The Mettaboy Report

                                        The raging outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa, a strain never seen in the region, is scary indeed. To see and read about medical professionals who are supposed to know more than anyone in the society, fall helplessly in the line of duty is very frightening. And when the media love for anything drama is added; fear goes off the roof. Ebola is another of Africa’s brand-killers. And it seems to take the shine away from the story, of a continent that has been rising unprecedentedly in a post-financial crisis era, where economic growth is in short supply. Even the recent historic US-Africa Summit and its outcome were overshadowed by the world-wide panic over the viral contagion. Two African Heads of States of the affected countries even declined an opportunity to take pictures with the first  American President of African blood— preferring ...

       While the country has many unifying threads [1] , relations between the state, society and security institutions  are fragile and complex. As a result Madagascar has experienced periodic political and security crises with the latest lasting five years. [2]   Although the conflict in the country does not often erupt into violent confrontations, the underlying causes continue to be a major security threat to the region. In fact, the elections held in 2013 were a major step forward but did little to address the underlying causes of the coup: the lack of civilian democratic control of the security sector. The roots of conflicts date back to the pre-colonial and colonial periods. While societal cleavages are multiple and complex, tensions between the highland and coastal ethnic groups which existed before colonialization were reinforced and continued in part even after independence from France in 1960. The majority of the coastal populations (known ...

Before the peak of senseless violence in the CAR hit international headlines, dysfunctions of the country were on steroids: at work since 1960 when it had independence from France. Through steady breakdown of the economy, the ingredients for state collapse were falling into place, in a way that the world barely noticed.         A blessing While the landlocked CAR falls under the group of least developed countries, it is richly blessed by nature. Below and above its top soil, lies a range of globally demanded economic resources. As one of the top-20 most-fiscally dependent economies on natural resources in sub-Saharan Africa, export of diamonds and timber are one of the biggest drivers of its economic growth. From 2005-2010, over 40 percent of the country’s exports were from extractive industries. Other important components of the economy are subsistence farming with 28.3 percent, and livestock agriculture 12.7 percent of GDP. The ...