8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 1/42

Equitorial Ginea

Background:Equatorial Guinea gained independence in 1968 after 190 years of Spanish rule. This tiny country,composed of a mainland portion plus five inhabited islands, is one of the smallest on the African continent.President Teodoro OBIANG NGUEMA MBASOGO has ruled the country since 1979 when he seized power ina coup. Although nominally a constitutional democracy since 1991, the 1996, 2002, and 2009 presidentialelections - as well as the 1999 and 2004 legislative elections - were widely seen as flawed. The presidentexerts almost total control over the political system and has discouraged political opposition. EquatorialGuinea has experienced rapid economic growth due to the discovery of large offshore oil reserves, and inthe last decade has become Sub-Saharan Africa's third largest oil exporter. Despite the country'seconomic windfall from oil production resulting in a massive increase in government revenue in recentyears, there have been few improvements in the population's living standards.Equatorial Guinea History The first inhabitants of the region that is now Equatorial Guinea are believed to have been Pygmies, of whom only isolated pockets remain in northern Rio Muni. Bantu migrations between the 17th and 19thcenturies brought the coastal tribes and later the Fang. Elements of the latter may have generated theBubi, who immigrated to Bioko from Cameroon and Rio Muni in several waves and succeeded formerNeolithic populations. The Annobon population, native to Angola, was introduced by the Portuguese viaSao Tome.The Portuguese explorer, Fernando Po (Fernao do Poo), seeking a route to India, is credited with havingdiscovered the island of Bioko in 1471. He called it Formosa ("pretty flower"), but it quickly took on thename of its European discoverer. The Portuguese retained control until 1778, when the island, adjacent

islets, and commercial rights to the mainland between the Niger and Ogoue Rivers were ceded to Spain inexchange for territory in South America (Treaty of Pardo). From 1827 to 1843, Britain established a baseon the island to combat the slave trade. The Treaty of Paris settled conflicting claims to the mainland in1900, and periodically, the mainland territories were united administratively under Spanish rule.Spain lacked the wealth and the interest to develop an extensive economic infrastructure in what wascommonly known as Spanish Guinea during the first half of this century. However, through a paternalisticsystem, particularly on Bioko Island, Spain developed large cacao plantations for which thousands of Nigerian workers were imported as laborers. At independence in 1968, largely as a result of this system,Equatorial Guinea had one of the highest per capita incomes in Africa. The Spanish also helped EquatorialGuinea achieve one of the continent's highest literacy rates and developed a good network of health carefacilities. In 1959, the Spanish territory of the Gulf of Guinea was established with status similar to theprovinces of metropolitan Spain. As the Spanish Equatorial Region, a governor general ruled it exercisingmilitary and civilian powers. The first local elections were held in 1959, and the first Equatoguineanrepresentatives were seated in the Spanish parliament. Under the Basic Law of December 1963, limitedautonomy was authorized under a joint legislative body for the territory's two provinces. The name of thecountry was changed to Equatorial Guinea. Although Spain's commissioner general had extensive powers,

the Equatorial Guinean General Assembly had considerable initiative in formulating laws and regulations.In March 1968, under pressure from Equatoguinean nationalists and the United Nations, Spain announcedthat it would grant independence to Equatorial Guinea. A constitutional convention produced an electorallaw and draft constitution. In the presence of a UN observer team, a referendum was held on August 11,1968, and 63% of the electorate voted in favor of the constitution, which provided for a government witha General Assembly and a Supreme Court with judges appointed by the president. In September 1968,Francisco Macias Nguema was elected first president of Equatorial Guinea, and independence was grantedin October. In July 1970, Macias created a single-party state and by May 1971, key portions of theconstitution were abrogated. In 1972 Macias took complete control of the government and assumed thetitle of President-for-Life. The Macias regime was characterized by abandonment of all governmentfunctions except internal security, which was accomplished by terror; this led to the death or exile of up toone-third of the country's population. Due to pilferage, ignorance, and neglect, the country'sinfrastructure--electrical, water, road, transportation, and health--fell into ruin. Religion was repressed,and education ceased. The private and public sectors of the economy were devastated. Nigerian contractlaborers on Bioko, estimated to have been 60,000, left en masse in early 1976. The economy collapsed,and skilled citizens and foreigners left.In August 1979, Macias' nephew from Mongomo and former director of the infamous Black Beach prison,Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, led a successful coup d'etat; Macias was arrested, tried, and executed.Obiang assumed the Presidency in October 1979. Obiang initially ruled Equatorial Guinea with theassistance of a Supreme Military Council. A new constitution, drafted in 1982 with the help of the UnitedNations Commission on Human Rights, came into effect after a popular vote on August 15, 1982; theCouncil was abolished, and Obiang remained in the presidency for a 7-year term. He was reelected in1989. In February 1996, he again won reelection with 98% of the vote; several opponents withdrew fromthe race, however, and international observers criticized the election. Subsequently, Obiang named a newcabinet, which included some opposition figures in minor portfolios. Despite the formal ending of one-party rule in 1991, President Obiang and a circle of advisors (drawn largely from his own family and ethnicgroup) maintain real authority. The President names and dismisses cabinet members and judges, ratifies

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 2/42

treaties, leads the armed forces, and has considerable authority in other areas. He appoints the governorsof Equatorial Guinea's seven provinces. The opposition had few electoral successes in the 1990s. By early2000, President Obiang’s PDGE party fully dominated government at all levels. In December 2002,President Obiang won a new seven-year mandate with 97% of the vote. Reportedly, 95% of eligible votersvoted in this election, although many observers noted numerous irregularities.GOVERNMENTCountry name:conventional long form: Republic of Equatorial Guinea

conventional short form: Equatorial Guinealocal long form: Republica de Guinea Ecuatorial/Republique de Guinee equatorialelocal short form: Guinea Ecuatorial/Guinee equatorialeformer: Spanish GuineaGovernment type:republicCapital:name: Malabogeographic coordinates: 3 45 N, 8 47 Etime difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)Constitution:approved by national referendum 17 November 1991; amended January 1995Legal system:partly based on Spanish civil law and tribal custom; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdictionSuffrage:

18 years of age; universalExecutive branch:chief of state: President Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Teodoro OBIANG NGUEMA MBASOGO (since 3 August 1979when he seized power in a military coup)head of government: Prime Minister Ignacio MILAM Tang (since 8 July 2008);cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president (For more information visit the )elections: president elected by popular vote for a seven-year term (no term limits); election last held on29 November 2009 (next to be held in 2016); prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by thepresidentelection results: Teodoro OBIANG NGUEMA MBASOGO reelected president; percent of vote - TeodoroOBIANG NGUEMA MBASOGO 95.8%, Placido Mico ABOGO 3.6%; elections marred by widespread fraudLegislative branch:unicameral House of People's Representatives or Camara de Representantes del Pueblo (100 seats;members directly elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)elections: last held on 4 May 2008 (next to be held in 2012)election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - PDGE 89, EC 10, CPDS 1

note: Parliament has little power since the constitution vests all executive authority in the presidentJudicial branch:Supreme TribunalPolitical parties and leaders:Convergence Party for Social Democracy or CPDS [Placido MICO Abogo]; Democratic Party for EquatorialGuinea or PDGE [Teodoro OBIANG NGUEMA MBASOGO] (ruling party); Electoral Coalition or EC; Party forProgress of Equatorial Guinea or PPGE [Severo MOTO]; Popular Action of Equatorial Guinea or APGE[Avelino MOCACHE]; Popular Union or UPPolitical pressure groups and leaders:ASODEGUE (Madrid-based pressure group for democratic reform); Global Witness (anti-corruption)International organization participation:ACP, AfDB, AU, BDEAC, CEMAC, CPLP (associate), FAO, FZ, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC,IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, ITSO, ITU, MIGA, NAM, OAS (observer), OIF, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD,UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WTO (observer)Flag description:three equal horizontal bands of green (top), white, and red, with a blue isosceles triangle based on the

hoist side and the coat of arms centered in the white band; the coat of arms has six yellow six-pointedstars (representing the mainland and five offshore islands) above a gray shield bearing a silk-cotton treeand below which is a scroll with the motto UNIDAD, PAZ, JUSTICIA (Unity, Peace, Justice); greensymbolizes the jungle and natural resources, blue represents the sea that connects the mainland to theislands, white stands for peace, and red recalls the fight for independence

International Disputes

Disputes - international:in 2002, ICJ ruled on an equidistance settlement of Cameroon-Equatorial Guinea-Nigeria maritimeboundary in the Gulf of Guinea, but a dispute between Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon over an island atthe mouth of the Ntem River and imprecisely defined maritime coordinates in the ICJ decision delay final

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 3/42

delimitation; UN urges Equatorial Guinea and Gabon to resolve the sovereignty dispute over Gabon-occupied Mbane and lesser islands and to create a maritime boundary in the hydrocarbon-rich Corisco BayTrafficking in persons:current situation: Equatorial Guinea is primarily a destination country for children trafficked for thepurpose of forced labor and possibly for the purpose of sexual exploitation; children have been traffickedfrom nearby countries for domestic servitude, market labor, ambulant vending, and possibly sexualexploitation; women may also be trafficked to Equatorial Guinea from Cameroon, Benin, other neighboringcountries, and China for sexual exploitation

tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Equatorial Guinea is on the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provideevidence of increasing efforts to eliminate trafficking, particularly in the areas of prosecuting andconvicting trafficking offenders and failing to formalize mechanisms to provide assistance to victims;although the government made some effort to enforce laws against child labor exploitation, it failed toreport any trafficking prosecutions or convictions in 2007; the government continued to lack shelters orformal procedures for providing care to victims (2008)HISTORY

The first inhabitants of the region that is now Equatorial Guinea are believed to have been Pygmies, of 

whom only isolated pockets remain in northern Rio Muni. Bantu migrations between the 17th and 19th

centuries brought the coastal tribes and later the Fang. Elements of the latter may have generated the

Bubi, who immigrated to Bioko from Cameroon and Rio Muni in several waves and succeeded former

Neolithic populations. The Annobon population, native to Angola, was introduced by the Portuguese via

Sao Tome.

The Portuguese explorer, Fernando Po (Fernao do Poo), seeking a route to India, is credited with havingdiscovered the island of Bioko in 1471. He called it Formosa ("pretty flower"), but it quickly took on the

name of its European discoverer. The Portuguese retained control until 1778, when the island, adjacent

islets, and commercial rights to the mainland between the Niger and Ogoue Rivers were ceded to Spain in

exchange for territory in South America (Treaty of Pardo). From 1827 to 1843, Britain established a base

on the island to combat the slave trade. The Treaty of Paris settled conflicting claims to the mainland in

1900, and periodically, the mainland territories were united administratively under Spanish rule.

Spain lacked the wealth and the interest to develop an extensive economic infrastructure in what was

commonly known as Spanish Guinea during the first half of this century. However, through a paternalistic

system, particularly on Bioko Island, Spain developed large cacao plantations for which thousands of 

Nigerian workers were imported as laborers. At independence in 1968, largely as a result of this system,

Equatorial Guinea had one of the highest per capita incomes in Africa. The Spanish also helped Equatorial

Guinea achieve one of the continent's highest literacy rates and developed a good network of health care

facilities.

In 1959, the Spanish territory of the Gulf of Guinea was established with status similar to the provinces of 

metropolitan Spain. As the Spanish Equatorial Region, a governor general ruled it exercising military and

civilian powers. The first local elections were held in 1959, and the first Equatoguinean representatives

were seated in the Spanish parliament. Under the Basic Law of December 1963, limited autonomy was

authorized under a joint legislative body for the territory's two provinces. The name of the country was

changed to Equatorial Guinea. Although Spain's commissioner general had extensive powers, the

Equatorial Guinean General Assembly had considerable initiative in formulating laws and regulations.

In March 1968, under pressure from Equatoguinean nationalists and the United Nations, Spain announced

that it would grant independence to Equatorial Guinea. A constitutional convention produced an electoral

law and draft constitution. In the presence of a UN observer team, a referendum was held on August 11,

1968, and 63% of the electorate voted in favor of the constitution, which provided for a government witha General Assembly and a Supreme Court with judges appointed by the president.

In September 1968, Francisco Macias Nguema was elected first president of Equatorial Guinea, and

independence was granted in October. In July 1970, Macias created a single-party state and by May 1971,

key portions of the constitution were abrogated. In 1972 Macias took complete control of the government

and assumed the title of President-for-Life. The Macias regime was characterized by abandonment of all

government functions except internal security, which was accomplished by terror; this led to the death or

exile of up to one-third of the country's population. Due to pilferage, ignorance, and neglect, the country's

infrastructure--electrical, water, road, transportation, and health--fell into ruin. Religion was repressed,

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 4/42

and education ceased. The private and public sectors of the economy were devastated. Nigerian contract

laborers on Bioko, estimated to have been 60,000, left en masse in early 1976. The economy collapsed,

and skilled citizens and foreigners left.

In August 1979, Macias' nephew from Mongomo and former director of the infamous Black Beach prison,

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, led a successful coup d'etat; Macias was arrested, tried, and executed.

Obiang assumed the Presidency in October 1979. Obiang initially ruled Equatorial Guinea with the

assistance of a Supreme Military Council. A new constitution, drafted in 1982 with the help of the UnitedNations Commission on Human Rights, came into effect after a popular vote on August 15, 1982; the

Council was abolished, and Obiang remained in the presidency for a 7-year term. He was reelected in

1989. In February 1996, he again won reelection with 98% of the vote; several opponents withdrew from

the race, however, and international observers criticized the election. Subsequently, Obiang named a new

cabinet, which included some opposition figures in minor portfolios.

Despite the formal ending of one-party rule in 1991, President Obiang and a circle of advisors (drawn

largely from his own family and ethnic group) maintain real authority. The President names and dismisses

cabinet members and judges, ratifies treaties, leads the armed forces, and has considerable authority in

other areas. He appoints the governors of Equatorial Guinea's seven provinces. The opposition had few

electoral successes in the 1990s. By early 2000, President Obiang’s PDGE party fully dominated

government at all levels. In December 2002, President Obiang won a new seven-year mandate with 97%

of the vote. Reportedly, 95% of eligible voters voted in this election, although many observers notednumerous irregularities.

Politics of Equatorial Guinea takes place in a framework of a  presidential  republic, whereby thePresident  is both the head of state  and head of government. Executive power is exercised by thegovernment.  Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Chamber of People's Representatives [1]HYPERLINK \l "cite_note-1"[2]Political conditions

In the period following Spain's grant of local  autonomy to Equatorial Guinea in 1963, there was a greatdeal of political party activity. Bubi and Fernandino  parties on the island preferred separation from Río Muni or a loose federation. Ethnically based parties in Río Muni favored independence for a united countrycomprising Bioko and Río Muni, an approach that ultimately won out. (The Movement for the Self-Determination of Bioko Island (MAIB) which advocates independence for the island under Bubi control, isone of the offshoots of the era immediately preceding independence).

Equatorial Guinea became officially independent from Spain on October 12, 1968. Since then, the countryhas had two presidents:  Francisco Macías Nguema, the former mayor of  Mongomo under the Spanishcolonial government, and Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (Macías's nephew), who has ruled since 1979when he staged a military coup d'état and executed Macías.The 1982 constitution of Equatorial Guinea gives Obiang extensive powers, including naming anddismissing members of the cabinet, making laws by decree, dissolving the Chamber of Representatives,negotiating and ratifying treaties and calling legislative elections. Obiang retains his role as commander-in-chief of the armed forces and minister of defense, and he maintains close supervision of the militaryactivity. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President and operates under powers designated by thePresident. The Prime Minister coordinates government activities in areas other than foreign affairs,national defense and security.After the accession of Macías to power, political activity largely ceased in Equatorial Guinea. Oppositionfigures who lived among the exile communities in Spain and elsewhere agitated for reforms; some of them had been employed in the Macías and Obiang governments. After political activities in EquatorialGuinea were legalized in the early 1990s, some opposition leaders returned to test the waters, butrepressive actions have continued sporadically.

With the prodding of the  United Nations, the  United States,  Spain, and other donor countries, thegovernment undertook an electoral census in 1995. Freely contested municipal elections, the country'sfirst, were held in September. Most observers agree that the elections themselves were relatively free andtransparent and that the opposition parties garnered between two-thirds and three-quarters of the totalvote. The government delayed announcement of the results and then claimed a highly dubious 52%victory overall and the capture of 19 of 27 municipal councils. Malabo's council went to the opposition. Inearly January 1996 Obiang called presidential elections to be held in six weeks. The campaign was marredby allegations of fraud, and most of the other candidates withdrew in the final week. Obiang claimed re-election with 98% of the vote. International observers agreed the election was not free or fair. In anattempt to molify his critics, Obiang announced his new cabinet, giving minor portfolios to some peopleidentified by the government as being opposition figures.

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 5/42

Since independence, the two Presidents (Macías and Obiang) have been the dominant political forces inEquatorial Guinea. Since 1979, President Obiang has been constrained only by a need to maintain aconsensus among his advisers and political supporters, most of whom are drawn from the Nguema familyin Mongomo, in the eastern part of Río Muni. The Nguema family is part of the Esangui subclan of theFang. Alleged coup attempts in 1981 and 1983 raised little sympathy among the populace.President Obiang's rule, during which schools were permitted to reopen and primary education expanded,and public utilities and roads restored, compares favorably with Macías' tyranny and terror. It has beencriticized for not implementing genuine democratic reforms. Corruption and a dysfunctional judicial system

disrupt the development of Equatorial Guinea's economy and society. In March 2001 the Presidentappointed a new Prime Minister, Cándido Muatetema Rivas, and replaced several ministers perceived to beespecially corrupt. However, the government budget still does not include all revenues and expenditures.The United Nations Development Programme has proposed a broad governance reform program, but theEquatorial Guinean Government has not moved rapidly to implement it.Although Equatorial Guinea lacks a well-established democratic tradition comparable to the developeddemocracies of the West, it has progressed toward developing a participatory political system out of theanarchic, chaotic, and repressive conditions of the Macias years. In power since 1979, the Obianggovernment has made little progress in stimulating the economy. Extremely serious health and sanitaryconditions persist, and the educational system remains in desperate condition. Although the abuses andatrocities that characterized the Macias years have been eliminated, effective rule of law does not exist.Religious freedom is tolerated.On December 15, 2002, Equatorial Guinea's four main opposition parties withdrew from the country'spresidential election. Obiang won an election widely considered fraudulent by members of the westernpress.

According to a March 2004 BBC profile, politics within the country are currently dominated by tensionsbetween Obiang's son Teodoro (known by the nickname Teodorín, meaning Little Teodoro), and otherclose relatives with powerful positions in the security forces. The tension may be rooted in a power shiftarising from the dramatic increase since 1997 in oil production.A November 2004 report named Mark Thatcher  as a financial backer of a March 2004 attempt to topple Obiang organized by Simon Mann.Various accounts also name the UK's MI6, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, and Spain as having beentacit supporters of the coup attempt.Nevertheless, an Amnesty International report on the ensuing trialhighlights the government's failure to demonstrate in court that the alleged coup attempt had everactually taken place.

Executive branch

The 1982 constitution of Equatorial Guinea gives the President extensive powers, including naming anddismissing members of the cabinet, making laws by decree, dissolving the Chamber of Representatives,negotiating and ratifying treaties and calling legislative elections. The President retains his role ascommander in chief of the armed forces and minister of defense, and he maintains close supervision of the military activity. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President and operates under powers

designated by the President. The Prime Minister coordinates government activities in areas other thanforeign affairs, national defense and security. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo seized power in a militarycoup. He is elected by popular vote to a seven-year term.Another official branch of the government is the State Council. The State Council's main function is toserve as caretaker in case of death or physical incapacity of the President. It comprises the following exofficio members: the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense, the Presidentof the National Assembly and the Chairman of the Social and Economic Council.Legislative branchThe  Chamber of People's Representatives (Cámara de Representantes del Pueblo) has 100 members,elected for a five year term by proportional representation in multi-member constituencies. EquatorialGuinea is a One party dominant state. This means that only one political party, the Democratic Party of  Equatorial Guinea, is in fact allowed to hold effective power. Although minor parties are allowed, they arede facto required to accept the leadership of the dominant party

Judicial branch

The judicial system follows similar administrative levels. At the top are the President and his judicialadvisors (the Supreme Court). In descending rank are the appeals courts, chief judges for the divisions,

and local magistrates. Tribal laws and customs are honored in the formal court system when not in conflict

with national law. The court system, which often uses customary law, is a combination of traditional, civil,

and military justice, and it operates in an ad hoc manner for lack of established procedures and

experienced judicial personnel.

Administrative divisions

Equatorial Guinea is divided in seven provinces (provincias, singular - provincia); Annobon, Bioko Norte,

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 6/42

Bioko Sur, Centro Sur, Kie-Ntem, Litoral, Wele-Nzas. The President appoints the governors of the seven

provinces. Each province is divided administratively into districts and municipalities. The internal

administrative system falls under the Ministry of Territorial Administration; several other ministries are

represented at the provincial and district levels.

Economy

Economy - overview:The discovery and exploitation of large oil reserves have contributed to dramatic economic growth butfluctuating oil prices have produced huge swings in GDP growth in recent years. Forestry, farming, andfishing are also major components of GDP. Subsistence farming is the dominate form of livelihood.Although pre-independence Equatorial Guinea counted on cocoa production for hard currency earnings,the neglect of the rural economy under successive regimes has diminished potential for agriculture-ledgrowth (the government has stated its intention to reinvest some oil revenue into agriculture). A numberof aid programs sponsored by the World Bank and the IMF have been cut off since 1993 because of corruption and mismanagement. Government officials and their family members own most businesses, butcorruption is rampant. Undeveloped natural resources include titanium, iron ore, manganese, uranium,and alluvial gold. Growth remained strong in 2008, led by oil, but dropped in 2009-10, as the price of oilfell.GDP $24.66 billion (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 113$24.18 billion (2009 est.)

$22.96 billion (2008 est.)note: data are in 2010 US dollars

GDP (official exchange rate):$14.55 billion (2009 est.)GDP - real growth rate:2% (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 1525.3% (2009 est.)11.3% (2008 est.)

GDP - per capita:

$37,900 (2010 est.)

country comparison to the world: 29

$38,200 (2009 est.)

$37,200 (2008 est.)note: data are in 2010 US dollars

GDP - composition by sector:agriculture: 2.2%

industry: 93.9%

services: 3.8% (2009 est.)

Unemployment rate:30% (1998 est.)country comparison to the world: 182[see also: Unemployment rate country ranks ]

Inflation rate (consumer prices):8.2% (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 1917.1% (2009 est.)[see also: Inflation rate (consumer prices) country ranks ]Agriculture - products:coffee, cocoa, rice, yams, cassava (tapioca), bananas, palm oil nuts; livestock; timberIndustries:petroleum, fishing, sawmilling, natural gasOil - production:346,000 bbl/day (2009 est.)country comparison to the world: 35

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 7/42

[see also: Oil - production country ranks ]Oil - consumption:1,000 bbl/day (2009 est.)country comparison to the world: 201[see also: Oil - consumption country ranks ]Oil - exports:362,900 bbl/day (2007 est.)country comparison to the world: 35

[see also: Oil - exports country ranks ]Oil - imports:1,114 bbl/day (2007 est.)country comparison to the world: 187[see also: Oil - imports country ranks ]Exports:$10.24 billion (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 85

$8.495 billion (2009 est.)

Exports - commodities:petroleum, methanol, timber, cocoaImports:$5.743 billion (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 108

$5.258 billion (2009 est.)

Imports - commodities:petroleum sector equipment, other equipment

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 8/42

Ethiopia

Background:Unique among African countries, the ancient Ethiopian monarchy maintained its freedom from colonial rulewith the exception of a short-lived Italian occupation from 1936-41. In 1974, a military junta, the Derg,deposed Emperor Haile SELASSIE (who had ruled since 1930) and established a socialist state. Torn bybloody coups, uprisings, wide-scale drought, and massive refugee problems, the regime was finallytoppled in 1991 by a coalition of rebel forces, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front(EPRDF). A constitution was adopted in 1994, and Ethiopia's first multiparty elections were held in 1995. Aborder war with Eritrea late in the 1990s ended with a peace treaty in December 2000. In November2007, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Border Commission remotely demarcated the border by geographicalcoordinates, but final demarcation of the boundary on the ground is currently on hold because of Ethiopianobjections to an international commission's finding requiring it to surrender territory considered sensitiveto Ethiopia.

GeographyEthiopia occupies most of the Horn of Africa. The country covers approximately 1,221,900

square kilometers and shares frontiers with Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, and Djibouti. Its Red Sea coastline is

about 960 kilometers long. The major physiographic features are a massive highland complex of 

mountains and plateaus divided by the Great Rift Valley and surrounded by lowlands along the periphery.

The diversity of the terrain is fundamental to regional variations in climate, natural vegetation, soil

composition, and settlement patterns.

Demography and geography of religious affiliation

Statistical data on religious affiliation, like those on ethnic groups, are unreliable. Most Orthodox

Christians are Amhara and Tigray, two groups that together constitute more than 40 percent of the

population. When members of these two groups are combined with others who have accepted Orthodoxy,

the total Christian population might come to roughly 50 percent of all Ethiopians.

Muslims have been estimated to constitute 40 percent of the population. The largest ethnic groupassociated with Islam is the Somali. Several other much smaller Islamic groups include the Afar, Argobba,Hareri, Saho, and most Tigrespeaking groups in northern Eritrea (see Ethiopia's Peoples, this ch.). Oromoalso constitute a large proportion of the total Muslim population. There are also Muslims in other importantethnic categories, e.g., the Sidamo speakers and the Gurage. In the far north and the east, and to someextent in the south, Islamic peoples surround Orthodox Christians.The only people (variously estimated at 5 to 15 percent of the population) who have had little if anycontact with Orthodox Christianity or Islam live in the far south and the west. Included among adherents

of indigenous religions are most of those speaking Nilo-Saharan languages and many of those speakingOmotic and Cushitic, including sections of the Oromo, such as the pastoral Borana. It is among thesepeoples that the few converts to missionary Christianity-- Protestant and Roman Catholic--are to befound.Disputes - international:Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to abide by the 2002 Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission's (EEBC)delimitation decision, but neither party responded to the revised line detailed in the November 2006 EEBCDemarcation Statement; the undemarcated former British administrative line has little meaning as apolitical separation to rival clans within Ethiopia's Ogaden and southern Somalia's Oromo region; Ethiopianforces invaded southern Somalia and routed Islamist Courts from Mogadishu in January 2007;"Somaliland" secessionists provide port facilities in Berbera and trade ties to landlocked Ethiopia; civilunrest in eastern Sudan has hampered efforts to demarcate the porous boundary with EthiopiaRefugees and internally displaced persons:refugees (country of origin): 66,980 (Sudan); 16,576 (Somalia); 13,078 (Eritrea)IDPs: 200,000 (border war with Eritrea from 1998-2000, ethnic clashes in Gambela, and ongoingEthiopian military counterinsurgency in Somali region; most IDPs are in Tigray and Gambela Provinces)

(2007)Illicit drugs:transit hub for heroin originating in Southwest and Southeast Asia and destined for Europe, as well ascocaine destined for markets in southern Africa; cultivates qat (khat) for local use and regional export,principally to Djibouti and Somalia (legal in all three countries); the lack of a well-developed financialsystem limits the country's utility as a money laundering center

HISTORY

MODERN ETHIOPIA IS THE PRODUCT of many millennia of interaction among peoples in and around the

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 9/42

Ethiopian highlands region. From the earliest times, these groups combined to produce a culture that at

any given time differed markedly from that of surrounding peoples. The evolution of this early "Ethiopian"

culture was driven by a variety of ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups.

One of the most significant influences on the formation and evolution of culture in northern Ethiopia

consisted of migrants from Southwest Arabia. They arrived during the first millennium B.C. and brought

Semitic speech, writing, and a distinctive stone-building tradition to northern Ethiopia. They seem to have

contributed directly to the rise of the Aksumite kingdom, a trading state that prospered in the firstcenturies of the Christian era and that united the shores of the southern Red Sea commercially and at

times politically. It was an Aksumite king who accepted Christianity in the mid-fourth century, a religion

that the Aksumites bequeathed to their successors along with their concept of an empire-state under

centralized rulership.

The establishment of what became the Ethiopian Orthodox Church was critical in molding Ethiopian culture

and identity. The spread of Islam to the coastal areas of the Horn of Africa in the eighth century, however,

led to the isolation of the highlands from European and Middle Eastern centers of Christendom. The

appearance of Islam was partly responsible for what became a long-term rivalry between Christians and

Muslims--a rivalry that exacerbated older tensions between highlanders and lowlanders and

agriculturalists and pastoralists that have persisted to the present day.

Kingship and Orthodoxy, both with their roots in Aksum, became the dominant institutions among the

northern Ethiopians in the post-Aksumite period. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, a dynasty known

as the Zagwe ruled from their capital in the northern highlands. The Zagwe era is one of the most

artistically creative periods in Ethiopian history, involving among other things the carving of a large

number of rock-hewn churches.

The Zagwe heartland was well south of the old Aksumite domain, and the Zagwe interlude was but one

phase in the long-term southward shift of the locus of political power. The successors of the Zagwe after

the mid-thirteenth century--the members of the so-called "Solomonic" dynasty-- located themselves in

the central highlands and involved themselves directly in the affairs of neighboring peoples still farther

south and east.

In these regions, the two dominant peoples of what may be termed the "Christian kingdom of Ethiopia,"

the Amhara of the central highlands and the Tigray of the northern highlands, confronted the growing

power and confidence of Muslim peoples who lived between the eastern edge of the highlands and the Red

Sea and Gulf of Aden. In religious and ethnic conflicts that reached their climax in the midsixteenth

century, the Amhara and Tigray turned back a determined Muslim advance with Portuguese assistance,

but only after the northern highlands had been overrun and devastated. The advent of the Portuguese in

the area marked the end of the long period of isolation from the rest of Christendom that had been near

total, except for contact with the Coptic Church of Egypt. The Portuguese, however, represented a mixed

blessing, for with them they brought their religion--Roman Catholicism. During the early seventeenth

century, Jesuit and kindred orders sought to impose Catholicism on Ethiopia, an effort that led to civil war

and the expulsion of the Catholics from the kingdom.

By the mid-sixteenth century, the Oromo people of southwestern Ethiopia had begun a prolonged series of 

migrations during which they overwhelmed the Muslim states to the east and began settling in the central

highlands. A profound consequence of the far-flung settlement of the Oromo was the fusion of their

culture in some areas with that of the heretofore dominant Amhara and Tigray.

The period of trials that resulted from the Muslim invasions, the Oromo migrations, and the challenge of 

Roman Catholicism had drawn to a close by the middle of the seventeenth century. During the next two-

and-one-half centuries, a reinvigorated Ethiopian state slowly reconsolidated its control over the northern

highlands and eventually resumed expansion to the south, this time into lands occupied by the Oromo.

By the mid-nineteenth century, the Ethiopian state under Emperor Tewodros II (reigned 1855-68) found

itself beset by a number of problems, many of them stemming from the expansion of European influence

in northeastern Africa. Tewodros's successors, Yohannis IV (reigned 1872-89) and Menelik II (reigned

1889-1913), further expanded and consolidated the state, fended off local enemies, and dealt with the

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 10/42

encroachments of European powers, in particular Italy, France, and Britain. Italy posed the greatest

threat, having begun to colonize part of what would become its future colony of Eritrea in the mid-1880s.

To one of Menelik's successors, Haile Selassie I (reigned 1930-74), was left the task of dealing with

resurgent Italian expansionism. The disinclination of the world powers, especially those in the League of 

Nations, to counter Italy's attack on Ethiopia in 1935 was in many ways a harbinger of the indecisiveness

that would lead to World War II. In the early years of the war, Ethiopia was retaken from the Italians by

the British, who continued to dominate the country's external affairs after the war ended in 1945. Arestored Haile Selassie attempted to implement reforms and modernize the state and certain sectors of 

the economy. For the most part, however, mid-twentieth century Ethiopia resembled what could loosely

be termed a "feudal" society.

The later years of Haile Selassie's rule saw a growing insurgency in Eritrea, which had been federated with

and eventually annexed by the Ethiopian government following World War II. This insurgency, along with

other internal pressures, including severe famine, placed strains on Ethiopian society that contributed in

large part to the 1974 military rebellion that ended the Haile Selassie regime and, along with it, more than

2,000 years of imperial rule. The most salient results of the coup d'état were the eventual emergence of 

Lieutenant Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam as head of state and the reorientation of the government and

national economy from capitalism to Marxism.

A series of crises immediately consumed the revolutionary regime. First, domestic political violence

erupted as groups maneuvered to take control of the revolution. Then, the Eritrean insurgency flared at

the same time that an uprising in the neighboring region of Tigray began. In mid-1977 Somalia, intent

upon wresting control of the Ogaden region from Ethiopia and sensing Addis Ababa's distractions, initiated

a war on Ethiopia's eastern frontier. Mengistu, in need of military assistance, turned to the Soviet Union

and its allies, who supplied vast amounts of equipment and thousands of Cuban combat troops, which

enabled Ethiopia to repulse the Somali invasion.

Misery mounted throughout Ethiopia in the 1980s. Recurrent drought and famine, made worse in the

north by virtual civil war, took an enormous human toll, necessitating the infusion of massive amounts of 

international humanitarian aid. The insurgencies in Eritrea, Tigray, and other regions intensified until by

the late 1980s they threatened the stability of the regime. Drought, economic mismanagement, and the

financial burdens of war ravaged the economy. At the same time, democratic reform in Eastern Europe

and the Soviet Union threatened to isolate the revolutionary government politically, militarily, and

economically from its allies.

Politics of Ethiopia takes place in a framework of a federal parliamentary republic, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government.The prime minister ischosen by the parliament. Federal  legislative power is vested in both the government and the twochambers of parliament. The Judiciary is more or less independent of the executive and the legislature.They are governed under the constitution of 1994.There is a bicameral parliament made of the 108-seathouse of federation and the 547-seat House of Peoples Representatives. The house of federation hasmembers chosen by the state asseblies to serve five year terms. The house of people's representativesare elected by direct election, who in turn elect the president for a six year term. There are two self governing administrations, the country's capital Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa.

Political developments

In May 1991, a coalition of rebel forces under the name Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) defeated

the government of Mengistu regime. In July 1991, the TPLF, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), and others– with the general exclusion of  Amharas[citation needed ] – established the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE), which consisted of an 87-member Council of Representatives and guided by a nationalcharter that functioned as a transitional constitution. In June 1992 the OLF withdrew from thegovernment; in March 1993, members of the Southern Ethiopia Peoples' Democratic Coalition left thegovernment.The Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), an ally in the fight against the Mengistu regime, assumedcontrol of Eritrea and established a provisional government. Eritrea achieved full independence on May 24,1993.President Meles Zenawi and members of the TGE pledged to oversee the formation of a multi-partydemocracy. The first election for Ethiopia's 547-member constituent assembly was held in June 1994. This

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 11/42

assembly adopted the constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in December 1994. Theelections for Ethiopia's first popularly-chosen national parliament and regional legislatures were held inMay and June 1995. Most opposition parties chose to boycott these elections. There was a landslidevictory for the  Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). International and non-governmental observers concluded that opposition parties would have been able to participate had theychosen to do so.The Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia was installed in August 1995. The firstPresident was Negasso Gidada. The EPRDF-led government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has promoted

a policy of ethnic federalism, seemingly devolving significant powers to regional, ethnically-basedauthorities but centrally controlled by TPLF cadres. Ethiopia today has nine semi-autonomousadministrative regions that have the power to raise and spend their own revenues. Under the presentgovernment, Ethiopians have little political participation. According to the US Department of State 2009human rights report there are hundreds of political prisoners in Ethiopia. Among them is the leader of thelargest opposition party Birtukan Midekssa. Fundamental freedoms, including freedom of the press, are, inpractice, circumscribed.Zenawi's government was re-elected in 2000 in Ethiopia's first multi-party elections. The incumbentPresident is Girma Wolde-Giorgis.Since 1991, Ethiopia has established warm relations with the  United States and western Europe and hassought substantial economic aid from Western countries and World Bank. In 2004, the government begana resettlement initiative to move more than two million people away from the arid highlands of the east,proposing that these resettlements would reduce food shortages.[1]Ethiopia held another general election in May 2005, which drew a record number of voters, with 90% of the electorate turning out to cast their vote. While the election was deemed by the European Union

election observer team to fall short of international standards for fair and free elections, other teams drewdifferent conclusions. The African Union report on September 14 commended "the Ethiopian people'sdisplay of genuine commitment to democratic ideals [2] and on September 15 the US Carter Centerconcluded that "the majority of the constituency results based on the May 15 polling and tabulation arecredible and reflect competitive conditions".[2] The US Department of State said on September 16, "theseelections stand out as a milestone in creating a new, more competitive multi-party political system in oneof Africa's largest and most important countries."[citation needed ] Even the EU preliminary statement of 2005 also said "...the polling processes were generally positive. The overall assessment of the process hasbeen rated as good in 64% of the cases, and very good in 24%".[2]The opposition complained that the ruling EPRDF engaged in widespread vote rigging and intimidation,alleging fraud in 299 constituencies.[citation needed ] All allegations were investigated by the NationalElectoral Board of Ethiopia in cooperation with election monitors, a process which delayed the release of the final results. In June 2005, with the results of the election still unclear, a group of university studentsprotested these alleged discrepancies, encouraged by supporters of the Coalition for Unity oppositionparty, despite a ban on protests imposed by the government. On June 8, 26 people were killed in Addis Ababa as a result of rioting, which led to the arrest of hundreds of protesters.[ citation needed ] On

September 5, 2005, the National Elections Board of Ethiopia released the final election results, whichconfirmed that the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front retained its control of thegovernment, but showed that opposition parties had increased their share of parliamentary seats, from 12to 176. The Coalition for Unity and Democracy won all the seats in Addis Ababa, both for the Parliamentand the City Council.Street protests broke out again when the opposition called for a general strike and boycotted the newParliament, refusing to accept the results of the election.[citation needed ] The police forces once againattempted to contain the protests, and this time, 42 people were killed in Addis Ababa, including sevenpolicemen, and another of whom later died because of fatal injuries caused by a hand grenade detonation.Thousands were arrested, and were taken to various detention centers across the country.[citation needed ] By February 2006, six hundred remained in custody, facing trial in March.[citation needed ]On 14 November, the Ethiopian Parliament passed a resolution to establish a neutral commission toinvestigate the incidents of June 8 and November 1 and 2.[citation needed ] In February 2006, UK PrimeMinister Blair, acknowledging that the EPRDF has won the election, said he wanted to see Ethiopia resolveits internal problems and continue on a democratic path.[3]Current politics

Since 1991, Ethiopia has established warm relations with the  United States and western Europe and hassought substantial economic aid from Western countries and the World Bank  In 2004, the governmentbegan a drive to move more than two million people away from the arid highlands of the east, proposingthat these resettlements would reduce food shortages.Ethiopia held another general election in May 2005, which drew a record number of voters, with 90% of the electorate turning out to cast their vote. While the European Union election observer team of  Ana Maria Gomes deemed the elections to have fallen short of international standards for fair and freeelections, other teams drew totally different conclusions. The African Union report on September 14commended "the Ethiopian people's display of genuine commitment to democratic ideals",[citation needed ] and on September 15 the US Carter Center  concluded that "the majority of the constituencyresults based on the May 15 polling and tabulation are credible and reflect competitive conditions".

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 12/42

However, it was noted that foreign election observers (including Gomes) were not given the authorityand/or documentations in order to travel and monitor rural areas of the country. Even worse, these delaysoccurred a couple of days before the election day and some have indicated the governments role in thesedelays, but couldn't provide substantial proof for their accusationsStill, the US Department of State saidon September 16, "these elections stand out as a milestone in creating a new, more competitive multi-party political system in one of Africa's largest and most important countriesEven the EU preliminarystatement of 2005 said that "...the polling processes were generally positive. The overall assessment of the process has been rated as good in 64% of the cases, and very good in 24%."The opposition

complained that the ruling EPRDF engaged in widespread vote rigging and intimidation, alleging fraud in299 constituenciesThe ruling party complained that the main opposition party CUD's AEUP sub party hadengaged in intimidationAll allegations were investigated by the  National Electoral Board of Ethiopia incooperation with election monitors, a process which delayed the release of the final results. In June 2005,with the results of the election still unclear, a group of opposition supporters protested these allegeddiscrepancies despite a one month ban on protests imposed by the government. The government said thatif there are no protests for one month, it would ease the high political tension in Ethiopia.Street protestsbroke out again later in the year when the CUD opposition called for a general strike and boycotted thenew Parliament, refusing to accept the results of the election. The police forces once again attempted tocontain the protests and this time forty-two people were killed in Addis Ababa, including seven policemen,and another of whom later died because of fatal injuries caused by a hand grenade detonation. Thousandswere arrested, and were taken to various detention centers across the country. On 14 November, theEthiopian Parliament passed a resolution to establish a neutral commission to investigate the incidents of June 8 and November 1 and 2. On September 5, 2005, the National Elections Board of Ethiopia releasedthe final election results in which confirmed that the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic

Front retained its control of the government, but showed that opposition parties had increased their shareof parliamentary seats, from 12 to 176. The Coalition for Unity and Democracy won all but one of theseats in Addis Ababa, both for the Parliament and the City Council. Now half of CUD, including Medhinhave joined the parliament.By February 2006, hundreds remained in custody, facing trial in March.] About 119 people are currentlyfacing trial, including journalists for defamation and opposition party leaders for treason. Human rightsorganisations have raised concerns over the well-being of some of these prisoners. However 8,000prisoners have already been freed. Concerns about the implications of these trials for the freedom of thepress have also been raised.

Executive branch

Main office holdersPresident Girma Wolde-Giyorgis Lucha --Independent 8 --October 2001Prime Minister Meles Zenawi EPRDF August 1995

The president is elected by the House of People's Representatives for a six-year term. The prime ministeris designated by the party in power following legislative elections. The Council of Ministers, according tothe 1995 constitution, is comprised by the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, various Ministersand other members as determined and approved by the House of People's Representatives. At the currenttime, these Ministers include the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the  Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the  Ministry of Water Resources, the  Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of the Environment.

Legislative branch

The  Federal Parliamentary Assembly has two chambers: the  Council of People's Representatives (Yehizbtewekayoch Mekir Bet ) with 547 members, elected for five-year terms in single-seatconstituencies; and the  Council of the Federation (Yefedereshn Mekir Bet ) with 110 members, one foreach nationality, and one additional representative for each one million of its population, designated bythe regional councils, which may elect them themselves or through popular elections.Many opposition parties are represented in the Ethiopia Parliament where representatives from Oromia

state hold the most positions and representatives from the Amhara State hold the second most position,in correlation with the population order of the corresponding states.[5] Various opposition parties—including the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces, United Ethiopian Democratic Party-Medhin Party, Somali People's Democratic Party, EDL, Gambela People's Democratic Movement,  All Ethiopian Unity Party,Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement, Oromo People's Congress, and the Benishangul-Gumuz People's Democratic Unity Front -- hold many positions in the parliament.[5]

Political parties and elections

For other political parties see  List of political parties in Ethiopia. An overview on elections and electionresults is included in Elections in Ethiopia.d Summary of the 15 May 2005 Ethiopian House of People's Representatives election results

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 13/42

Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic FrontTigrayan People's Liberation FrontOromo Peoples' Democratic OrganizationAmhara National Democratic MovementSouthern Ethiopian People's Democratic MovementCoalition for Unity and DemocracyEthiopian Democratic LeagueAll Ethiopian Unity Party

United Ethiopian Democratic Party-Medhin PartyRainbow Ethiopia: Movement for Democracy and Social JusticeUnited Ethiopian Democratic ForcesOromo National CongressEthiopian Social Democratic Federal PartySome other political pressure groups include the Council of Alternative Forces for Peace and Democracy inEthiopia (CAFPDE)  Beyene Petros and the Southern Ethiopia People's Democratic Coalition (SEPDC)[Beyene Petros].The coalition of  opposition parties and some individuals that was established in 2009 to oust at thegeneral election in 2010 the regime of the TPLF, Meles Zenawi’s party that has been in power since 1991,published a 65-page manifesto in Addis Ababa on October 10, 2009.Some of the eight member parties of this Ethiopian Forum for Democratic Dialogue (FDD or Medrek inAmharic) include the Oromo Federalist Congress (organized by the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement and the  Oromo People’s Congress), the Arena Tigray (organized by former members of theruling party TPLF), the Unity for Democracy and Justice  (UDJ, whose leader was imprisoned), and the

Coalition of Somali Democratic Forces.With Ethiopia’s national election in May 2010 approaching, some opposition groups begun to hint aboycott, accusing the government of stepping up harassment against them.Despite growing claims of "harassment" and "undemocratic actions" perpetrated by the ruling party, theForum for Democratic Dialogue (FDD), Ethiopia’s biggest alliance of opposition political parties declared inOctober 2009 that it will contest in the scheduled election.Gebru Asrat, a former ally of PM Meles Zenawi, said that his party’s primary efforts were "to engage innegotiation with the government on key election issues" ahead of the election, but he added that thegovernment was reluctant.FDD insists to engage in a pre-election negotiation on 10 key subjects, among which the issues of accessto the media for campaigning, the supremacy of law, the free access of international observers, theestablishment of an independent electoral board and a stop to harassment and pressure on oppositionmembers.

Judicial branch

The president and vice president of the Federal Supreme Court are recommended by the prime minister

and appointed by the House of People's Representatives; for other federal judges, the prime ministersubmits candidates selected by the Federal Judicial Administrative Council to the House of People'sRepresentatives for appointment. In May 2007, the Ethiopian Federal courts received “Technology inGovernment in Africa” (TIGA) Awards that is provided by Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and theCanadian e-Policy Resource Center (CePRC). .[6] The courts received the awards for their provision of efficient service for the public through the use of modern Information Communication Technologies(ICT).During the awarding ceremony held here, TIGA Executive Director Eric Davis said ICT plays a majorrole in achieving the development goals Africa has set to accomplish. The award is given in four categoriesand the Addis Ababa Revenue Agency and the Ethiopian Federal courts were given special awards for theiractivities on integrated revenue collection and courts reform program respectively.[6]Administrative divisionsEthiopia is divided into 9 ethnically-based administrative regions (astedaderakababiwach, singular — astedader akabibi) and 2 chartered cities*: Addis Ababa*; Afar; Amhara,Benishangul/Gumaz; Dire Dawa*; Gambela; Harar; Oromia; Somali; Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region; TigrayInternational organization participation ACP, AfDB, ECA, FAO, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM,IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IGAD, ILO,  IMF,  IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC,  IOM (observer), ISO,  ITU, NAM,OAU, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNU, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToOEconomy - overview:Ethiopia's poverty-stricken economy is based on agriculture, accounting for almost 45% of GDP, and 85%of total employment. The agricultural sector suffers from frequent drought and poor cultivation practices.Coffee is critical to the Ethiopian economy with exports of some $350 million in 2006, but historically lowprices have seen many farmers switching to qat to supplement income. Under Ethiopia's constitution, thestate owns all land and provides long-term leases to the tenants; the system continues to hamper growthin the industrial sector as entrepreneurs are unable to use land as collateral for loans. In November 2001,Ethiopia qualified for debt relief from the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, and inDecember 2005 the IMF forgave Ethiopia's debt. The global economic downturn led to balance of payments pressures, partially alleviated by recent emergency funding from the IMF. While GDP growth

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 14/42

has remained high, per capita inome is among the lowest in the world.GDP (purchasing power parity):$84.02 billion (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 77$78.52 billion (2009 est.)$72.24 billion (2008 est.)note: data are in 2010 US dollars

GDP (official exchange rate):$30.94 billion (2009 est.)GDP - real growth rate:7% (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 208.7% (2009 est.)11.6% (2008 est.)[see also: GDP - real growth rate country ranks ]GDP - per capita:$1,000 (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 215$900 (2009 est.)$900 (2008 est.)note: data are in 2010 US dollars[see also: GDP - per capita country ranks ]

GDP - composition by sector:agriculture: 42.9%[see also:  GDP - composition by sector - agriculture country ranks ]industry: 13.7%[see also: GDP - composition by sector - industry country ranks  ]services: 43.4% (2009 est.)[see also: GDP - composition by sector - services country ranks ]Labor force:37.9 million (2007)country comparison to the world: 17[see also: Labor force country ranks ]Labor force - by occupation:agriculture: 85%[see also: Labor force - by occupation - agriculture country ranks  ]industry: 5%[see also: Labor force - by occupation - industry country ranks ]services: 10% (2009 est.)[see also: Labor force - by occupation - services country ranks ]Unemployment rate:NA%[see also: Unemployment rate country ranks ]Population below poverty line:

38.7% (FY05/06 est.)[see also: Population below poverty line country ranks ]Household income or consumption by percentage share:lowest 10%: 4.1%[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - lowest 10% country ranks  ]highest 10%: 25.6% (2005)[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - highest 10% country ranks ]Distribution of family income - Gini index:30 (2000)

country comparison to the world: 11240 (1995)[see also: Distribution of family income - Gini index country ranks ]Investment (gross fixed):25.2% of GDP (2009 est.)country comparison to the world: 41[see also: Investment (gross fixed) country ranks ]Budget:revenues: $4.36 billion[see also:  Budget - revenues country ranks ]expenditures: $5.098 billion (2009 est.)

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 15/42

[see also: Budget - expenditures country ranks ]Public debt:39.3% of GDP (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 7535.4% of GDP (2009 est.)[see also: Public debt country ranks ]Inflation rate (consumer prices):7% (2010 est.)

country comparison to the world: 1788.5% (2009 est.)[see also: Inflation rate (consumer prices) country ranks ]Central bank discount rate:NA%[see also: Central bank discount rate country ranks ]Commercial bank prime lending rate:8% (31 December 2008)country comparison to the world: 1307% (31 December 2006)[see also: Commercial bank prime lending rate country ranks ]Stock of narrow money:

$4.764 billion (31 December 2010 est)$4.972 billion (31 December 2009 est)[see also: Stock of narrow money country ranks ]

Stock of broad money:$8.248 billion (31 December 2010 est.)$8.641 billion (31 December 2009 est.)[see also: Stock of broad money country ranks ]Stock of domestic credit:$8.661 billion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 97$9.292 billion (31 December 2009 est.)[see also: Stock of domestic credit country ranks ]Agriculture - products:cereals, pulses, coffee, oilseed, cotton, sugarcane, potatoes, qat, cut flowers; hides, cattle, sheep, goats;fishIndustries:food processing, beverages, textiles, leather, chemicals, metals processing, cementIndustrial production growth rate:9.5% (2009 est.)

country comparison to the world: 18

Oil - consumption:38,000 bbl/day (2009 est.)country comparison to the world: 107

Oil - exports:0 bbl/day (2007 est.)country comparison to the world: 198

Oil - imports:33,590 bbl/day (2007 est.)country comparison to the world: 97[see also: Oil - imports country ranks ]

Oil - proved reserves:430,000 bbl (1 January 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 98[see also: Oil - proved reserves country ranks ][see also: Natural gas - exports country ranks ]

Natural gas - proved reserves:24.92 billion cu m (1 January 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 74[see also: Natural gas - proved reserves country ranks ]Current account balance:-$2.232 billion (2010 est.)

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 16/42

country comparison to the world: 158-$1.996 billion (2009 est.)[see also: Current account balance country ranks ]Exports:$1.729 billion (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 135$1.636 billion (2009 est.)[see also: Exports country ranks ]

Exports - commodities:coffee, qat, gold, leather products, live animals, oilseedsImports:$7.517 billion (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 102$6.946 billion (2009 est.)[see also: Imports country ranks ]Imports - commodities:food and live animals, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, machinery, motor vehicles, cereals,textilesImports - partners:China 14.73%, Saudi Arabia 8.41%, India 7.65%, US 4.3% (2009)Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:$1.88 billion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 101

$1.781 billion (31 December 2009 est.)[see also: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold country ranks ]Debt - external:$4.289 billion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 113$3.621 billion (31 December 2009 est.)[see also: Debt - external country ranks ]

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 17/42

KENYA

Background:Founding president and liberation struggle icon Jomo KENYATTA led Kenya from independence in 1963until his death in 1978, when President Daniel Toroitich arap MOI took power in a constitutional

succession. The country was a de facto one-party state from 1969 until 1982 when the ruling KenyaAfrican National Union (KANU) made itself the sole legal party in Kenya. MOI acceded to internal andexternal pressure for political liberalization in late 1991. The ethnically fractured opposition failed todislodge KANU from power in elections in 1992 and 1997, which were marred by violence and fraud, butwere viewed as having generally reflected the will of the Kenyan people. President MOI stepped down inDecember 2002 following fair and peaceful elections. Mwai KIBAKI, running as the candidate of themultiethnic, united opposition group, the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), defeated KANU candidateUhuru KENYATTA and assumed the presidency following a campaign centered on an anticorruptionplatform. KIBAKI's NARC coalition splintered in 2005 over the constitutional review process. Governmentdefectors joined with KANU to form a new opposition coalition, the Orange Democratic Movement, whichdefeated the government's draft constitution in a popular referendum in November 2005. KIBAKI'sreelection in December 2007 brought charges of vote rigging from ODM candidate Raila ODINGA andunleashed two months of violence in which as many as 1,500 people died. UN-sponsored talks in lateFebruary produced a powersharing accord bringing ODINGA into the government in the restored positionof prime minister.Geography

Location:Eastern Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean, between Somalia and TanzaniaArea - comparative:slightly more than twice the size of NevadaLand boundaries:total: 3,477 km[see also: Land boundaries - total country ranks ]border countries: Ethiopia 861 km, Somalia 682 km, Sudan 232 km, Tanzania 769 km, Uganda 933 km ]Natural resources:limestone, soda ash, salt, gemstones, fluorspar, zinc, diatomite, gypsum, wildlife, hydropowerFreshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):

total: 1.58 cu km/yr (30%/6%/64%)[see also: Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural) - total country ranks  ]

  per capita: 46 cu m/yr (2000)[see also: Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural) - per capita country ranks ]Natural hazards:

recurring drought; flooding during rainy seasonsvolcanism: Kenya experiences limited volcanic activity; the Barrier (elev. 1,032 m, 3,385 ft) last eruptedin 1921; South Island is the only other historically active volcanoEnvironment - current issues:water pollution from urban and industrial wastes; degradation of water quality from increased use of pesticides and fertilizers; water hyacinth infestation in Lake Victoria; deforestation; soil erosion;desertification; poachingEnvironment - international agreements:

 party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, EndangeredSpecies, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone LayerProtection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whalingsigned, but not ratified: none of the selected agreementsGeography - note:the Kenyan Highlands comprise one of the most successful agricultural production regions in Africa;glaciers are found on Mount Kenya, Africa's second highest peak; unique physiography supports abundant

and varied wildlife of scientific and economic value

HISTORY

Fossils found in East Africa suggest that protohumans roamed the area more than 20 million years ago.

Recent finds near Kenya's Lake Turkana indicate that hominids lived in the area 2.6 million years ago.

Cushitic-speaking people from what is now Sudan and Ethiopia moved into the area that is now Kenya

beginning around 2000 BC. Arab traders began frequenting the Kenya coast around the first century AD.

Kenya's proximity to the Arabian Peninsula invited colonization, and Arab and Persian settlements

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 18/42

sprouted along the coast by the eighth century. During the first millennium AD, Nilotic and Bantu peoples

moved into the region, and the latter now comprise two thirds of Kenya's population. The Swahili

language, a Bantu language with significant Arabic vocabulary, developed as a trade language for the

region.

Arab dominance on the coast was interrupted for about 150 years following the arrival of the Portuguese

in 1498. British exploration of East Africa in the mid-1800s eventually led to the establishment of Britain's

East African Protectorate in 1895. The Protectorate promoted settlement of the fertile central highlands byEuropeans, dispossessing the Kikuyu and others of their land. Some fertile and well watered parts of the

Rift Valley inhabited by the Maasai and the western highlands inhabited by the Kalenjin were also handed

over to European settlers. For other Kenyan communities, the British presence was slight, especially in the

arid northern half of the country. The settlers were allowed a voice in government even before Kenya was

officially made a British colony in 1920, but Africans were prohibited from direct political participation until

1944 when a few appointed (but not elected) African representatives were permitted to sit in the

legislature.

From 1952 to 1959, Kenya was under a state of emergency arising from the "Mau Mau" insurgency

against British colonial rule in general and its land policies in particular. This rebellion took place almost

exclusively in the highlands of central Kenya among the Kikuyu people. Tens of thousands of Kikuyu died

in the fighting or in the detention camps and restricted villages. British losses were about 650. During this

period, African participation in the political process increased rapidly.

The first direct elections for Africans to the Legislative Council took place in 1957. Kenya became

independent on December 12, 1963, and the next year joined the Commonwealth. Jomo Kenyatta, an

ethnic Kikuyu and head of the Kenya African National Union (KANU), became Kenya's first President. The

minority party, Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU), representing a coalition of small ethnic groups

that had feared dominance by larger ones, dissolved itself in 1964 and joined KANU.

A small but significant leftist opposition party, the Kenya People's Union (KPU), was formed in 1966, led

by Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, a former Vice President and Luo elder. The KPU was banned shortly

thereafter, however, and its leader detained. KANU became Kenya's sole political party. At Kenyatta's

death in August 1978, Vice President Daniel arap Moi, a Kalenjin from Rift Valley province, became interim

President. By October of that year, Moi became President formally after he was elected head of KANU and

designated its sole nominee for the presidential election.

In June 1982, the National Assembly amended the constitution, making Kenya officially a one-party state.

Two months later, young military officers in league with some opposition elements attempted to

overthrow the government in a violent but ultimately unsuccessful coup. In response to street protests

and donor pressure, Parliament repealed the one-party section of the constitution in December 1991. In

1992, independent Kenya's first multiparty elections were held. Divisions in the opposition contributed to

Moi's retention of the presidency in 1992 and again in the 1997 election. Following the 1997 election

Kenya experienced its first coalition government as KANU was forced to cobble together a majority by

bringing into government a few minor parties.

In October 2002, a coalition of opposition parties joined forces with a faction which broke away from

KANU to form the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC). In December 2002, the NARC candidate, Mwai

Kibaki, was elected the country's third President. President Kibaki received 62% of the vote, and NARC

also won 59% of the parliamentary seats. Kibaki, a Kikuyu from Central province, had served as a

Member of Parliament since Kenya's independence in 1963. He served in senior posts in both the Kenyatta

and Moi governments, including Vice President and Finance Minister. In 2003, internal conflicts disrupted

the NARC government, culminating in its defeat in 2005 in a referendum over government's draft

constitution. The new opposition became the Orange Democratic Movement of Kenya (ODM-K)--an

alliance of former NARC members and KANU, among others. In early 2006, pro-government supporters

formed the NARC-Kenya party to rival the ODM-K.

POLITICS

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 19/42

The Politics of Kenya take place in a framework of a presidential  representative democratic  republic,whereby the  President of Kenya  is both head of state and  head of government, and of a multi-party system. Recent constitutional amendments have enabled sharing of executive powers between thePresident  and a  Prime Minister. Executive power is exercised by the government, with powers sharedbetween the President and a Prime Minister, who coordinates and supervises the cabinet.  Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly. The judiciary  is independent of theexecutive and the legislature.A constitutional referendum was held in  Kenya on August 4, 2010[1] on whether to adopt the new 

proposed constitution passed by parliament on April 1, 2010. It was promulgated on 27 August 2010 at aeuphoric ceremony in Nairobi's Uhuru Park, accompanied by a 21-gun salute. The event was graced by anumber of African leaders and praised by the international community. On that day the new constitution,heralding the Second Republic, came into force.

Executive branch

Main office holders

President----Mwai KibakiPNU29 December 2007

Prime Minister----Raila OdingaODM17 April 2008

Vice President ---Kalonzo MusyokaODM-K18 January 2008

The president is elected for a five year term by the people. The constitution of Kenya has threerequirements for any candidate to be declared winner:

• to get the largest number of votes among all contestants nationwide in absolute terms

• to win at least 25% of the vote in at least five of Kenya's eight provinces

• to be elected member of parliament in a constituency.

If none of the candidates fulfills all three requirements there is to be a runoff between the two contenders

with the highest number of votes.

The president appoints the vice president and cabinet members from among those elected to the NationalAssembly. Under the power sharing agreement signed by President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement, the post of  prime minister was constitutionally created andministers appointed to reflect political parties' relative strength in the National Assembly. The Raila Odinga 

led party, the Orange Democratic Movement is currently the largest party in Kenya's parliament. Underthe power-sharing agreement, each of the two major parties also nominated a deputy prime minister.[2]

Legislative branch

The unicameral National Assembly or Bunge has 224 members, 210 members elected for a five year termin single-seat  constituencies, 12 members nominated by political parties in proportion to their share of seats won in the single-member constituencies and 2 ex officio members: the attorney general and thespeaker.

Kenyan Parliament Building

Judicial branch

The judiciary is headed by a High Court, consisting of a chief justice and High Court judges and judges of 

Kenya's Court of Appeal (no associate judges), all appointed by the president.

Administrative divisions

Local administration is divided among 69 rural districts, each headed by a presidentially appointedcommissioner. The districts are joined to form seven rural provinces. The government supervisesadministration of districts and provinces. The administrative divisions are 8 provinces: Central,  Coast,Eastern,  Nairobi, North Eastern,  Nyanza, Rift Valley, Western. The court of laws also fall under thisarm/branch of government.

Political conditions

Since independence, Kenya has maintained remarkable stability despite changes in its political system andcrises in neighboring countries. Particularly since the re-emergence of multiparty democracy, Kenyans

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 20/42

have enjoyed an increased degree of freedom.A cross-party parliamentary reform initiative in the fall of 1997 revised some oppressive laws inheritedfrom the colonial era that had been used to limit freedom of speech and assembly. This improved publicfreedoms and contributed to generally credible national elections in December 1997.In December 2002, Kenya held democratic  and open elections and elected Mwai Kibaki as their newpresident. The elections, which were judged free and fair by local and international observers, marked animportant turning point in Kenya's democratic evolution. President Kibaki campaigned on a policy of generating economic growth, improving education, combating corruption, and implementing a new

constitution, the draft of which was produced by Professor Ghai under the Moi regime. Considerablesuccess has been achieved in the first two policy areas, the constitutional process has become mired (seebelow) and the fight against corruption has been a disaster. There has been a major scandal ( Anglo-Leasing), which the government has failed to investigate, John Githongo the Anti-Corruption head hasresigned in protest and donor nations, in particular the British, have made public criticisms of the lack of progress.Following disagreements between the partners in the current government coalition, constitutional reformhas proceeded slower than anticipated. The NAK faction (allied to president Kibaki) favours a centralizedpresidential system, while the LDP faction - which has fewer parliamentary seats in the coalition than NAK- demands a federal, parliamentary system.Prior to the 2002 election, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)was agreed between NAK and LDP,which laid the basis for the two groups to fight the election under the NARC (Rainbow Alliance) banner.The MoU agreed that a new constitution would be established shortly after the election, which provided forthe new role of a strong Prime Minister while weakening the role of President. Raila Odinga, the leader of LDP, maintains aspirations to become Prime Minister. However, the proposed new constitution has been

modified by the government from what was written by Professor Ghai and amended by the Bomascommittee. This maintains a strong President, who controls a weaker Prime Minister. This has led to a splitbetween NAK and LDP, with the former campaigning for a 'Yes' vote in the forthcoming referendum on theconstitution and the latter a 'No'. Also supporting a 'No' vote is the majority of Uhuru Kenyatta's KANUparty, the sole party of government from independence to 2002. It is possible that the political alignmentover the referendum could signal a wider re-alignment before the 2007 elections.

Internal wrangling within the governing coalition has also negatively affected other crucial areas of 

governance, notably the planned large-scale privatization of government-owned enterprises.

The 2007 presidential elections were largely believed to have been flawed with international observersstating that they did not meet regional or international standards. Most observers suggest that the tallyingprocess for the presidential results were rigged to the advantage of the incumbent president Mwai Kibaki,despite overwhelming indications that his rival and current Prime Minister of Kenya, Raila Odinga, won theelection. In July 2008, exit polls commissioned by the US government were released, revealing thatOdinga had won the election by a comfortable margin of 6%, well outside of the poll's 1.3% margin of error.[3]

There was significant and widespread violence in the country - 2007–2008 Kenyan crisis - following theunprecedented announcement of Kibaki as the winner of the 2007 presidential elections. The violenceleading to the deaths of almost 1000 and the displacement of almost 600,000 and some researchers noteit allowed the violent settlement of land disputes between ethnic groups over controversial concepts of 'ancestral homelands'.[4]  A diplomatic solution was achieved, as the two rivals were later united in agrand coalition government following international mediation, led by former UN Secretary-General KofiAnnan, under a power-sharing National Accord on Reconciliation Act, entrenched in the constitution.Following the agreement, power was shared between President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister,  Raila Odinga.Several steps were recommended to ensure stability and peace for the Nation during the negotiations thatled to the formation of the Coalition government.One of these reforms is the famous Agenda 4 that dealswith reforms in various sectors. A new constitution has been identified as a key area in fulfilling Agenda 4.A draft constitution has been published and Kenyans will vote on August 4, 2010 for or against theproposed constitution

Elections in Kenya

Elections in Kenya in recent years have been cause for violence and fragmentation, such as during thepresidential elections of 2007. Though a multiparty democracy since 1992 and holding elections since1962, the country has serious institutional problems which make it hard for elections to be completedsmoothly.[1]

Structure

Kenya elects on national level a head of state - the president - and a legislature. The president is electedfor a five-year term by the people. The  National Assembly or Bunge has 224 members, 210 memberselected for a five-year term in single-seat constituencies, 12 members appointed and 2 ex officio

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 21/42

members.

History

After negotiation with the British since 1957, the British allowed "one person, one vote" elections in 1963.[1] The first elections went smootly, electing Jomo Kenyatta as the first president of Kenya in 1964.[1] However, under his leadership, competitive elections slowly disappeared as various political parties either

 joined or were suppressed by the Kenya African National Union (KANU).[1] This consolidated single-partysystem would last even after Kenyatta died in 1978, eventually reaffirmed in an amendment to theconstitution in 1982 which made Kenya a one party system.After major political demonstrations in 1990,KANU bowed to public pressure and began reviewing the electoral system.[1] In 1992 the amendmentthat had mainted a single party system was revoked, returning Kenya to multi-party elections.[1] Theconstitutional shift did not immediately manifest itself in well run multiparty elections.[1] However, by2002 the international community thought the electoral system generally free, as KANU peacablytransferred power to the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC).Violence has been known to trouble elections,most recently in the December 2007 presidential elections, where an estimated 1000 people were killedand 600,000 displaced.Economy - overview:Although the regional hub for trade and finance in East Africa, Kenya has been hampered by corruptionand by reliance upon several primary goods whose prices have remained low. In 1997, the IMF suspendedKenya's Enhanced Structural Adjustment Program due to the government's failure to maintain reformsand curb corruption. The IMF, which had resumed loans in 2000 to help Kenya through a drought, againhalted lending in 2001 when the government failed to institute several anticorruption measures. In thekey December 2002 elections, Daniel Arap MOI's 24-year-old reign ended, and a new opposition

government took on the formidable economic problems facing the nation. After some early progress inrooting out corruption and encouraging donor support, the KIBAKI government was rocked by high-levelgraft scandals in 2005 and 2006. In 2006, the World Bank and IMF delayed loans pending action by thegovernment on corruption. The international financial institutions and donors have since resumed lending,despite little action on the government's part to deal with corruption. Post-election violence in early 2008,coupled with the effects of the global financial crisis on remittance and exports, reduced GDP growth to1.7 in 2008, but the economy rebounded in 2009-10.GDP (purchasing power parity):$65.95 billion (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 82

$63.42 billion (2009 est.)

$61.78 billion (2008 est.)

note: data are in 2010 US dollars

[see also: GDP (purchasing power parity) country ranks ]

GDP (official exchange rate):

$32.42 billion (2009 est.)[see also: GDP (official exchange rate) country ranks ]GDP - real growth rate:4% (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 812.6% (2009 est.)1.7% (2008 est.)[see also: GDP - real growth rate country ranks ]GDP - per capita:$1,600 (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 201$1,600 (2009 est.)$1,600 (2008 est.)note: data are in 2010 US dollars

GDP - composition by sector:agriculture: 22%industry: 16%services: 62% (2009 est.)Labor force:17.94 million (2009 est.)country comparison to the world: 33Labor force - by occupation:agriculture: 75%industry and services: 25% (2007 est.)

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 22/42

Unemployment rate:40% (2008 est.)country comparison to the world: 188

40% (2001 est.)

Budget:revenues: $7.017 billionexpenditures: $9.045 billion (2009 est.)Public debt:50.9% of GDP (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 4946.3% of GDP (2009 est.)

Agriculture - products:tea, coffee, corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruit, vegetables; dairy products, beef, pork, poultry, eggsIndustries:small-scale consumer goods (plastic, furniture, batteries, textiles, clothing, soap, cigarettes, flour),agricultural products, horticulture, oil refining; aluminum, steel, lead; cement, commercial ship repair,tourismIndustrial production growth rate:4% (2009 est.)country comparison to the world: 84[see also: Industrial production growth rate country ranks ]

Oil - production:0 bbl/day (2008 est.)country comparison to the world: 161[see also: Oil - production country ranks ]Oil - consumption:76,000 bbl/day (2009 est.)country comparison to the world: 88[see also: Oil - consumption country ranks ]Oil - exports:7,270 bbl/day (2007 est.)country comparison to the world: 99[see also: Oil - exports country ranks ]Oil - imports:80,530 bbl/day (2007 est.)country comparison to the world: 73[see also: Oil - imports country ranks ]

Oil - proved reserves:0 bbl (1 January 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 166[see also: Oil - proved reserves country ranks ]Exports:$5.141 billion (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 108$4.459 billion (2009 est.)[see also: Exports country ranks ]Exports - commodities:tea, horticultural products, coffee, petroleum products, fish, cementImports:$10.4 billion (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 88$9.715 billion (2009 est.)[see also: Imports country ranks ]Imports - commodities:machinery and transportation equipment, petroleum products, motor vehicles, iron and steel, resins andplasticsReserves of foreign exchange and gold:$4.585 billion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 68$3.85 billion (31 December 2009 est.)[see also: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold country ranks ]Debt - external:$7.935 billion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 92

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 23/42

$7.795 billion (31 December 2009 est.)[see also: Debt - external country ranks ]Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:$2.337 billion (31 December 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 85$2.129 billion (31 December 2009 est.)[see also: Stock of direct foreign investment - at home country ranks ]

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 24/42

LESOTHO

Background:Basutoland was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho upon independence from the UK in 1966. The BasutoNational Party ruled for the first two decades. King MOSHOESHOE was exiled in 1990, but returned toLesotho in 1992 and was reinstated in 1995. Constitutional government was restored in 1993 after sevenyears of military rule. In 1998, violent protests and a military mutiny following a contentious electionprompted a brief but bloody intervention by South African and Botswana military forces under the aegis of the Southern African Development Community. Subsequent constitutional reforms restored relativepolitical stability. Peaceful parliamentary elections were held in 2002, but the National Assembly electionsof February 2007 were hotly contested and aggrieved parties continue to dispute how the electoral lawwas applied to award proportional seats in the Assembly.

Geography

Location:Southern Africa, an enclave of South AfricaGeographic coordinates:29 30 S, 28 30 EMap references:AfricaArea:

total: 30,355 sq kmcountry comparison to the world: 141[see also: Area - total country ranks ]land: 30,355 sq km[see also: Area - land country ranks ]water: 0 sq km[see also: Area - water country ranks ]Area - comparative:slightly smaller than MarylandLand boundaries:total: 909 km[see also: Land boundaries - total country ranks ]border countries: South Africa 909 kmCoastline:0 km (landlocked)[see also: Coastline country ranks ]Maritime claims:none (landlocked)Climate:temperate; cool to cold, dry winters; hot, wet summersTerrain:

mostly highland with plateaus, hills, and mountainsElevation extremes:lowest point:   junction of the Orange and Makhaleng Rivers 1,400 m[see also: Elevation extremes - lowest point country ranks  ]highest point: Thabana Ntlenyana 3,482 m[see also: Elevation extremes - highest point country ranks ]Natural resources:water, agricultural and grazing land, diamonds, sand, clay, building stoneLand use:arable land: 10.87%

[see also: Land use - arable land country ranks  ]  permanent crops: 0.13%[see also: Land use - permanent crops country ranks ]other: 89% (2005)[see also: Land use - other country ranks ]Irrigated land:30 sq km (2003)[see also: Irrigated land country ranks ]Total renewable water resources:5.2 cu km (1987)[see also: Total renewable water resources country ranks ]

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 25/42

Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):total: 0.05 cu km/yr (40%/40%/20%)[see also: Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural) - total country ranks  ]

  per capita: 28 cu m/yr (2000)[see also: Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural) - per capita country ranks ]Natural hazards:periodic droughtsEnvironment - current issues:

population pressure forcing settlement in marginal areas results in overgrazing, severe soil erosion, andsoil exhaustion; desertification; Highlands Water Project controls, stores, and redirects water to SouthAfricaEnvironment - international agreements:

 party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, EndangeredSpecies, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlandssigned, but not ratified: none of the selected agreementsGeography - note:landlocked, completely surrounded by South Africa; mountainous, more than 80% of the country is 1,800m above sea levelLESOTHO

Background:Basutoland was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho upon independence from the UK in 1966. The BasutoNational Party ruled for the first two decades. King MOSHOESHOE was exiled in 1990, but returned to

Lesotho in 1992 and was reinstated in 1995. Constitutional government was restored in 1993 after sevenyears of military rule. In 1998, violent protests and a military mutiny following a contentious electionprompted a brief but bloody intervention by South African and Botswana military forces under the aegis of the Southern African Development Community. Subsequent constitutional reforms restored relativepolitical stability. Peaceful parliamentary elections were held in 2002, but the National Assembly electionsof February 2007 were hotly contested and aggrieved parties continue to dispute how the electoral lawwas applied to award proportional seats in the Assembly.

HISTORY

Lesotho gained independence from Britain on October 4, 1966. In January 1970 the ruling Basotho

National Party (BNP) appeared set to lose the first post-independence general elections when Prime

Minister Leabua Jonathan annulled the election. He refused to cede power to the Basotho Congress Party

(BCP) and imprisoned its leadership.

The BNP ruled by decree until January 1986 when a military coup forced them out of office. The MilitaryCouncil that came into power granted executive powers to King Moshoeshoe II, who was until then a

ceremonial monarch. In 1990, however, the King was forced into exile after a falling out with the army.

His son was installed as King Letsie III.

The chairman of the military junta, Major General Metsing Lekhanya, was ousted in 1991 and then

replaced by Major General Phisoane Ramaema, who handed over power to a democratically elected

government of the BCP in 1993. Moshoeshoe II returned from exile in 1992 as an ordinary citizen. After

the return to democratic government, King Letsie III tried unsuccessfully to persuade the BCP government

to reinstate his father (Moshoeshoe II) as head of state. In August 1994, Letsie III staged a coup which

was backed by the military and deposed the BCP government. The new government did not receive full

international recognition. Member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC)

engaged in negotiations aimed at the reinstatement of the BCP government. One of the conditions put

forward by the King for the return of the BCP government was that his father should be re-installed as

head of state. After protracted negotiations, the BCP government was reinstated and the King abdicated in

favor of his father in 1995, but Moshoeshoe II died in a car accident in 1996 and was again succeeded by

his son, Letsie III. The ruling BCP split over leadership disputes in 1997.

Prime Minister Ntsu Mokhehle formed a new party, the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD), and was

followed by a majority of Members of Parliament, which enabled him to form a new government. The LCD

won the general elections in 1998 under the leadership of Pakalitha Mosisili, who had succeeded Mokhehle

as party leader. Despite the elections being pronounced free and fair by local and international observers

and a subsequent special commission appointed by SADC, the opposition political parties rejected the

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 26/42

results.

Opposition protests in the country intensified, culminating in a violent demonstration outside the royal

palace in August 1998. When junior members of the armed services mutinied in September, the

government requested a SADC task force to intervene to prevent a coup and restore stability. A military

group of South African and Botswana troops entered the country in September, put down the mutiny, and

withdrew in May 1999. Looting, casualties, and widespread destruction of property followed.

An Interim Political Authority (IPA), charged with reviewing the electoral structure in the country, was

created in December 1998. The IPA devised a proportional electoral system to ensure that there would be

opposition in the National Assembly. The new system retained the existing 80 elected Assembly seats, but

added 40 seats to be filled on a proportional basis. Elections were held under this new system in May

2002, and the LCD won again. For the first time, due to the inclusion of proportional seats, opposition

political parties won significant numbers of seats. Elections were held again in February 2007. Nine

opposition parties hold all 40 of the proportional seats, with the National Independent Party (NIP) having

the largest share (21). The LCD has 61 of the 80 constituency-based seats, and All Basotho Congress

(ABC) holds 17.

POLITICS

Government type:parliamentary constitutional monarchy

Capital:name: Maseru

Executive branch:chief of state: King LETSIE III (since 7 February 1996); note - King LETSIE III formerly occupied thethrone from November 1990 to February 1995 while his father was in exilehead of government: Prime Minister Pakalitha MOSISILI (since 23 May 1998)

cabinet: Cabinet (For more information visit the )elections: according to the constitution, the leader of the majority party in the Assembly automatically

becomes prime minister; the monarchy is hereditary, but, under the terms of the constitution that cameinto effect after the March 1993 election, the monarch is a "living symbol of national unity" with noexecutive or legislative powers; under traditional law the college of chiefs has the power to depose themonarch, determine who is next in the line of succession, or who shall serve as regent in the event thatthe successor is not of mature ageLegislative branch:bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate (33 members - 22 principal chiefs and 11 other membersappointed by the ruling party) and the Assembly (120 seats, 80 by popular vote and 40 by proportionalvote; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)elections: last held on 17 February 2007 (next to be held in 2012)election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - LCD 61, NIP 21, ABC 17, LWP 10, ACP 4,BNP 3, other 4Judicial branch:High Court (chief justice appointed by the monarch acting on the advice of the prime minister); Court of Appeal; Magistrate Courts; customary or traditional courtPolitical parties and leaders:

Alliance of Congress Parties or ACP (including the Lesotho People's Congress or LCP [Kelebone MAOPE],the Basotholand African Congress or BAC [Khauhelo RALITAPOLE], and a faction of the Basotho CongressParty or BCP [Ntsukunyane MPHANYA]); All Basotho Convention or ABC [Thomas THABANE]; BasothoBatho Democratic Party or BBDP; Basotho Congress Party or BCP; Basotho Democratic National Party orBDNP [Thabang NYEOE]; Basotho National Party or BNP [Maj. Gen. Justin Metsing LEKHANYA];Basotholand African National Congress or BANC; Christian Democratic Party or CDP [Enerst RAMOKOENA];Lesotho Congress for Democracy or LCD [Pakalitha MOSISILI] (the governing party); Lesotho WorkersParty or LWP [Macaefa BILLY]; National Independent Party or NIP [Anthony MANYELI]Political pressure groups and leaders:Media Institute of Southern Africa, Lesotho chapter [Thabang MATJAMA] (pushes for media freedom)International organization participation:

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 27/42

ACP, AfDB, AU, C, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol,IOC, IPU, ISO (subscriber), ITU, MIGA, NAM, OPCW, SACU, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR,UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

The Lesotho Government is a parliamentary or constitutional monarchy. The Prime Minister, Pakalitha Bethuel Mosisili, is head of government and has executive authority. The king serves a largely ceremonialfunction; he no longer possesses any executive authority and is prohibited from actively participating in

political initiatives.The Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) controls a majority in the National Assembly (the lower houseof parliament) with 62 seats. The All Basotho Convention (ABC), a party formed shortly before the pollunder the leadership of former foreign minister Tom Thabane, is the main opposition. The BasothoNational Party (BNP), the Alliance of Congress Parties (ACP) and the newly formed Basotho BathoDemocratic Party (BBDP) and the Basotho Democratic National Party (BDNP) Lesotho are among the otherfive opposition parties represented.The ABC has brought a dramatic change in the Lesotho's politics, because of its having won 17, mainlyurban, seats out of 80 Constituency seats, only a few months after it was formed in September 2006. Of the 40 Proportional Representation (PR) seats, the National Independent Party (NIP), a parliamentary allyof the ruling party, has the highest number of seats at 21. The Lesotho Workers Party has the nexthighest number of proportional seats with 10. The BNP is the opposition party with the biggest loss in theFebruary 2007 election with its representation reduced from 21 to 3 seats. A total of 12 political partiesare represented in the 120-member parliament.The upper house of parliament, called the Senate, is composed of twenty-two principal chiefs whose

membership is hereditary, and eleven appointees of the king, acting on the advice of the prime minister.The constitution provides for an independent judicial system, made up of the High Court, the Court of Appeal, Magistrate's Courts, and traditional courts that exist predominantly in rural areas. All but one of the Justices on the Court of Appeal are South African jurists. There is no trial by jury; rather, judges makerulings alone, or, in the case of criminal trials, with two other judges as observers.The constitution also protects basic civil liberties, including freedom of speech, freedom of association,freedom of the press, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of religion. Lesotho was ranked 12th outof 48 sub-Saharan African countries in the 2008 Ibrahim Index of African Governance.[10]

However there is a growing movement, the People's Charter Movement , calling for the practicalannexation of the country by South Africa due to the AIDS epidemic which infects a third of thepopulation. The country faces high unemployment, economic collapse, a weak currency and poor traveldocuments restricting their movement. An African Union report called for economic integration of Lesothowith South Africa but stopped short of suggesting annexation. In May 2010 the Charter Movementdelivered a petition to the South African High Commission requesting integration. South Africa's homeaffairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa rejected the idea that Lesotho should be treated as a special case.Quoting, "It is a sovereign country like South Africa. We sent envoys to our neighbours – Botswana,

Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Lesotho – before we enforced the passport rule. When you travel from Britainto South Africa, don't you expect to use a passp

Politics of Lesotho takes place in a framework of a parliamentary  representative democratic constitutional monarchy, whereby the  Prime Minister of Lesotho is the head of government, and of amulti-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in boththe government and the two chambers of  Parliament, the  Senate and the National Assembly. TheJudiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

Executive branch

Main office holders

Office Name Party Since

King Letsie III 7 February 1996Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili LCD 29 May 1998The Lesotho Government is a modified form of constitutional monarchy. The Prime Minister, Pakalitha Mosisili, is head of government and has executive authority. The King serves a largely ceremonialfunction; he no longer possesses any executive authority and is proscribed from actively participating inpolitical initiatives. According to the constitution, the leader of the majority party in the assemblyautomatically becomes prime minister; the monarch is hereditary, but, under the terms of the constitutionwhich came into effect after the March 1993 election, the monarch is a "living symbol of national unity"with no executive or legislative powers; under traditional law the college of chiefs has the power todetermine who is next in the line of succession, who shall serve as regent in the event that the successoris not of mature age, and may even depose the monarch.

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 28/42

Legislative branch

Parliament has two chambers. The National Assembly has 120 members, elected for a five year term, 80in single-seat constituencies and 40 by  proportional representation. The Senate has 33 nominatedmembers.The Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) won the majority in parliament in the 23 May 1998 generalelections, leaving the once-dominant Basotho National Party (BNP) and Basotholand Congress Party (BCP)far behind in total votes. Although international observers as well as a regional commission declared the

elections to have reflected the will of the people, many members of the opposition have accused the LCDof electoral fraud. The 1998 elections were the third multiparty elections in Lesotho's history. The LCD,BNP, and BCP remain the principal rival political organizations in Lesotho. Distinctions and differences inpolitical orientation between the major parties have blurred in recent years.Nevertheless, after political riots following the disputed 1998, an all-party forum called the InterimPolitical Authority was formed to level ground for the next poll. It proposed the restructuring of theIndependent Electoral Commission, which happened and the change of the model from pure First-Past-the-Post System to Mixed Member Proportional Representation.In the 25 May 2002 general elections, the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy was re-elected bymajority, winning all but one of the 80 constituency-based seats. 40 compensatory seats under theProportional Representation were shared among nine opposition parties.

Judicial branch

The constitution provides for an independent judicial system. The judiciary is made up of the High Court of  Lesotho, the Court of Appeal, magistrate's courts, and traditional courts that exist predominantly in ruralareas. There is no trial by jury; rather, judges make rulings alone, or, in the case of criminal trials, with

two other judges as observers. The constitution also protects basic civil liberties, including freedom of speech, association, and the press; freedom of peaceful assembly; and freedom of religion.Economy - overview:

Small, landlocked, and mountainous, Lesotho relies on remittances from miners employed in South Africa,

customs duties from the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU), and export revenue for the majority of 

government revenue. However, the government has recently strengthened its tax system to reduce

dependency on customs duties. Completion of a major hydropower facility in January 1998 permitted the

sale of water to South Africa and generated royalties for Lesotho. Lesotho produces about 90% of its own

electrical power needs. As the number of mineworkers has declined steadily over the past several years, a

small manufacturing base has developed based on farm products that support the milling, canning,

leather, and jute industries, as well as an apparel-assembly sector. Despite Lesotho's market-based

economy being heavily tied to its neighbor South Africa, the US is an important trade partner because of 

the export sector's heavy dependence on apparel exports. Exports have grown significantly because of the

trade benefits contained in the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. The economy is still primarily based on

subsistence agriculture, especially livestock, although drought has decreased agricultural activity. The

extreme inequality in the distribution of income remains a major drawback. Lesotho has signed an Interim

Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility with the IMF. In July 2007, Lesotho signed a Millennium Challenge

Account Compact with the US worth $362.5 million. Economic growth dropped in 2009, due mainly to the

effects of the global economic crisis as demand for the country's exports declined and SACU revenue fell

precipitously when South Africa - the primary contributor to the SACU revenue pool - went into recession,

but growth returned to 3.5% in 2010.

GDP (purchasing power parity):$3.31 billion (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 174$3.198 billion (2009 est.)$3.148 billion (2008 est.)note: data are in 2010 US dollars

GDP - real growth rate:3.5% (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 971.6% (2009 est.)3.9% (2008 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:agriculture: 7.1%industry: 34.6%services: 58.2% (2009 est.)

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 29/42

Labor force:854,600 (2007 est.)country comparison to the world: 145

Unemployment rate:45% (2002)country comparison to the world: 190

Inflation rate (consumer prices):6.1% (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 164

Agriculture - products:corn, wheat, pulses, sorghum, barley; livestock

Industries:food, beverages, textiles, apparel assembly, handicrafts, construction, tourism

Oil - production:

0 bbl/day (2009 est.)country comparison to the world: 155[see also: Oil - production country ranks ]

Oil - consumption:2,000 bbl/day (2009 est.)country comparison to the world: 188[see also: Oil - consumption country ranks ]

Oil - exports:0 bbl/day (2007 est.)country comparison to the world: 186[see also: Oil - exports country ranks ]

Oil - imports:1,553 bbl/day (2007 est.)country comparison to the world: 181[see also: Oil - imports country ranks ]

Oil - proved reserves:0 bbl (1 January 2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 160[see also: Oil - proved reserves country ranks ]

Exports:$985 million (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 153

$821 million (2009 est.)

Exports - commodities:manufactures 75% (clothing, footwear, road vehicles), wool and mohair, food and live animals

Exports - partners:US 58.9%, Belgium 37%, Madagascar 1.2% (2008)

Imports:$1.766 billion (2010 est.)country comparison to the world: 156$1.572 billion (2009 est.)

Imports - commodities:food; building materials, vehicles, machinery, medicines, petroleum products

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 30/42

MADAGASCAR 

Background:Formerly an independent kingdom, Madagascar became a French colony in 1896 but regained

independence in 1960. During 1992-93, free presidential and National Assembly elections were held

ending 17 years of single-party rule. In 1997, in the second presidential race, Didier RATSIRAKA, the

leader during the 1970s and 1980s, was returned to the presidency. The 2001 presidential election was

contested between the followers of Didier RATSIRAKA and Marc RAVALOMANANA, nearly causingsecession of half of the country. In April 2002, the High Constitutional Court announced RAVALOMANANA

the winner. RAVALOMANANA achieved a second term following a landslide victory in the generally free and

fair presidential elections of 2006. In early 2009, protests over increasing restrictions on opposition press

and activities resulted in RAVALOMANANA stepping down and the presidency was conferred to the mayor

of Antananarivo, Andry RAJOELINA. Following negotiations in July and August of 2009, a power-sharing

agreement with a 15-month transitional period was established, but has not yet been implemented.

History

Early history

Most archaeologists estimate that the earliest settlers arrived in  outrigger canoes from southern Borneo between 200 BCE and 500 CE, making Madagascar one of the last major landmasses on Earth to be

settled by people.[26] Upon arrival, early settlers practiced tavy (swidden, slash-and-burn agriculture) toclear the virgin coastal rainforests for the cultivation of their crops. [27] The first settlers encounteredMadagascar's wealth of megafauna, including giant lemurs, elephant birds, giant fossa and the Malagasy hippopotamus, which have since become extinct due to hunting and habitat destruction.[28] By 600 CEgroups of these early settlers had moved inland and began clearing the forests of the central Highlands.Irrigated rice paddies emerged in highland Betsileo  country by 1600 and were complemented withterraced paddies throughout Imerina a century later.[29] Zebu were introduced around 1000 CE by Bantu-speaking East African migrants who maintained large herds. The rising intensity of land cultivation and theever-increasing demand for zebu pasturage in the central highlands had largely transformed the regionfrom a forest ecosystem to barren grassland by the 17th century.[30]

Merina oral histories tell of migration from the southeast coast to the central highlands where the Merinaencountered an established population called the Vazimba, who may have been the descendants of anearlier and less technologically advanced Austronesian settlement wave. [31] The Vazimba were vanquishedby 16th and early 17th-century Merina kings Andriamanelo,  Ralambo and particularly  Andrianjaka, whofounded Antananarivo around 1625 upon the site of a captured Vazimba capital on the hilltop of Analamanga. Merina legends relate that the Vazimba were largely driven from the Highlands or absorbedinto the local population through intermarriage.[32] In the popular imagination today, the Vazimba arefrequently characterized as powerful and even monstrous spirits (sometimes with  pygmy-like features)that must be appeased because of their status as tompon-tany or ancestral masters of the land.[27]

The written history of Madagascar begins in the 7th century when  Arabs established trading posts alongthe northwest coast and introduced Islam, the Arabic script (used to transcribe the Malagasy language in aform of writing known as sorabe), Arab astrology and other cultural elements.[8] European contact beganin 1500, when the Portuguese sea captain Diogo Dias sighted the island.[citation needed ] The French establishedtrading posts along the east coast in the late 17th century, around the same time that Captain Misson andhis pirate crew allegedly founded the famous pirate utopia of  Libertalia on the small island of Nosy Boraha off Madagascar's northeastern coast. From about 1774 to 1824, Madagascar was a favorite haunt forpirates.[33]

Madagascar was an important transoceanic trading hub connecting ports of the Indian Ocean in the earlycenturies following human settlement. Later, it gained prominence among pirates and European traders,particularly those involved in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The wealth generated by this trade spurredthe rise of organized kingdoms, some of which had grown quite powerful by the 17th century. [34] Among

these were the  Betsimisaraka alliance of the eastern coast and the Sakalava chiefdoms of Menabe andBoina on the west coast. The Kingdom of Imerina, located in the central highlands with its capital at theroyal palace of Antananarivo, likewise emerged at around the same time under the leadership of KingAndriamanelo.[35]

Kingdom of Madagascar

Upon its emergence in the early 17th century, the highland kingdom of Imerina was initially a minorpower relative to the larger coastal kingdoms [35] and grew even weaker in the early 18th century whenKing Andriamasinavalona  divided it among his four sons. However, following a century of warring andfamine, Imerina was reunited in 1793 by King Andrianampoinimerina (1787–1810).[36] From his capital at

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 31/42

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 32/42

powers, consolidating the strength of the executive branch.[citation needed ]

The political situation in Madagascar has been marked by struggle for control. After Madagascar gainedindependence from France in 1960, political transitions have been marked by numerous popular protests,several disputed elections, two military coups and one assassination. Didier Ratsiraka  took power in amilitary coup in 1975 and ruled until 2001, with a short break when he was ousted in the early 1990s.When Marc Ravalomanana and Ratsiraka both claimed victory after presidential elections in December2001, Ratsiraka's supporters tried to blockade the capital, Antananarivo, which was pro-Ravalomanana.After eight months of sporadic violence with considerable economic disruption, a recount in April 2002 led

the High Constitutional Court to pronounce Ravalomanana president, but it was not until July thatRatsiraka fled to France and Ravalomanana gained control of the country. [62] Between 2002 and 2009,Ravalomanana and his party Tiako I Madagasikara  (TIM) dominated political life. Ravalomanana's re-election in December 2006 was met with some protests over worsening standards of living, despite anongoing government drive to eradicate poverty.[63]

A series of protests against then-President Marc Ravalomanana  in 2009, backed by Andry Rajoelina,former mayor of Antananarivo, became violent, with more than 170 people killed.[64] Rajoelina mobilizedhis supporters to take to the streets of Antananarivo to demand Ravalomanana's ousting on the groundsof his autocratic style of government. [citation needed ] After losing support of the military and under intensepressure from Rajoelina, President Ravalomanana resigned on March 17, 2009. Ravalomanana assignedhis powers to a military council loyal to himself headed by Vice-Admiral Hyppolite Ramaroson.[65] Themilitary called the move by Ravalomanana a "ploy"[65] and said that it would support Rajoelina as leader.[66] Rajoelina had already declared himself the new leader a month earlier and assumed the role of actingPresident, appointing  Monja Roindefo as Prime Minister.[67] Rajoelina announced that elections would beheld in two years and that the constitution would be amended.[66] The  European Union, amongst other

international entities, refused to recognize the new government, due to it being installed by force.[68]

TheAfrican Union, which proceeded to suspend Madagascar's membership on March 20,[69] and the Southern Africa Development Community both criticized the forced resignation of Ravalomanana.[66]

Executive branch: chief of state: President Didier RATSIRAKA (since 10 February 1997)head of government: Prime Minister Tantely Rene Gabriot ANDRIANARIVO (since NA 1998)cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the prime ministerelections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; election last held 29 December 1996(next to be held NA November 2001); prime minister appointed by the president from a list of candidatesnominated by the National Assemblyelection results: Didier RATSIRAKA elected president; percent of vote - Didier RATSIRAKA (AREMA)50.7%, Albert ZAFY (AFFA) 49.3%

Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (150 seats; members are

directly elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms); note - the legislature is scheduled to become abicameral Parliament with the establishment of a Senate; two-thirds of the seats of this Senate will befilled by regional assemblies whose members will be elected by popular vote; the remaining one-third of the seats will be appointed by the president; the total number of seats will be determined by the NationalAssembly; all members will serve four-year termselections: National Assembly - last held 17 May 1998 (next to be held NA 2002)election results: National Assembly - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - AREMA 63,LEADER/Fanilo 16, AVI 14, RPSD 11, AFFA 6, MFM 3, AKFM/Fanavaozana 3, GRAD/Iloafo 1, Fihaonana 1,independents 32

Judicial branch: Supreme Court or Cour Supreme; High Constitutional Court or Haute CourConstitutionnelle

Political parties and leaders: Action, Truth, Development, and Harmony or AFFA [Professor AlbertZAFY]; Association for the Rebirth of Madagascar or AREMA [leader vacant]; Congress Party for MalagasyIndependence or AKFM/Fanavaozana; Economic Liberalism and Democratic Action for National Recovery or

LEADER/Fanilo [Herizo RAZAFIMAHALEO]; Fihaonana Rally or Fihaonana [Guy RAZANAMASY]; Group of Reflection and Action for the Development of Madagascar or GRAD/Iloafo; Judged by Your Work or AVI[Norbert RATSIRAHONANA]; Movement for the Progress of Madagascar or MFM [ManandafyRAKOTONIRINA]; Renewal of the Social Democratic Party or RPSD [Evariste MARSON]; Tranobe (BigHouse) [Ny Hasina ANDRIAMANJATO]

Political pressure groups and leaders: Federalist Movement; National Council of Christian Churches orFFKM

International organization participation: ACCT, ACP, AfDB, CCC, ECA, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO,ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, InOC, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer),

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 33/42

ISO (correspondent), ITU, NAM, OAU, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU,WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO

Economy - overview: Madagascar faces problems of chronic malnutrition, underfunded health and education facilities, a roughly3% annual population growth rate, and severe loss of forest cover, accompanied by erosion. Agriculture,including fishing and forestry, is the mainstay of the economy, accounting for 30% of GDP and

contributing more than 70% to export earnings. Industry features textile manufacturing and theprocessing of agricultural products. Growth in output in 1992-97 averaged less than the growth rate of thepopulation. Growth has been held back by antigovernment strikes and demonstrations, a decline in worldcoffee prices, and the erratic commitment of the government to economic reform. The extent of government reforms, outside financial aid, and foreign investment will be key determinants of futuregrowth. For 2001, growth should again be about 5%.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $12.3 billion (2000 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 4.8% (2000 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $800 (2000 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:agriculture: 30%industry: 14%

services: 56% (1999 est.)

Population below poverty line: 70% (1994 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:lowest 10%: 1.9%highest 10%: 36.7% (1993)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 10% (1999 est.)

Labor force: 7 million (1999)

Industries: meat processing, soap, breweries, tanneries, sugar, textiles, glassware, cement, automobileassembly plant, paper, petroleum, tourism

Agriculture - products: coffee, vanilla, sugarcane, cloves, cocoa, rice, cassava (tapioca), beans, bananas,peanuts; livestock products

Exports: $538 million (f.o.b., 1998)

Exports - commodities: coffee, vanilla, shellfish, sugar; cotton cloth, chromite, petroleum products

Imports: $693 million (f.o.b., 1998)Imports - commodities: intermediate manufactures, capital goods, petroleum, consumer goods, food

Disputes - international: claims Bassas da India, Europa Island, Glorioso Islands, Juan de Nova Island,and Tromelin Island (all administered by France)

Illicit drugs: illicit producer of cannabis (cultivated and wild varieties) used mostly for domesticconsumption; transshipment point for heroin

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 34/42

MALAWI

Background: Established in 1891, the British protectorate of Nyasaland became the independent nationof Malawi in 1964. After three decades of one-party rule, the country held multiparty elections in 1994under a provisional constitution, which took full effect the following year. National multiparty elections

were held again in 1999.

Executive branch: chief of state: President Bakili MULUZI (since 21 May 1994); note - the president isboth the chief of state and head of governmenthead of government: President Bakili MULUZI (since 21 May 1994); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of governmentcabinet: 36-member Cabinet named by the presidentelections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; election last held 15 June 1999 (next tobe held NA 2004)election results: Bakili MULUZI reelected president; percent of vote - Bakili MULUZI (UDF) 51.4%,Gwandaguluwe CHAKUAMBA (MCP-AFORD) 44.3%

Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly (193 seats; members elected by popular vote toserve five-year terms)

elections: last held 15 June 1999 (next to be held NA 2004)election results: percent of vote by party - UDF 48%, MCP 34%, AFORD 15%, others 3%; seats by party -UDF 94, MCP 66, AFORD 29, others 4

Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Appeal; High Court (chief justice appointed by the president, puisne judges appointed on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission); magistrate's courts

Political parties and leaders: Alliance for Democracy or AFORD [Chakufwa CHIHANA, president];Malawi Congress Party or MCP [Gwanda CHAKUAMBA, president, John TEMBO, vice president]; MalawiDemocratic Party or MDP [Kampelo KALUA, president]; National Independence Party; Social DemocraticParty or SDP [Eston KAKHOME, president]; United Democratic Front or UDF [Bakili MULUZI] - governingparty

Political pressure groups and leaders: NA

International organization participation: ACP, AfDB, C, CCC, ECA, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU,ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, ISO (correspondent), ITU, NAM,OAU, OPCW, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIK, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO

Government type: multiparty democracy

Capital: Lilongwe

Politics

Politics of Malawi takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, wherebythe  President of Malawi is both head of state  and head of government, and of a  multi-party system.Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government andthe National Assembly. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The Government of  Malawi has been a multi-party democracy since 1994.Malawi is a democratic, multi-party government, currently under the leadership of President Bingu wa

Mutharika.

[17]

The current constitution was put into place on May 18, 1995. The branches of thegovernment consist of executive, legislative and  judicial. The executive includes a president who is bothchief of state and head of government, first and second vice presidents and a cabinet. The president iselected every five years, and the vice president is elected with the president. A second vice president maybe appointed by the president if he so chooses, although they must be from a different party. Themembers of the cabinet are appointed by the president and can be from either inside or outside of thelegislature.[10]

The legislative branch consists of a unicameral National Assembly of 193 members who are elected everyfive years, and although the Malawian constitution provides for a Senate of 80 seats, one does not exist inpractice. If created, the Senate would provide representation for traditional leaders and a variety of geographic districts, as well as special interest groups including the disabled, youth and women. Theindependent judicial branch is based upon the English model and consists of a constitutional court, a High

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 35/42

Court, a Supreme Court of Appeal and subordinate Magistrate Courts. There are currently nine politicalparties, with the Democratic Progressive Party acting as the ruling party and the Malawi Congress Party and the United Democratic Front acting as the main opposition parties in the National Assembly. Suffrage is universal at 18 years of age, and the central government budget for 2009/2010 is $1.7 billion.[10]

Malawi is composed of three regions (the Northern, Central and Southern regions),[5] which are dividedinto 28  districts,[25] and further into approximately 250 traditional authorities and 110 administrativewards.[5] Local government is administered by central government-appointed regional administrators anddistrict commissioners. For the first time in the multi-party era, local elections took place on November21, 2000, with the UDF party winning 70% of the available seats. There was scheduled to be a secondround of constitutionally mandated local elections in May 2005, but these were canceled by thegovernment.[10]

In February 2005, President Mutharika split with the United Democratic Front and began his own party,the Democratic Progressive Party, which has attracted reform-minded officials from other parties and iswinning elections across the country as of 2006. As of 2008, President Mutharika has implementedreforms to address the country's major corruption problem, with at least five senior UDF party membersfacing criminal charges.[26] In 2008, Malawi was ranked 11th of all countries in sub-Saharan Africa in the2008 Ibrahim Index of African Governance, an index that measures several variables to provide acomprehensive view of the governance of African countries.[27]

The military of Malawi consists of an army, a navy and an air wing, all considered to form differentsections of the  Malawian Army. Between the three forces there are approximately 5,500 militarypersonnel, 1,500 paramilitary police and 80 aircraft, none of which are combat aircraft. The navy divisionis based out of Monkey Bay on Lake Malawi.[28]

History

The area of Africa now known as Malawi had a very small population of  hunter gatherers before waves of Bantus began emigrating from the north around the 10th century. Although most of the Bantus continuedsouth, some remained permanently and founded tribes based on common ancestry.[9] By 1500 AD, thetribes had established a kingdom that reached from north of what is now Nkhotakota to the Zambezi River and from Lake Malawi to the Luangwa River in what is now Zambia.[10]

Soon after 1600, with the area mostly united under one native ruler, native tribesmen beganencountering, trading with and making alliances with Portuguese traders and members of the military. By1700, however, the empire had broken up into areas controlled by many individual tribes, which wasnoted by the Portuguese in their information gathering.[11]

David Livingstone reached Lake Malawi (then Lake Nyasa) in 1859,[12] when Malawi was originally knownas Nyasaland under the rule of the British. [13] In a prime example of what is sometimes called the "ThinWhite Line" of colonial authority in Africa, the colonial government of Nyasaland was formed in 1891. Theadministrators were given a budget of £10,000 per year, which was enough to employ ten Europeancivilians, two military officers, seventy Punjab  Sikhs, and eighty-five Zanzibar  porters. These fewemployees were then expected to administer and police a territory of around 94,000 square kilometers

with between one and two million people.[14]

In 1944, the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) was formed by the Africans of Nyasaland to promote localinterests to the British government.[15] In 1953, Britain linked Nyasaland with Northern and SouthernRhodesia  in what was known as the Central African Federation (CAF),[13] for mainly political reasons.[16]

The linking provoked opposition from African nationalists, and the NAC gained popular support. Aninfluential opponent of the CAF was Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, a European-trained doctor working inGhana who was persuaded to return to Nyasaland in 1958 to assist the nationalist cause. Banda waselected president of the NAC and worked to mobilize nationalist sentiment before being jailed by colonialauthorities in 1959. He was released in 1960 and asked to help draft a new constitution for Nyasaland,with a clause granting Africans the majority in the colony's Legislative Counsel.[9]

In 1961, Banda's Malawi Congress Party (MCP) gained the majority in the Legislative Council elections andBanda became  Prime Minister  in 1963. The Federation was dissolved in 1963, and on 6 July 1964,Nyasaland became independent from British rule and renamed itself Malawi. Under a new constitution,Malawi became a single-party state under MCP rule in 1966, and in 1970 Banda declared himself president-for-life. For almost 30 years, Banda ruled firmly, suppressing opposition to his party and

ensuring that he had no personal opposition.

[17]

Despite his political severity, however, Malawi's economy while Banda was president was often cited as anexample of how a poor, landlocked, heavily populated, mineral-poor country could achieve progress inboth agriculture and industrial development.[18] While in office, and using his control of the country, Bandaconstructed a business empire that eventually produced one-third of the country's GDP  and employed10% of the wage-earning workforce.[19]

Under pressure for increased political freedom, Banda agreed to a referendum  in 1993, where thepopulace voted for a multi-party democracy. In late 1993 a presidential council was formed, the lifepresidency was abolished and a new constitution was put into place, effectively ending the MCP's rule.[17]

In 1994 the first multi-party elections were held in Malawi, and  Bakili Muluzi became president. Muluziremained president until 2004, when Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika was elected. Although the political

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 36/42

environment is described as "challenging", as of 2009, the multi-party system still exists in Malawi. [20]

Multiparty parliamentary and presidential elections were held for the fourth time in Malawi in May 2009,and President Mutharika was successfully re-elected, despite charges of election fraud from his rival.[21]

President Mutharika is seen by some as increasingly autocratic and dismissive of human rights,[22] and inJuly 2011 protests over high costs of living, devolving foreign relations, poor governance and a lack of foreign exchange reserves erupted.[23]. The protests left 18 people dead and at least 44 others sufferingfrom gun shot wounds.[24]

Economy - overview: Landlocked Malawi ranks among the world's least developed countries. Theeconomy is predominately agricultural, with about 90% of the population living in rural areas. Agricultureaccounts for 37% of GDP and 85% of export revenues. The economy depends on substantial inflows of economic assistance from the IMF, the World Bank, and individual donor nations. In late 2000, Malawi wasapproved for relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) program. The government facesstrong challenges, e.g., to fully develop a market economy, to improve educational facilities, to face up toenvironmental problems, and to deal with the rapidly growing problem of HIV/AIDS.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $9.4 billion (2000 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 3% (2000 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $900 (2000 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 37%

industry: 29%services: 34% (1998 est.)

Population below poverty line: 54% (FY90/91 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: NA%highest 10%: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 29.5% (2000)

Labor force: 3.5 million

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 86% (1997 est.)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget: revenues: $490 millionexpenditures: $523 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (FY99/00 est.)

Industries: tobacco, tea, sugar, sawmill products, cement, consumer goods

Industrial production growth rate: NA%

Agriculture - products: tobacco, sugarcane, cotton, tea, corn, potatoes, cassava (tapioca), sorghum,pulses; cattle, goats

Exports: $416 million (f.o.b., 2000)

Exports - commodities: tobacco, tea, sugar, cotton, coffee, peanuts, wood products

Exports - partners: South Africa 16%, Germany 16%, US 15%,Netherlands 7%, Japan (1999)

Imports: $435 million (f.o.b., 2000)

Imports - commodities: food, petroleum products, semimanufactures, consumer goods, transportationequipment

Disputes - international:

dispute with Tanzania over the boundary in Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi)

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 37/42

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 38/42

NAMIBIA

Background: South Africa occupied the German colony of Sud-West Afrika during World War I andadministered it as a mandate until after World War II when it annexed the territory. In 1966 the MarxistSouth-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) guerrilla group launched a war of independence for thearea that was soon named Namibia, but it was not until 1988 that South Africa agreed to end itsadministration in accordance with a UN peace plan for the entire region. Independence came in 1990.

History

The name of the country is derived from the Namib Desert, considered to be the oldest desert in theworld.[4] Before its independence in 1990, the area was known first as  German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika), then as South-West Africa, reflecting the colonial occupation by the Germansand the South Africans (technically on behalf of the British crown reflecting South Africa's dominion statuswithin the British Empire).Pre-colonial periodThe dry lands of Namibia were inhabited since early times by Bushmen, Damara, Nama, and since aboutthe 14th century AD, by immigrating Bantu who came with the Bantu expansion from central Africa. Fromthe late 18th century onwards, Orlam clans from the Cape Colony crossed the Orange River and movedinto the area that today is southern Namibia.[5]  Their encounters with the nomadic Nama tribes werelargely peaceful. The missionaries accompanying the Orlams were well–received by them,[6] the right touse waterholes and grazing was granted against an annual payment.[7] On their way further northwards,however, the Orlams encountered clans of the Herero tribe at Windhoek, Gobabis, and Okahandja which

were less accommodating. The Nama-Herero War broke out in 1880, hostilities ebbed only when Imperial Germany deployed troops to the contested places and cementing the status quo between Nama, Orlams,and Herero.[8]

The first Europeans to disembark and explore the region were the Portuguese navigators Diogo Cão in1485 and Bartolomeu Dias in 1486; still the region was not claimed by the Portuguese crown. However,like most of  Sub-Saharan Africa, Namibia was not extensively explored by Europeans until the 19thcentury, when traders and settlers arrived, principally from Germany and Sweden. In the late 19thcentury  Dorsland trekkers crossed the area on their way from the  Transvaal to Angola. Some of themsettled in Namibia instead of continuing their journey, even more returned to South-West African territoryafter the Portuguese tried to convert them to Catholicism and forbade their language at schools.[9]

German rule

Namibia became a German colony in 1884 to forestall British encroachment and was known as German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika).[10] However, the Palgrave mission by the British governor inCape Town had determined that only the natural deep-water harbour of Walvis Bay (Walfisch in German,

Walvis in Afrikaans, Whale in English) was worth occupying – and this was annexed to the Cape provinceof British South Africa. From 1904 to 1907, the Herero and the Namaqua  took up arms against theGermans and in the subsequent Herero and Namaqua genocide, 10,000 Nama (half the population) andapproximately 65,000 Hereros (about 80% of the population) were killed.[11]HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namibia" \l

"cite_note-11" [12] The survivors, when finally released from detention, were subjected to a policy of dispossession, deportation, forced labor, racial segregation and discrimination in a system that in manyways anticipated apartheid. Most Africans were confined to so-called native territories, which later underSouth African rule post-1949 were turned into "homelands" (Bantustans). Indeed, some historians havespeculated that the German genocide in Namibia was a model used by Nazis in the Holocaust,[13] but mostscholars say that episode was not especially influential for the Nazis, who were children at the time[citation

needed ]. However, the father of Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring was a one-time German colonialgovernor of Namibia and has a street named after him in Swakopmund.[14] The memory of genocideremains relevant to ethnic identity in independent Namibia and to relations with Germany.[15]

South African rule and the struggle for independence

South Africa  occupied the colony  in 1915 after defeating the German force during  World War I andadministered it as a League of Nations  mandate territory from 1919. Although the South Africangovernment desired to incorporate 'South-West Africa' into its territory, it never officially did so, althoughit was administered as the de facto 'fifth province', with the white minority having representation in thewhites-only Parliament of South Africa, as well as electing their own local administration the SWALegislative Assembly. The South African government also appointed the SWA administrator, who hadextensive powers.Following the League's supersession by the United Nations in 1946, South Africa refused to surrender itsearlier mandate to be replaced by a United Nations Trusteeship agreement, requiring closer internationalmonitoring of the territory's administration (along with a definite independence schedule). The HereroChief's Council submitted a number of petitions to the UN calling for it to grant Namibia independence

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 39/42

during the 1950s. During the 1960s, when European powers granted independence to their colonies andtrust territories in Africa, pressure mounted on South Africa to do so in Namibia. In 1966 the International Court of Justice dismissed a complaint brought by Ethiopia and Liberia against South Africa's continuedpresence in the territory, but the U.N. General Assembly subsequently revoked South Africa's mandate,while in 1971 the International Court of Justice issued an "advisory opinion" declaring South Africa'scontinued administration to be illegal.[16]

In response to the 1966 ruling by the International Court of Justice, South-West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) military wing, People's Liberation Army of Namibia, a guerrilla group began their

armed struggle for independence,[17]  but it was not until 1988 that South Africa agreed to end itsoccupation[18]  of Namibia, in accordance with a UN peace plan for the entire region. During the SouthAfrican occupation of Namibia, white commercial farmers, most of whom came as settlers from SouthAfrica and represented 0.2% of the national population, owned 74% of arable land.[19] Outside the central-southern area of Namibia (known as the "Police Zone" since the German era and which contained themain towns, industries, mines and best arable land), the country was divided into "homelands", theversion of South African bantustan applied to Namibia, although only a few were actually established dueto non-cooperation by most indigenous Namibians.After many unsuccessful attempts by the UN to persuade South Africa to agree to the implementation of UN Resolution 435, which had been adopted by the UN Security Council in 1978 as the internationally-agreed decolonisation plan for Namibia, transition to independence finally started in 1988 under thetripartite diplomatic agreement between South Africa, Angola and Cuba, with the USSR and the USA asobservers, under which South Africa agreed to withdraw and demobilise its forces in Namibia and Cubaagreed to pull back its troops in southern Angola sent to support the MPLA in its war for control of Angolawith UNITA. A combined UN civilian and peace-keeping force under Finnish diplomat  Martti Ahtisaari 

supervised the military withdrawals, return of SWAPO exiles and the holding of Namibia's first-ever one-person one-vote election for a constituent assembly in October 1989. This was won by SWAPO although itdid not gain the two-thirds majority it had hoped for; the South African-backed  Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) became the official opposition.Following the adoption of the Namibian Constitution, including entrenched protection for human rights,compensation for state expropriations of private property, an independent judiciary and an executivepresidency (the constituent assembly became the national assembly), the country officially becameindependent on 21 March 1990. Sam Nujoma was sworn in as the first President of Namibia watched byNelson Mandela  (who had been released from prison shortly beforehand) and representatives from 147countries, including 20 heads of state.[20]  Walvis Bay  was ceded to Namibia in 1994 upon the end of Apartheid in South Africa.

After independence

Since independence Namibia has successfully completed the transition from white minority apartheid ruleto parliamentary democracy. Multiparty democracy was introduced and has been maintained, with local,

regional and national elections held regularly. Several registered political parties are active andrepresented in the National Assembly, although Swapo Party has won every election since independence.[21] The transition from the 15-year rule of President Sam Nujoma to his successor, Hifikepunye Pohamba in 2005 went smoothly.[22]

Namibian government has promoted a policy of national reconciliation and issued an amnesty for thosewho had fought on either side during the liberation war. The civil war in Angola had a limited impact onNamibians living in the north of the country. In 1998, Namibia Defence Force (NDF) troops were sent tothe  Democratic Republic of the Congo  as part of a Southern African Development Community (SADC)contingent. In August 1999, a secessionist attempt in the northeastern Caprivi region was successfullyquashed.[22]

Executive branch: chief of state: President Sam Shafishuna NUJOMA (since 21 March 1990); note - the president is both thechief of state and head of government

head of government: President Sam Shafishuna NUJOMA (since 21 March 1990); note - the president isboth the chief of state and head of governmentcabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president from among the members of the National Assemblyelections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; election last held 30 November-1December 1999 (next to be held NA 2004)election results: Sam Shafishuna NUJOMA elected president; percent of vote - Sam Shafishuna NUJOMA77%

--The Namibian head of state is the president, elected by popular vote every five years. The governmentis headed by the prime minister, who, together with his cabinet, is appointed by the president. SWAPO,the primary force behind independence, is still the country's largest party

Legislative branch: bicameral legislature consists of the National Council (26 seats; two members are

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 40/42

chosen from each regional council to serve six-year terms) and the National Assembly (72 seats;members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)elections: National Council - elections for regional councils, to determine members of the National Council,held 30 November-1 December 1998 (next to be held by December 2004); National Assembly - last held30 November-1 December 1999 (next to be held by December 2004)election results: National Council - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - SWAPO 21, DTA 4,UDF 1; National Assembly - percent of vote by party - SWAPO 76%, COD 10%, DTA 9%, UDF 3%, MAG1%, other 1%; seats by party - SWAPO 55, COD 7, DTA 7, UDF 2, MAG 1,

note: the National Council is primarily an advisory body

--Parliament has two chambers. The National Assembly has 78 members, elected for a five-year term, 72members elected by proportional representation and six members appointed by the president. TheNational Council has 26 members, elected for a six-year term in double-seat constituencies (regions). TheAssembly is the primary legislative body, with the Council playing more of an advisory role. The 1990 constitution is noted for being one of the first to incorporate protection of the environment into its text.Namibia is a democratic but one party dominant state with the South-West Africa People's Organisation inpower. Opposition parties are allowed, but are widely considered to have no real chance of gaining power.

Judicial branch: Supreme Court (judges appointed by the president on the recommendation of theJudicial Service Commission)

The highest  judicial body is the Supreme Court, whose judges are appointed by the president on therecommendation of the Judicial Service Commission. The judicial structure in Namibia parallels that of South Africa. In 1919, Roman-Dutch law was declared the common law of the territory and remains so tothe present.

Political parties and leaders: Congress of Democrats or COD [Ben ULENGA]; Democratic TurnhalleAlliance of Namibia or DTA [Katuutire KAURA, president]; Monitor Action Group or MAG [KosiePRETORIUS]; South West Africa People's Organization or SWAPO [Sam NUJOMA]; United Democratic Frontor UDF [Justus GAROEB]

Political pressure groups and leaders: NA

International organization participation: AfDB, C, CCC, ECA, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM,IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO (correspondent), ITU, NAM,OAU, OPCW, SACU, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMEE, UNTAET, UPU, WCL, WHO,WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO

Politics and government

The politics of Namibia takes place in a framework of a  presidential  representative democratic republic,

whereby the president of Namibia is elected to a five-year term and is both the head of state and the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the bicameral  Parliament, the  National Assembly and theNational Council. The   judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The management of the rule of law and the observance of basic human rights in Namibia are constantly scrutinized.[23]

Namibia held Presidential and the National Assembly elections on 27 and 28 November 2009. TheElectoral Commission of Namibia published a "Handbook for Election Observers in Namibia" to enableobservers (and party agents) to professionally observe the Presidential and National Assembly Elections2009, the Regional Councils and Local Authorities Elections 2010 and subsequent By-Elections

Economy - overview: The economy is heavily dependent on the extraction and processing of mineralsfor export. Mining accounts for 20% of GDP. Namibia is the fourth-largest exporter of nonfuel minerals inAfrica and the world's fifth-largest producer of uranium. Rich alluvial diamond deposits make Namibia aprimary source for gem-quality diamonds. Namibia also produces large quantities of lead, zinc, tin, silver,and tungsten. Half of the population depends on agriculture (largely subsistence agriculture) for itslivelihood. Namibia must import some of its food. Although per capita GDP is four times the per capitaGDP of Africa's poorer countries, the majority of Namibia's people live in pronounced poverty because of large-scale unemployment, the great inequality of income distribution, and the large amount of wealthgoing to foreigners. The Namibian economy has close links to South Africa. GDP growth in 2000 was ledby gains in the diamond and fish sectors. Agreement has been reached on the privatization of severalmore enterprises in coming years, which should stimulate long-run foreign investment. Growth in 2001could be 5.5% provided the world economy remains stable.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $7.6 billion (2000 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 4% (2000 est.)

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 41/42

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $4,300 (2000 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 12%industry: 25%services: 63% (1999 est.)

Unemployment rate: 30% to 40%, including underemployment (1997 est.)

Budget: revenues: $883 millionexpenditures: $950 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1998)

Industries: meatpacking, fish processing, dairy products; mining (diamond, lead, zinc, tin, silver,tungsten, uranium, copper)

Industrial production growth rate: NA

Agriculture - products: millet, sorghum, peanuts; livestock; fish

Exports: $1.4 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)

Exports - commodities: diamonds, copper, gold, zinc, lead, uranium; cattle, processed fish, karakul

skins

Exports - partners: UK 43%, South Africa 26%, Spain 14%, France 8%, Japan (1998 est.)

Imports: $1.6 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)

Imports - commodities: foodstuffs; petroleum products and fuel, machinery and equipment, chemicals

Imports - partners: South Africa 81%, US 4%, Germany 2% (1997 est.)

Debt - external: $217 million (2000 est.)

Economic aid - recipient: $127 million (1998)

International disputes

Namibia is involved in several minor international disputes.[1]

• Commission established with Botswana to resolve small residual disputes along the Caprivi Strip, including the Situngu marshlands along the Linyanti River

• Botswana residents protest Namibia's planned construction of the Okavango hydroelectricdam on Popa Falls

• Managed dispute with South Africa over the location of the boundary in the Orange River• Dormant dispute remains where Botswana, Namibia,  Zambia, and Zimbabwe boundaries

converge• Angolan rebels and refugees still reside in Namibia.

Namibia follows a largely independent foreign policy, with strong affiliations with states that aided theindependence struggle, including Libya and Cuba.In Africa, Namibia has been involved in conflicts in neighbouring Angola as well as the  Democratic Republic of Congo

8/6/2019 Sub Sahara E-notes

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sub-sahara-e-notes 42/42