African Studies
Utafiti: Journal of African Perspectives
Call for Papers: Utafiti is inviting you to submit your manuscript – any topic in the humanities - for consideration in the next issues.
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Robin Attfield talks about how Africa finds itself vulnerable to drought but also the flooding of its coastline, among other untoward environmental effects of climate change and civil war.
Non-violent presidential elections paved the way for another five-year mandate for Faure Gnassingbé. Although marked by considerable irregularities, the voting was considered largely credible by the international community, which enhanced the legitimacy of the incumbent. An important cause of the defeat of the major opposition party was the growing internal divide between the ‘old guard’ and the ‘young Turks’, which led to a split in the ‘Union des Forces du Changement’ (UFC). Its leader Gilchrist Olympio, the generation-long adversary of the Gnassingbé regime, saw his hopes dashed and entered the government of national reconstruction, while the party’s presidential candidate, together with the majority of its faction within the UFC founded a new radical opposition group. The EU and the international community followed a ‘laissez faire’ approach in the interests of stability and their own national interests in dealings with the country. A World Bank review of the economy revealed a remarkable shift of exports caused by the ailing phosphate and cotton sectors, along with an enduring lack of good governance.