo Delgado, its northern most province neighboring Tanzania. Initially, the Mozambican government seemed to brush off the violence as local criminality. In the last year and a half however, it has consistently re-framed this narrative as one of ‘foreign aggression.’ Both arguments have merit; there is ample research to suggest the drivers of the conflict are placed with a sense of neglect by the government together with high levels of poverty and unemployment. At the same time, the conflict is being internationalised with some evidence of foreign fighters joining the ‘insurgency’, which has since become known as Ansar al-Sunna. Further yet, the group’s pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) in 2019 and the US designation of ‘ISIS-Mozambique’ as Specially Designated Global Terrorists may be playing into Maputo’s newfound narrative: that the conflict is not rooted in domestic issues but constitutes an act of aggression against Mozambique’s sovereignty.
Voting in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) against all odds: An account of the 30 December 2018 elections in one of the polling centres
Posted: 4 January, 2019 Filed under: Trésor Makunya | Tags: 30 December 2018, 32 year reign, Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, electoral commission, irregularities, legislative election, Mobutu’s presidency, presidential election, technical problems, voting computer Leave a comment
Author: Trésor Makunya
Doctoral Candidate & Academic Associate, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
The presidential and legislative elections at both national and provincial level that Congolese including those living in the diaspora have been waiting for almost two years finally and against all odds, took place on Sunday 30 December 2018. Although elections are always regarded as part of the DNA of a democratic state, these elections were particularly of utmost importance because, if properly conducted, it is expected that they mark the first peaceful alternation of presidential power.[1] Since 2015 when the incumbent president Joseph Kabila demonstrated his desire to maintain his grip on power, many young people, most of whom were from prodemocracy groups, have been killed through excessive use of force by law enforcement officers, arrested or jailed when they protested to urge President Kabila to abide by Article 70 of the 2006 DRC Constitution that sets a maximum two presidential terms and to finance the electoral commission so as national elections may take place in December 2016. Since then, President Kabila has been enjoying a de facto third-presidential term, just like members of the national assembly whose five years-term has been prolonged for two years now. Equally surprising was the fact that elections of governors, of senators and members of provincial assemblies were yet to be organised since respectively 2007 and 2006. Such an unthinkable prolongment had rendered provincial assemblies and the senate illegitimate in the eyes of voters although they had continued to enjoy a semblance of legality. This is the background against which around 39 million Congolese woke up (or were expected to wake up) early that morning and go overwhelmingly to polling stations.
Tax treatment of gains on the sale of assets in the extractive sector in DRC: A much-needed mix of human rights, sustainable development and legal certainty
Posted: 23 July, 2018 Filed under: Eric Ntini Kasoko | Tags: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), DRC, extractive industry, gas, Law on Hydrocarbons, legislation, Mining Code, mining operations, natural resources, nonrenewable, tax, tax policy, taxpayers’ rights Leave a comment
Author: Eric Ntini Kasoko
Prospective Independent Tax Advisor; Researcher
The extractive industry consists of operations of exploration and/or exploitation of nonrenewable natural resources, especially gas, petroleum and mining operations. A distinction is to be made between the hydrocarbon sector (which comprises petroleum and gas activities) and the non-hydrocarbon sector (which relates to mining activities). Mineral-rich countries may choose to enact an all-encompassing piece of legislation to regulate both sectors. They may also opt for two or even three different pieces of legislation, each designed to regulate a specific sector.
A review of the work of the African Commission’s Working Group on Extractive Industries, Environment and Human Rights Violations in Africa
Posted: 26 April, 2016 Filed under: Miriam Azu | Tags: African Charter, African Commission, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, African human rights system', Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), DRC, Environment and Human Rights Violations in Africa, extractive industry, human rights violations, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Liberia, Marikana, Marikana Commission of Inquiry, National Association of Professional Environments, natural resources, Nigeria, non-state actors, Ogoni, special mechanism, toolkit, Working Group, Working Group on Extractive Industries Leave a comment
Author: Miriam Azu
Lawyer, Human Rights Advocate and Environmental Activist
The Working Group on Extractive Industries, Environment and Human Rights Violations in Africa (Working Group) is an oversight mechanism of the African human rights system. Its general mandate is to monitor and report on how extractive activities affect the human rights and environment of the African peoples.[1] This article briefly evaluates what the Working Group has done so far vis-à-vis its mandate, notes some of its challenges and concludes with recommendations on the way forward.
AfricLaw 