Sub-Saharan Africa
We are the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF Africa), an independent German organisation that is committed to promoting liberal policy and politics around the world in the form of human rights, the rule of law, democracy, innovation, digitalisation and free trade.
We have been active in Sub-Saharan Africa since 1964. We organise campaigns, media events, seminars, workshops, study tours, cultural happenings and training courses. We have activities in many countries in the region such as Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda, Senegal, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
News
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Politics in Senegal: The Sonko factor - Rule of Law must prevail
Senegal, West-Africa’s model democracy, is slowly finding its calm again after fierce protests erupted in the capital Dakar for two days on March 4th and 5th. A violent mob roamed the streets, looted supermarkets and clashed with security forces. Such scenes of vandalism and civil disobedience had not been seen in easy going Dakar for many years. More than ten people died in these protest that had also affected major cities in the interior.
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Africa: trade, democracy or both?
The 20th OECD international economic forum on Africa, which takes place today, is a propitious occasion to assess Africa’s current position, politically, economically and - of course - in terms of COVID-19. Cecilia Kok analyzes the main topics that will be key for this years conference. The pandemic, the Chinese influence over Africa and the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade area will dominate the forum this year.
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East Africa needs a liberal restart to protect and promote civil liberties
The past year has been hard for East Africans. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on the health and economies of our nations. As the threat of further waves persist and international travel, tourism and business remains largely on hold, things will continue to be difficult. We face a long road ahead in navigating a path to economic recovery and a challenging vaccine roll-out.
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Uganda’s election violence cycle worsens as Bobi Wine’s Opposition puts Museveni on his toes
Thursday, January 14, Ugandans will elect a “new president” and members of parliament.
It will be a contest of numbers, even before the first ballot is cast in a bid to determine who between National Unity Platform candidate Robert Ssentamu Kyagulanyi and incumbent Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of National Resistance Movement (NRM) will lead Uganda. -
Cry, the beloved country – South Africa’s shambolic vaccination situation
The second wave of the Corona pandemic has hit South Africa with full force. But the government has no plan for procuring vaccines, nor for distributing them. Mass vaccination requires months of preparation, the establishment of complex control systems, and the strategic deployment of resources. None of this necessary preparation has yet taken place. Because of the South African government's failure, an unprecedented health crisis looms, analyzes Cecelia Kok.
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Ethiopia Stands on the Cusp of Civil War
Ethiopia is facing a humanitarian crisis after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the country’s federal government fell out. In the past two weeks, hundreds of people from Tigray have been killed and over 30,000 people forced to flee their homes to the neighbouring Sudan. Sudan has now closed its borders, only letting in refugees, which puts Ethiopian citizens that wanted to flee due to the fighting that escalated in November in more trouble ...
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Property Rights Indispensable to Brighter Future for Women in Africa
Women in Africa remain excluded from the benefits of property ownership, and this must receive the attention of African policy makers and society at large. This is the message from a new study by the Institute of Race Relations entitled Property Rights Belong to All: Women and Property Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa. The institute is releasing it to coincide with the beginning of 16 days of activism for no violence against women and children.
Social Media
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Ethiopia is to hold elections on Monday, 21 June 2021. The elections have been postponed twice already citing COVID-19 and delayes by the electoral commission. There are calls for the elections to be postponed with the human rights crisis in the Tigaray region being one of the main concerns. It has also been reported that some opposition groups may boycott, whist some opposition leaders and independent candidates cannot contest because they are in jail.
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This #YOUTHDAY2021 the FNF Liberal Workshop in Cape Town hosted a youth voices workshop. Azola Ndongeni who is in the 2021 Democratic Alliance Young Leaders programme facilitated the session as her annual #freedom project. She invited 14 school leaders who have an interest in politics to participate in the session. They went through intensive advocacy training. The next step in the programme is that they are to meet with a Shadow Members of Provincial and National Parliament. The aim is to inspire the potential future young parliamentarians and to encourage these young leaders to speak truth to power as they engage their mentors in parliament.
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HOW TO COUNTER DISINFORMATION: 10 Strategic Demands! WORDS MATTER - Those in power must strictly adhere to the correct terms when speaking about disinformation. The term “fake news” must be rejected. This is not only because people like to use it to discredit the free press or political opponents. It is also too imprecise in its content. There must be a distinction between “false reports” and targeted incorrect information intended to cause harm, i.e. disinformation. Incorrect information occurs time and again, but is corrected as it should be in investigative journalism. Incorrect information is not intended to mislead or divide societies. The opposite situation holds true for disinformation, which is all too frequently called “fake news.” It aims to cause harm and is deliberately misleading, invented or wrongly contextualised. The wrong use of terms can therefore lead to a trivialisation of the problems, as well as a further loss of trust in the media and politics. The result can be a non-targeted counterstrategy. The latter can only be successful when problems can be correctly described and defined. #FreedomFightsFake Download the 10 demands here: https://shop.freiheit.org/#!/Publikation/1054
