Yearbook 2017 Zimbabwe. According to Countryaah.com, 2017 would prove to be the year when Robert Mugabe was forced to relinquish power, which he held since majority rule was introduced in 1980. However, nobody knew anything about when the year began. On the contrary, Mugabe, who in February turned 93, seemed to be safely at his…
Category: Africa
Zambia 2017
Yearbook 2017 Zambia. According to Countryaah.com, President Edgar Lungu brought in the hard gloves against those who refused to acknowledge his election victory in August 2016. In April, the second of the elections, Hakainde Hichilema, was charged with treason. According to the authorities, Hichilema’s vehicle column had blocked the way for the presidential shortcut on…
Western Sahara 2017
Yearbook 2017 Western Sahara. After the Polisario independence movement withdrew its troops from the buffer zone near Mauritania, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously in April in support of the resumption of negotiations between Morocco and Polisario. The Council also voted to extend the peacekeeping force MINURSO’s mission in the region by one year….
Uganda 2017
Yearbook 2017 Uganda. According to Countryaah.com, the National Party of National Resistance Movement (NRM) continued during the year with plans to change the constitution so that Yoweri Museveni, president since 1986, could stand for further terms. According to the constitution, a presidential candidate may be a maximum of 75 years, but Museveni will be 77…
Tunisia 2017
Yearbook 2017 Tunisia. The emergency permit introduced in November 2015 was extended several times during the year and was in effect even at the end of 2017. In combination with the terrorist legislation passed in autumn 2015, the emergency permit had contributed to the country’s security forces using increasingly brutal methods. That’s what the civil…
Togo 2017
Yearbook 2017 Togo. The opposition, from August, repeated protests against proposals to amend the constitution that would allow President Faure Gnassingbé to remain until 2030. He succeeded his father in his death in 2005 and has ruled since then. At least 16 people were killed in clashes with security forces. According to Countryaah.com, the government…
Tanzania 2017
Yearbook 2017 Tanzania is a country located in Eastern Africa according to Digopaul. In the New Year, President John Magufuli dismissed the head of the state energy company, which just raised electricity prices to cover major losses. Only about 40% of the population has access to electricity. Despite huge resources of gas, Tanzania suffers from…
Sudan 2017
Yearbook 2017 Sudan. According to Countryaah.com, Sudan’s diplomatic isolation was partially broken during the year. In October, the United States imposed a series of sanctions, the oldest introduced in the 1990s, citing Sudan’s success in cooperating against terrorism and giving aid organizations greater access to vulnerable regions such as Darfur. In addition, Sudan had promised…
South Africa 2017
Yearbook 2017 South Africa. A bitter power struggle between the opposition and corruption-accused President Jacob Zuma continued during the year. When Zuma gave his annual speech on the situation in the country, he was interrupted by members of the left-wing EFF (Economic Freedom Fighters) who silenced the president. The red-clad EFF members were then thrown…
Somalia 2017
Yearbook 2017 Somalia. In February, a new president was elected by a vote in Parliament. According to Countryaah.com, a total of 24 candidates, most of them former ministers or people who returned from exile. The election itself was held at Mogadishu Airport. In the first round, incumbent President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud received the most votes….
Sierra Leone 2017
Yearbook 2017 Sierra Leone. In August, about 500 people died in floods and landslides caused by three days of rainfall over the capital Freetown. According to some estimates, the number of fatalities may have been over 1,000. According to Countryaah.com, nearly 6,000 people were affected by the disaster, including the destruction of their house. These…
Seychelles 2017
Yearbook 2017 Seychelles. In March, the country’s first president, James R. Mancham, who became head of state in independence in 1976, died of violence the following year. The same month, the government approved a constitutional amendment that makes it mandatory for re-election if a sitting president dies, resigns or is dismissed from office. In such…
Senegal 2017
Yearbook 2017 Senegal. In January, Senegal contributed to a change of power in neighboring Gambia. There, Yahya Jammeh, who has ruled the country more and more authoritatively since 1994, lost the election in December 2016 but refused to hand over power to the election’s winner, Adama Barrow. He applied to Senegal, where he chose to…
Saudi Arabia 2017
Yearbook 2017 Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia was not covered by US President Donald Trump’s entry ban at the beginning of the year. But in March, an electronics ban was introduced, which prohibited passengers from having larger electronic items in the cabin during flights to the United States. This ban affected eight countries: Saudi Arabia, Egypt,…
Sao Tome and Principe 2017
Yearbook 2017 São Tomé and Principe. In January, the European Union (EU) and São Tomé and Príncipe signed a cooperation agreement that will give the island the nation € 6.7 million over four years. The money will be used to develop the country’s agriculture. Investments in primarily commercial cultivation of cocoa, coffee and pepper are…
Rwanda 2017
Yearbook 2017 Rwanda. According to Countryaah.com, Rwanda President Paul Kagame was reelected for a third term in the August presidential election. The outcome was considered given in advance and Kagame himself described the choice as a “formality”. He received just over 98% of the vote, according to the Election Commission. Kagame had two approved challengers:…
Republic of the Congo 2017
Yearbook 2017 Congo. In July elections were held for Parliament. Few doubted that the Congolese Workers’ Party (PCT), led by President Denis Sassou-Nguesso and who has held government since 2002, would win this time as well. According to one of the opposition parties – the Pan-African Social Democratic Union (UPADS) – the PCT dominated the…
Nigeria 2017
Yearbook 2017 Nigeria. The extremist Muslim movement Boko Haram continued its wave of violence with a series of attacks against mosques, markets and military convoys. Among the deaths, for example, was a suicide attack in November against a mosque in the city of Mubi in the state of Adamawa. At least 50 people were killed…
Niger 2017
Yearbook 2017 Niger. Migration through Niger via Libya to Europe was a major political issue during the year. The EU stepped up efforts for Niger to curb the flow of hundreds of thousands of people north. According to Countryaah.com, the EU had allocated over SEK 5 billion to strengthen schooling, food supply, agriculture, infrastructure, democracy…
Namibia 2017
Yearbook 2017 Namibia. During a visit to Zimbabwe in April, President Hage Geingob drew attention when he spoke in praise of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his controversial and violent land reform when predominantly white farmers were forced to leave land. According to Countryaah.com, many Namibians are disappointed that the redistribution of agricultural land for…
Mozambique 2017
Yearbook 2017 Mozambique. It seemed during the year that the violence between the government and the former rebel movement Renamo, which has been going on since 2015, would end. Renamo’s leader Afonso Dhlakama announced a two-month ceasefire in January. According to Countryaah.com, peace talks had already begun and Dhlakama and the country’s President Filipe Nyusi…
Morocco 2017
Yearbook 2017 Morocco. In January, the African Union (AU) voted Morocco as its 55th member, since the country last year formally asked to join. Of the AU Member States, 39 voted in favor of the decision, which was however met by opposition from Algeria and South Africa, among others. Morocco itself chose to leave the…
Mauritius 2017
Yearbook 2017 Mauritius. In January, the Prime Minister since 2014, Anerood Jugnauth, announced his departure. He was succeeded as head of government by his son Pravind Jugnauth, who also took over as interior minister and also remained as finance minister. According to Countryaah.com, Anerood Jugnauth, who was President 2003-12 and has been Prime Minister several…
Mauritania 2017
Yearbook 2017 Mauritania. In March, Parliament’s lower house voted to abolish the indirectly elected House of Representatives, the Senate. Later that month, a majority of Senate members voted against the proposal. The country’s president, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, then called for a referendum on the issue, something he would have said earlier. Parts of the…
Mali 2017
Yearbook 2017 Mali. In January, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta hosted an African-French summit that gathered 35 heads of state and government in Mali’s capital Bamako. It was a political success that the meeting could be held despite the violence in the country. According to Countryaah.com, the government wanted to give a picture of Mali as…
Malawi 2017
Yearbook 2017 Malawi. In February, Agriculture Minister George Chaponda was fired by President Peter Mutharika. Chaponda was suspected of corruption in connection with the import of 100,000 tonnes of maize worth the equivalent of just over SEK 300 million from Zambia. During a house search, the police should have found just over SEK 2 million…
Madagascar 2017
Yearbook 2017 Madagascar. In March, the tropical cyclone Enawo pulled over Madagascar with torrential rain and winds of over 62 meters per second in the wind villages. At least 78 people lost their lives and about 250,000 people destroyed their homes. According to Countryaah.com, the weather hit the island when the country was already wrestling…
Libya 2017
Yearbook 2017 Libya, according to Digopaul, is a country located in Africa. The security situation in Libya remained unstable and is now classified as one of the world’s most dangerous and violent countries. In addition to political and military power struggles, jihadists and arms dealers have gained a strong foothold, while Libya has become the…
Liberia 2017
Yearbook 2017 Liberia. The October presidential election, in which Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s successor was to be elected, was expected to be a smooth story. Among the 20 candidates who were registered in July were former soccer pro George Weah, who came second after Johnson Sirleaf in the 2005 election, Vice President Joseph Boakai, senator and…
Lesotho 2017
Yearbook 2017 Lesotho. New elections in June led to the politically unstable Lesotho getting a new government led by former Prime Minister Tom Thabane. The election – the country’s third in five years – was announced after Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili lost a vote in confidence in March when several members of his party, the…
Kenya 2017
Yearbook 2017 Kenya. During the 2000s, Kenyan election years have meant increased tensions in society that have occasionally degenerated into deadly violence. This year was no exception. In January, the opposition formed the National Super Alliance (NASA), the largest party being the Coalition for Reform and Democracy (CORD), which in turn consists of the parties…
Ivory Coast 2017
Yearbook 2017 Ivory Coast. In early January, Daniel Kablan Duncan resigned as head of government, after which he was named vice president. New Prime Minister became the President’s former adviser Amadou Gon Coulibaly. In the following government transformation, Marcel Amon Tanoh became new foreign minister and Adama Koné new finance minister. On several other heavy…
Guinea-Bissau 2017
Yearbook 2017 Guinea Bissau. According to Countryaah.com, the political crisis that characterized 2016 continued this year as well. In May, the UN Security Council called on President José Mário Vaz to appoint a prime minister to be accepted by the State-carrying African Independence Party of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC). Vaz belongs to PAIGC himself…
Guinea 2017
Yearbook 2017 Guinea. In February, a strike broke out among the country’s teaching staff since the government decided to lower the salaries of several teachers. The protests were supported by many students and led to several clashes between students and the military police in the capital Conakry. The violence resulted in five people being shot…
Ghana 2017
Yearbook 2017 Ghana. According to Countryaah.com, Nana Akufo-Addo, who won the 2016 presidential election, swore in early January. Shortly thereafter, he presented a government of 36 ministers. Two of the heaviest items went to women: Shirley Ayorkor Botchway became Foreign Minister and Gloria Akuffo was appointed Minister of Justice. In total, just under a third…
Gambia 2017
Yearbook 2017 The Gambia. The year began with an extremely uncertain political situation when Yahya Jammeh, the country’s leader since 1994, lost the presidential election held on December 1, 2016. To the surprise of many, Jammeh initially admitted defeated by opposition candidate Adama Barrow. But what appeared to be a peaceful shift of power for…
Gabon 2017
Yearbook 2017 Gabon. Gabon’s Constitutional Court announced in July that parliamentary elections would be conducted “by April 2018”. The election was actually held at the end of 2016 but was moved to July. The new delay was linked to disagreement between the government and parts of the opposition on proposed constitutional reforms. The critics felt…
Ethiopia 2017
Yearbook 2017 Ethiopia. The threat of starvation increased during the year, despite rainfall in April and May. Three years of severe drought due to the weather phenomenon of El Niño had killed many livestock, and in the border with Somalia, people sought relief in temporary camps where food and clean water were scarce. According to…
Eswatini 2017
Yearbook 2017 Swaziland. Before the new school year in January, the government had decided that only Christianity could be taught in the field of religion. In new textbooks, the Bible would be the only sacred scripture to be addressed. Religions other than Christianity would be admitted only at college and university. According to Countryaah.com, the…
Eritrea 2017
Yearbook 2017 Eritrea. A book published during the year revealed that Eritrea’s regime is involved in cruel human trafficking of Eritrean refugees. Some victims may endure torture and sexual abuse, some are executed and relatives are pressured to pay the ransom. Experts have interviewed about 200 victims and point out a group of Eritrean men…