Dibussi Tande: Scribbles from the Den

Memory Lane (January 2006): President Biya Defends Clandestine Migration to Europe

Excerpt of Speech by H.E. Paul BIYA, President of the Republic of Cameroon, in Response to New Year Wishes from the Diplomatic Corps in Yaoundé, January 6, 2006. (My Translation. The French original follows).

"I cannot ignore an issue that affects relations between African countries and the rest of the world, particularly Europe. I am talking about what is commonly referred to as "illegal immigration". Indeed, every year, thousands of African attempt to make it to Europe on their own, often at the risk of their lives. Some make it. The majority do not, with the human tragedy that this involves as we saw recently.

It is necessary to ask ourselves this question: Why do these Africans, young people for the most part, leave their families and their countries? Obviously in search of a better life. In this respect, let us remember that during the second half of the 19th century, millions of Europeans, driven by misery and famine and displaced by conflict, crossed the Atlantic in search of a new life. I am simply saying that this spontaneous emigration of thousands of Africans is similar. 

GoodLuck Jonathan: "I promised the country free and fair elections. I have kept my word."

Full text of the concession statement by outgoing Nigerian President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan after his defeat in the 2015 Presidential elections. 

Fellow Nigerians,

I thank you all for turning out en-masse for the March 28 General Elections.

I promised the country free and fair elections. I have kept my word. I have also expanded the space for Nigerians to participate in the democratic process. That is one legacy I will like to see endure.

Although some people have expressed mixed feelings about the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), I urge those who may feel aggrieved to follow due process based on our constitution and our electoral laws, in seeking redress.

Bring Back Our Girls - A Poem for the Missing Nigerian Girls by Zimbabwean Poet Batsirai Chigama

As part of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, a Zimbabwean poet Batsirai Chigama added her voice to campaign with this poem dedicated to the missing girls of Chibok.

 
Us the gentle souls
whose wombs bear scars
not erased by time
Us whose hearts militants brutalize,
death they sow recklessly
our future they take liberties to destroy
time stands still
deeper each day that passes
the void erupts ...
to this gnawing, mad-like disbelief
silent clouds hover on the sad empty chair
like vultures in wait
as we watch the dinner grow cold
again, tonight.

 

New TV Campaign Celebrates the "Sapeurs" of Congo Brazaville

A new Guinness TV campaign launched today in the UK pays tribute to the "Sapeurs" (Society of Tastemakers and Elegant People) of the Congo whom Daniele Tamagni describes in Gentlemen of Bacongo as "elegant and immaculately dressed dandies" who "dress to impress, whilst also being ambassadors of etiquette, peace and music, as well as the essence of style."

Enjoy the colorful advert along with the five-minute documentary on this trailblazing sartorial subculture.

Watch the short documentary below for more information on the Sapeurs:

Nelson Mandela: A Man of his Time, and Above his Time

Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela, born 18 July 1918; died 5 December 2013

Originally published in The Independent

Nelson Mandela was a man, always, of his time. Yet he was, paradoxically, one who in some ways stood apart from – and even above – that time. It was in this that his greatness lay.

Mr Mandela, who died on Sunday night aged 94, was a towering figure in the 20th century. He did not just ­bestride the continent of Africa but ­became a political colossus of the ­entire world stage.

Yet he was more even than that. The magnanimity he displayed, as the white rule of apartheid crumbled in his native South Africa in 1990, ­created a paradigm shift in what was possible - or even thinkable - in ­modern politics.

[Interactive Map] Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2013

The Corruption Perceptions Index 2013 serves as a reminder that the abuse of power, secret dealings and bribery continue to ravage societies around the world.

The Index scores 177 countries and territories on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). No country has a perfect score, and two-thirds of countries score below 50. This indicates a serious, worldwide corruption problem.

Hover on the map below to see how your country fares.

 

Click  here for additional information about the 2013 CPI.

Beyond Boko Haram: The Rise of Fundamentalist Islam in Nigeria [Conference Presentation]

Find below a downloadable version of the presentation that served as the basis of my talk at the conference on threats to Nigeria's security which took place today at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC.

Beyond Boko Haram: The Rise of Fundamentalist Islam in Nigeria

View more PowerPoint from Dibussi Tande

  Panelists at the conference included Jacob Zenn, Analyst for West African Affairs at The Jamestown Foundation;  Dr. Andrew McGregor, Editor in Chief, Global Terrorism Analysis; Mark McNamee, Analyst at The Jamestown Foundation; Lauren Ploch Blanchard from the Congressional Research Service; Carl LeVan, Assistant Professor of African Politics at American University; Colonel Gene McConville, Senior Military Advisor at the Africa Center For Strategic Studies; Ambassador Eunice Reddick, former US ambassador to  Gabon and São Tomé and Príncipe, and currently Director of the Office of West African Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

 

[Conference] Threats to Nigeria's Security: Boko Haram and Beyond

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washingon, D.C.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
9 A.M. - 12 P.M. EST
Organized by The Jamestown Foundation

I will be presenting a paper at the conference titled Beyond Boko Haram: The Rise of Fundamentalist Islam in Nigeria.

Watch the Live Webcast of the conference below.

Streaming by Ustream 

[Video] Kah Walla's "Fiery Call to Arms" at the Women in the World Summit

Kah Walla, president of Cameroon's People's Party, talks about her call to action – women have to help elect other women to government.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

 Click here for more on Kah Walla's declaration at the Women in the World Summit.

What is the Future of the FCFA Zone in West and Central Africa? Part III: Why UEMOA and CEMAC should be merged.

By Nfor Nwayuke Susungi

"Is the CFAZONE ready to stand on its own by severing the umbilical cord with the Operations Account? Can a country such as Cameroon go it alone? My answer to both questions is a definite NO."

How should the CFAZONE be reformed?

Against the background of crisis in the Eurozone and the possible (but unlikely) collapse of the Euro and the stable economic and monetary situation which currently exists in the CFAZONE,  with extremely low inflation, the question is in what direction should the CFAZONE chart its future?  Is the CFAZONE ready to stand on its own by severing the umbilical cord with the Operations Account?  Can a country such as Cameroon go it alone? My answer to both questions is a definite NO.

What is the Future of the FCFA Zone in West and Central Africa? Part II: The Maastricht Treaty and the CFA ZONE

By Nfor Nwayuke Susungi

The Maastricht Treaty of Economic and Monetary Union did not specifically address the relationship between France and the Franc Zone.  It merely recognized the national budget of each member state of the EC as a sovereign domain, subject to deficits being limited to less than 5% of GNP, which is one of the convergence criteria that must be met in order to qualify for EMU. However, since the convertibility of the FCFA was guaranteed through the budget of the French Treasury, which manages the Operations Account, the maintenance of the Franc Zone in its present form was not deemed to be in direct conflict with the provisions of the Maastricht Treaty.

What is the Future of the FCFA Zone in West and Central Africa? Part I: The Origins of the "Franc"

In a recent discussion on Facebook, spurred by recent rumors of a possible devaluation of the Franc CFA, the currency used by 14 Francophone African countries, I asked Dr. Nfor Susungi, a former senior official at the African Development Bank, the following question: "What do you make of the argument that governments in Francophone Africa are stubbornly clinging to the Franc CFA because of the (false) prestige factor (i.e., having a convertible currency), outright laziness, and risk aversion - too scared to go-it alone?" Here is the Part 1 of his three-part response.

Egypt: End Game Mubarak!

"In these grave circumstances that the country is passing through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave his position as president of the republic.He has mandated the Armed Forces Supreme Council to run the state. God is our protector and succor" - Vice President Omar Suleiman."

 

The Army As The Central Factor In The Success of "Street Revolutions"

By Dibussi Tande

In  a recent article on why the streets in sub-Saharan Africa have remained silent while massive anti-regime protests rock North Africa, the Christian Science Monitor posits that this is due to weak civil society organizations:
 

"Regime change is common in Africa, but it tends to come from the barrel of a gun and not because of street demonstrations, says Achille Mbembe, an historian at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg. This means there are few organizations with the power to challenge the authority of rulers, to organize dissenters, and to articulate alternative ideas of government that ordinary people would be willing to give their lives for.

An Afternoon with FW De Klerk: A Talk About The Tansformative Power of Change

By Dibussi Tande

Last Friday, December 10, 2010, I had the privilege of listening to a talk by former South African President Frederick W De Klerk about the transformative power of change.


The former president had come to Chicago to talk about “the important lessons of negotiation, management of change, and leadership that led to the peaceful end of apartheid under his leadership,” with a focus “on the risks and sometimes leaps of faith involved in this fundamental agreement to bring lasting peace,” and “how his success can be translated into any organization's business model.”

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR): Seeking Justice for Victims or Imposing a Victor’s Justice?

By Dibussi Tande

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania, is different things to different people. To some, it is merely a tool to assuage Western guilt for not doing enough to stop the 1994 Rwandan genocide; to others, the ICTR is a victor’s court designed to give a veneer of  
legality and legitimacy to the Rwanda Government’s one-sided narrative of the events leading up to and during the genocide – a narrative that makes a black-and-white distinction between the Tutsi victims on the one hand and the Hutu perpetrators on the other; still, there are others who believe that the tribunal’s mandate is a just and necessary one, i.e. to prosecute “persons responsible for genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of Rwanda between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1994”. And there are yet others who view the court’s mandate and performance thus far in shades of grey.

SELLING AFRICAN KNOWLEDGE: Developing the Market for African Intellectual Property

ByDayo Ogunyemi

"Africans must lose any naïveté about how IP rights are managed and exploited in developed economies. Historically, African content creators have had a lack of awareness about the international market value of their IP creations as well as the complexities of copyright and contract law that govern their trade."

In the wake of the copyright / Intellectual Property controversy over the 2010 FIFA World Cup anthem, Scribbles from the Den republishes a very educaitonal article from 2003 in which Dayo Ogunyemi, who once ran an entertainment law practice in New York, argues that there is a dire need to raise awareness within Africa about the value of Intellectual Property (IP), and the remedies that are available when these rights have been violated. Read on...

Undermining African Intellectual and Artistic Rights: Shakira, Zangalewa & the World Cup Anthem

By Dibussi Tande

During a tour of Cameroon in 1975, James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, met Tala Andre Marie, a budding Cameroonian blind singer and guitarist who had just released a funk number titled  Hot Koki. Tala gave him a copy of the record "to give him an insight into the kind of music being made in Cameroon". According to the Boston Globe, “Two years later, Brown dropped “Hustle!!!’’ –  with the same melody, beat, and arrangements, only with English lyrics.” Tala and his music label, Fiesta Records, gathered a team of lawyers who filed a law suit in the United States. After a drawn out battle that lasted four years, an American court concluded that James Brown had indeed used Tala’s song without authorization. Tala says there was very little financial fallout from the case, with the bulk of the money going to the lawyers. Tala nonetheless contends that it was a huge moral victory and good PR.

The Presentation - State of Social Justice & Digital Media in Africa

The State of Social Justice and Digital Media in Africa

View more presentations from dibussi.

The State of Social Justice and Digital Media in Africa

Summary of a Keynote address delivered by Dibussi Tande at the Highway Africa Conference's "Digital Citizen Indaba", Rhodes University, Grahamstown, Republic of South Africa - September 5, 2009 (Orginally published on the Highway Africa Blog)

We just heard the opening keynote talk by Cameroonian blogger Dibussi Tande (he blogs at Scribbles from the den), who talked about “The state of social justice and digital media in Africa”. Below is a summary of his talk from the Digital Citizen Indaba website: