Eusebius McKaiser and Sasha Polakaw-Suranksky try to make sense of Barack Obama’s Africa policy:
Obama’s Africa policy is essentially premised on the promotion of — insistence on, even — good governance. This policy is touted not just as an intrinsic good for Africa but also, as Hillary Clinton said at the Eighth African Growth and Opportunity [...]

by Mayibuye Magwaza
So, the new Madagascan president has gone to the EU, asking them to keep the aid money flowing. South Africa (and the African Union in general) is backing the current talks, after Zuma rejected any notion of using force. Meanwhile, the Mail and Guardian reports that Ravalomanana has been talking to strange chaps [...]

While the Obama Administration has been focussed mainly on the so-called “AfPak” problem, the violence in Somalia has escalated to the point where it now ranks as one of the world’s most dangerous crises. The conflict became even worse this weekend, with the radical group al-Shabab carrying out an Iraq-style suicide bomb attack in Mogadishu. [...]