INDIA AND THE DEVELOPING AFRICA

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India–Africa relations are as old as the civilisations of the Nile and the Indus Valley. The earlier known contact between India and countries in Africa dates back to pre-historic times. Trade, people-to-people contact and cultural ties have remained significant for their effective engagement.

The relative complimentary strength and capacities of India and Africa make them natural economic and commercial partners. India provides a stable and profitable market to the goods and services of Africa. In turn, Africa has the potential to contribute to India’s energy and food security requirements.

India is competing with China for strategic influence and for drawing on from as many investment projects as possible in Africa. China remains the major contender to India in Africa, and has been investing in the continent for decades. China has heavily invested in energy, telecommunications, infrastructure projects, and construction of railways, roads, airports, hospitals and schools. This has helped in spurring economic growth in Africa.

India’s Africa policy majorly includes the India Africa Forum Summit (initiated in 2008), FOCUS Africa Programme and T-9 Initiative. These programmes necessitate intensive cooperation in security, trade and investment, development and energy partnership among others.

India is following the steps of China in Africa. Like China, India is also building Africa’s infrastructure in exchange for acquiring natural resources from the continent. Indian Oil Cooperation, ONGC Videsh Limited and Mittal Energy Limited have signed agreements with various oil-rich African countries in exchange for the development of their local infrastructure.

Therefore, India should commit to developing a strong relationship by engaging with the developing economies of Africa through various bilateral, regional and international groupings. This engagement should provide new directions to the growing relationship based on equality, mutual respect and cooperation in political, economic and social spheres.

[ > Centre for Public Policy Research – December 11, 2017 ]

Dreaming of Somaliland

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The last few months of 2017 have been characterised by global debates in relation to statehood recognition and its consequences for global order and the expansion of citizens’ rights.

Meanwhile, in Somaliland – north of Somalia, East Africa – Somalilanders, quietly and confidently, continued concretizing their own statehood dreams: over the last few months Somaliland has organised its third presidential election, which took place on November 13, demonstrating the strength of its electoral, multi-party and hybrid political system. All with the wish of one day being recognized by the world as a political entity in its own right.

Somaliland is a successful example of peace- and state-building. Unlike some other African countries – still suffering diverse violent conflicts and intensive flawed and/or militarized international intervention – in Somaliland, local actors were and are the main stakeholders leading, creating and sustaining a legitimated political order.

In times when we face new questions in relation to secessionist and independence movements, Somaliland offers an example how citizens can come to organise their own socio-political processes, making their voices heard so as to create fairer social orders without much “international aid”.

[ > openDemocracy  –  December 16, 2017 ]

ARGENTINA SOCCER CRIME CASE SHOWS EVOLUTION OF HOOLIGAN GROUPS

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A new round of arrests and charges in an unfolding racketeering case in Argentina involving a criminalized soccer fan club, or “barra brava,” points to these groups’ growing sophistication and capacity for violence.

On November 30, Argentine authorities announced that they had conducted more than 30 raids on various properties connected to the barra brava of the Club Atlético Independiente, one of the top-ranked teams in Argentina’s premier soccer league.

Argentina’s barras bravas have long been associated with smaller-scale criminal activities like extortion and drug dealing. But they have grown more powerful over the years thanks to protection from powerful teams that often have ties to potent political forces.

The Argentine government had taken steps to clamp down on such groups, including creating a government registry in early 2016 to attempt to track them. While these initiatives have achieved some results, they have also revealed the barras’ depth and sophistication, which will make these groups difficult to dismantle.

[ > InSight Crime — December 2017 ]