Nine years after the end of its long-running civil war, Angola remains a closed and repressive society, where a small political, military and business elite enjoys a lavish lifestyle while the vast majority of the population lives in acute...
Botswana is the oldest democracy in southern Africa and has long been heralded as a bastion of peace, human rights, good governance and democracy in the region - and praised for its attempts to tackle the HIV and AIDS epidemic for its decades of...
Landlocked and entirely surrounded by South Africa, Lesotho lives in the shadow of its much larger neighbour - relying on it for most of its trade, aid and remittances - and struggling to generate any international interest or attention. And yet...
Just a few years ago, Malawi and its first-term president, Bingu wa Mutharika, were the darlings of the international community and held up as beacons of democracy and good governance in southern Africa. Praised for their commitment to economic...
A sound constitution and a system of proportional representation have resulted in a measure of political representation, which is positive for a post-conflict situation. However, the relationship between Renamo and the ruling Frelimo party...
Namibia is an upper-middle-income country with perennial food deficits, recurring droughts and floods, alarming rates of chronic malnutrition - and one of the highest levels of HIV/AIDS in the world. It is also one of the most unequal societies...
There is no better proof of the adage that ‘power corrupts and absolute power, corrupts absolutely’ than Swaziland. The absolute power of the King has corrupted the royal family and the rest of the ruling elite absolutely – fostering total...
The Democratic Republic of Congo is a vast country with vast potential - but it remains poor, poorly governed and wracked by violence in the east. National elections are scheduled for November but there are growing concerns about the process and...
While Zambia is stable and peaceful and endowed with substantial natural resources and an abundance of land and water, almost a third of the population still live under the poverty line - and Zambia ranks 150th on the United Nations human...
More than two years since the inauguration of Zimbabwe’s Inclusive Government (IG) in February 2009, the transition towards a fully democratic state continues to be piecemeal and painfully slow. Zimbabwe has entered 2011 with no clear timetable...
