ECOWAS and African Integration

ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, seems to be pushing for the deployment of troops into Guinea-Bissau, which is suffering from the problem that most of its high-ups are in fact drug dealers mainly interested in bumping each other off.

This is interesting – especially given that ECOWAS has already suspended the other Guinea over a coup there. It seems that a number of Africans are trying to rectify the long-running instability of African polities through supra-national organisations – no doubt in the hope that greater integration will also bring greater economic strength.

Murder, Drugs, and Genital Mutilation: Struggles in Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau is one of the world’s smallest and poorest non-island countries, and it’s recently appeared in the news (well, some news, my impression of news is mainly google world) but will no doubt shortly disappear again. I’m not really qualified to comment on it, but it bugs the hell out of me how the western media arbitrarily selects some countries/conflicts/situations and reports them in great detail, while leaving others, more significant in many ways, unmentioned. The most extreme example is probably Palestine vs. Congo, but there are endless others.

Anyway, so I have decided to counter this arbitrariness by arbitrarily selecting some little-attended issues and reporting them with the seriousness they deserve.

For those who need a brief recap of what has happened in Guinea-Bissau, about a week ago soldiers loyal to the president assassinated the head of the army, and then shortly afterwards, soldiers loyal to the head of the army assassinated the president.

Guinea and Female Genital Mutilation

I wrote some posts in the past on the recent change of government in Guinea (West African country, long-time dictator dies, his cronies are then chucked out by a military coup who promise they’re gonna hold elections, honest).

I recently learned something about the history of Guinea. One of the supposed acheivements of Lansana Conté, the late dictator, was that he avoided the outbreak of war in the country, while neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leona did see wars, in which several hundred thousand people died.

However, that’s not quite true. There has been a war in Guinea – one in which a massive 5 million people have been seriously wounded. That war is, of course, the war on women’s bodies. It is estimated that 96% of the female half of the 10-million-strong population of the country have had their genitals mutilated.

Elections not too far away, say Guinea Leaders

The new government of Guinea has received a visit from French politician, the first prominent Westerner to go there (he’s French because Guinea used to be a French colony).

Following this, the Coupers have said they will hold elections within a year, rather than within the 2 years they had been saying – which is still more than the 2 months the constitution prescribes, and the 6 months they promised at first.

Plus, the new head honcho, Camara, has promised not to stand in these elections.

Meanwhile, the heads of government of West Africa, in the economic group ‘ECOWAS’, are meeting to discuss whether to suspend Guinea. They also report having applied pressure for elections in 2009.

These things are promising, though hardly convincing – promising stuff is easy. “Foreign donors” are still unhappy, but I suspect that is largely to do with uncertainty over whether they’ll still get such good deals on Guinea’s bauxite and diamonds.

No huge changes, just keeping up to date.

Possibilities Stay Open in Guinea

The Camara-led government in Guinea has appointed a civilian Prime Minister – Kabine Komara, a banker in the African Export-Import Bank. He apparently was put forward as a suggested Prime Minister by the opposition and unions in last year’s protests. Since, as I mentioned in my last post on the subject, this follows a consultation with opposition and union groups on who to appoint, it seems reasonable to suppose that this guy was their pick.

The new government have done two other things. They’ve forced a lot of older generals into retirement, and they’ve announced an intention to renegotiate all of the state’s mining contracts. Since the previous government structure had endured for about 24 years, and since most of the prominent coup members are quite young, the first of these clearly indicates that part of what’s going on is just a new generation of elites forcing the older generation out – which is what you’d expect in such an ossified political system.

Developments in Guinea

The couper-troupers are starting to grow on me. Having taken power after the last strongman died (previous posts here and here) they have apparently held a meeting asking the country’s unions and opposition groups to suggest a new prime minister.

Temporary Resolution of Guinea Crisis

The official government left over from the death of President Conté has given up and submitted to the new military government. The coup’s leader, Moussa Dadis Camara, seems to have been broadly recognised within the country as the effective ruler.

Illegitimate Coup Against Illegitimate Government in Guinea

Last year, the people of Guinea, led by the labour unions, launched a wave of strikes and protests demanding a new government to replace that of President Conté, who had ruled for 24 years since 1984. And today, new governments are proving to be like buses: after all that waiting, two come along at once.