By Barak Barfi Qaddafi’s fall holds great promise for a people bereft of freedom for 42 years. But, the NTC having stumbled so far, it will have to redouble its efforts to ensure it wins the peace it fought for. Six months after Libyan rebels took up arms against the country’s …

By Prof George Joffe Many believed that Colonel Gaddafi’s regime in Libya would withstand the gale of change sweeping the Arab world because of its reputation for brutality which had fragmented the six million-strong population over the past 42 years. Its likely disappearance now is all the more surprising because …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Demand for sugar to hit 700,000 tonnes in 10 years. Only 350,000 tonnes are being produced today. If President Yoweri Museveni gets his way, one-third of the 30,000 hectare Mabira rainforest will be mowed down to give way for the Mehta Group to plant sugarcane. If …

Mubatsi Asinja Habati Human Rights Watch, an international human rights organisation, works for the promotion and protection of human rights globally. The Independent’s Mubatsi Asinja Habati spoke to the organisation’s Africa Division Executive Director, Daniel Bekele. What do you make of Human Rights Watch work in Africa? In Africa we …

By Mubatsi Asinja Habati Somalia war enters new phase after Mogadishu is captured On the night of Saturday August 6, the al-Shabaab fled the Somali capital Mogadishu under the cover of darkness. Witnesses described truckloads of heavily armed Shabaab fighters driving away under the cover of darkness and the beleaguered …

By Andrew M. Mwenda In an ethically diverse state, change in government is not change in governance; it’s replacement of one looting coalition by another. A lot of studies show that societies, nations and communities that have high levels of ethnic, racial or religious diversity tend to be poor at …

By Joseph Rwagatare No country in this world has ever developed solely on ideas generated by its citizens. Talking or writing about famine can elicit unexpected reactions, including jokes. There was this one reported in the Tanzanian Mail on Sunday of August 7, 2011 by a correspondent on the current …

By Barry Eichengreen The US debt-ceiling fiasco has raised doubts about the advisability of holding dollars, while Europe’s debt crisis has fueled doubt on the euro’s survival. For more than a half-century, the US dollar has been not only America’s currency, but the world’s as well. It has been the …

By Elia Kisembo The role of cultural leaders needs to be revised to cater for both the traditional and modern states. Recent years have witnessed a resurgence of pre-colonial political institutions across Africa. The governments of both Uganda and Ghana took a lead in constitutional reforms in the 1990s restoring …

State House fails to show degraded part of Mabira forest After claiming that President Museveni wanted to give out the degraded part of Mabira forest for sugar growing expansion, State House officials  were yesterday evening dumb-mouthed as they could not locate and show to a team of journalists that part of the …