Opinion: A state of emergency has brought calm to Ethiopia. But don’t be fooled. By Paul Schemm

 Ethiopia President: Mulatu Teshome
Earlier this month, hundreds of high school students in the small Ethio­pian town of Meti gathered for a demonstration.
They were supposed to be celebrating the country’s Nations and Nationalities day, which commemorates the much-vaunted equality of Ethiopia’s 80 ethnic groups. Instead, they defied a two-month-old state of emergency to voice their anger over stalled political reforms and endemic corruption.

Opinion: Joseph Kabila: DR Congo’s young, enigmatic leader

Joseph Kabila

Still relatively young after 16 years leading the Democratic Republic of Congo, 

Joseph Kabila is a secretive president at the centre of a political crisis in his vast, conflict-ravaged nation. Tuesday marked the end of the second and constitutionally mandated final term for the 45-year-old,
 who inherited the presidency after the 2001 assassination of his father.

But he is now refusing to leave the job that he began without much fanfare.

Photos: Dozen women and girl, 8, massacred in ethnic Christmas Day violence in Congo

Residents in Kinshasha chant slogans against Congolese President Joseph Kabila 

 

At least 13 civilians, including an eight-year-old girl, were massacred in an ethnically charged attack in the easter Democratic Republic of Congo on Christmas Day.
The attack, understood to have targeted an Hutu village and perpetrated by an ethnic Nande militia, took place after another 22 civilians were killed in clashes on Saturday.

Photos: Emir of Kano Daughter, Princess Fulani handing over Ceremony to Inlaws

  The daughter of Emir of Kano, Princess Fulani Siddika who recently got married was handed over to Katsina Emirate. She rode on a horse to her matrimonial home. More pics after cut.....

Amhara Uprising: Poverty as a cause of instability | By D. K. Bimrew

Per the 2007 Population and Housing Census, Amhara is the second largest ethnic groups in Ethiopia. Mostof the Amhara population lives in Godner, Gojjam, Wollo and Shewa provinces. However, due to historical reasons significant number of Amhara people are distributed throughout Ethiopia which makes the most widely dispersed ethnic groups in Ethiopia as well. Before the coming of TPLF to power, Amhara people were leading relatively a stable life in different parts of Ethiopia. However, the coming in to power of the TPLF and its consequent introduction of ethnicfederalism has resulted in the surge of anti-Amhara sentiment by the government agents.

In central Africa, citizens are using social media to build democracy. Here’s how. By Elie Smith

Congolese displaced residents from the southern districts of Brazzaville take shelter in a church after fleeing intense clashes between security forces and unknown assailants on April 4. 

 

 Early Monday, heavy gunfire was reported in Brazzaville in Congo Republic, after disputed elections led President Denis Sassou Nguesso to declare he had been reelected to yet another term in his 32-year rule — continuing a story whose background I will explain in depth below. That fresh fighting reminds us again of the bad news from central Africa, a region that’s also known as the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS).
But here’s the surprise: There’s some good news, too.

The Lord’s Resistance Army is finally weakening in central Africa. This could dismantle it. By Ledio Cakaj and Paul Ronan

Children cheer as troops from the Central African Republic and Uganda, members of the U.S. Army Special Forces, and media, drive through Obo, Central African Republic, in April 2012. Obo, the first place Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army attacked in 2008. 

 

 In October 2011, President Obama sent 100 U.S. Army Special Forces personnel to central Africa to help the Ugandan military pursue the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and its notorious leader, Joseph Kony.
Five years later, although the LRA is much weaker, Kony remains at large, orchestrating attacks against civilians. The Ugandan military, which has been leading the anti-LRA effort, has announced that it will withdraw from pursuing the group by the end of the year, citing a lack of international support.
With Kony’s increasingly erratic and brutal leadership alienating many followers, the best opportunity to dismantle the LRA at this point may be encouraging disillusioned members to defect.

Photo; Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh in U-turn over election result

 Yahya Jammeh of Gambia

The Gambia stopped Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, leader of a regional mission, from entering the country after a U-turn by the former's long-term ruler over election results, an official said.
Yahya Jammeh, president of The Gambia for 22 years, has announced he would no longer accept defeat in a recent ballot, plunging the West African nation into turmoil and demanding fresh polls.

Photo: Ghana President-elect Nana Akufo-Addo’s victory speech

 
 Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President elect

SPEECH DELIVERED BY NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO-ADDO, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA, ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2016, AFTER THE DECLARATION OF THE RESULTS OF THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

Ladies and gentlemen of the media, fellow Ghanaians,

A few minutes ago, at 7:51pm precisely, the President of the Republic and the NDC presidential candidate, H.E. John Dramani Mahama, called me on the phone to congratulate me on my victory in the presidential election of 7th December 2016. He wished me the best of luck and God’s blessings, and assured me of his full co-operation in organizing the transition from his administration to mine.