Africa Archives - Democracy Digest

Angolan kleptocrat addresses Yale, as anti-corruption activist faces trial

Outspoken Angolan human rights activist and journalist Rafael Marques de Morais* will be tried in camera for a story he wrote two years ago exposing alleged corruption, according to news reports:

The charges relate to a story that Marques wrote in 2016 about a purchase of land by former attorney-general Joao Maria de Sousa. A court hearing on Monday was adjourned until 24 April after De Souza’s lawyers argued that as a former attorney-general he has special privileges.

The reports coincide with news that Isabel dos Santos, Africa’s richest woman, was scheduled to address Yale University’s Undergraduate Association for African Peace and Development (YAAPD):

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Dos Santos (right) is the former chairwoman of Sonangol, Angola’s state-owned oil company, and the daughter of former President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. She has been accused of corruption and graft. In 2015, Transparency International, a global monitoring group, identified dos Santos as a “prime example” of grand corruption.

The problem with YAAPD’s speaker selection is that ordinary Angolans are acutely aware that the dos Santos family’s wealth came from political connections, not entrepreneurship, said Justin Pearce, an Angola expert at the University of Cambridge.

Corruption used to be so widespread in Angola that “gasosa,” the Portuguese word for a fizzy drink, became a common term for bribes. Now, President Joao Lourenco is on a drive to change that — and the son of his predecessor could soon be put on trial, Bloomberg adds. The son of Angola’s former president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, planned to siphon off $1.5bn when he ran the oil-rich country’s sovereign wealth fund, the finance ministry said this week. Jose Filomeno dos Santos, nicknamed “Zenu”, is accused of “fraud, misappropriation of funds, money laundering and associating with criminals”

The Committee to Protect Journalists has condemned the Angolan authorities’ decision to continue the trial of journalists Morais, who runs the anti-corruption news website Maka Angola, and Mariano Bras Lourenco behind closed doors instead of in open court. The two were charged in June 2017 with crimes against the state, the CPJ reports:

Marques de Morais told CPJ that the trial judge, Josina Falcão, today ruled that proceedings will continue in the office of the attorney general, Hélder Fernando Pitta Grós, on April 24. Former Attorney General João Maria de Sousa, who filed charges against the two journalists, has refused to appear in open court claiming he has special privileges as the former attorney general, according to Marques de Morais and a report from Agence France-Presse. The defense team will also not be allowed to question de Sousa directly, but will have to submit questions to the judge who will then determine which questions are appropriate, according to Marques de Morais and Radio France Internationale.

“Today’s developments flout the basic right to equality before the law, and call into question whether the state has something to hide,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Angela Quintal. “We urge Angolan authorities to ensure that journalists Marques de Morais and Mariano Bras Lourenco receive a fair, transparent trial.”

*One of five people awarded the 2017 Democracy Award from the National Endowment for Democracy.

Ethiopia: repression continues despite new Oromo Prime Minister

The ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front coalition on Tuesday voted in the 42-year-old Abiy Ahmed, a retired lieutenant general from Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo, to take over the government, Reuters reports:

Ethiopia is Africa’s second most populous country and has had the fastest growing economy on the continent for the past decade, but protests that began in 2015 have caused the biggest threat to the EPRDF since it took power in 1991.

Political commentator Mengistu Assefa expressed reservations about Abiy, saying: “I do not think he can bring a big change.” What is needed, he said, is a change of government to bring about fundamental political change. “I would like to ask him if he would lift the current state of emergency and bring to justice the brutal armed forces,” he told Deutsche Welle.

The incoming prime minister must prioritize addressing the country’s deep-rooted human rights crisis, said Amnesty International. But repression of civil society and opposition activists continues despite the change in leadership.

Journalist Eskinder Nega and opposition politician Andualem Aragie are among a wave of high-profile prisoners to be re-arrested after they were released last month through a government amnesty that was meant to jumpstart a national dialogue, according to reports.

Some 40 civil society groups, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, yesterday sent a joint letter to Ethiopia’s prime minister-designate, urging him to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of recently arrested journalists, and human rights defenders.

“The re-arrest and inhumane detention of 2012 Freedom to Write Award honoree Eskinder Nega is an outrageous attack on the right of free expression in Ethiopia, and contravenes all recent positive progress the government has made toward creating a safe environment for independent voices,” said PEN America.

“Our condition in prison is inhuman, to say the least. Better to call it jam-packed than imprisoned,” Eskinder wrote in a message to friends and supporters:

About 200 of us are packed in a 5 by 8 meter room divided in three sections. Unable to sit or lay down comfortably, and with limited access to a toilet. Not a single human being deserved this regardless of the crime, let alone us who were captured unjustly. The global community should be aware of such case and use every possible means to bring an end to our suffering immediately.

Ethiopia’s prime minister-elect is the first from the Oromo ethnic group that’s been at the forefront of anti-government protests. But is he a young reformer or an entrenched military man? Al Jazeera asks.

The problems of ethnicity were supposedly eliminated in 1991 when rebels of the Tigray People’s Liberation Movement swept to power in Addis Ababa. Under the brilliant, but ruthless, Meles Zenawi a new system of “ethnic federalism” was introduced, notes Martin Plaut, a fellow at the University of London’s Institute of Commonwealth Studies.

Each ethnic group was encouraged to develop local self-government, while being guaranteed representation at the centre. A system of ethnic parties was established and nurtured. These came together in the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), a coalition of four political movements, he writes for the New Statesman:

Gradually, however, each of the four constituent parties has developed its own political culture. Abiy Ahmed emerged as a key player in what became known as “Team Lemma”, which has been steering change in recent months. The team resisted Tigrayan hegemony in order to transform EPRDF from within, while at the same time governing Oromia legitimately and serving local needs. It would appear that this has now finally succeeded.

“Some cast doubt on Ahmed’s ability to lead this complex transformation, pointing out that he is well connected to the security services,” adds Plaut, the author of Understanding Eritrea.. “Others suggest that his mixed religious background — he has a Christian mother and a Muslim father — his education, and his fluency in Amharic, Oromo, and Tigrinya as making him well qualified for the job.”

Far from being a footnote in the Oromo struggle, musicians like Haacaaluu Hundeessa (above) have been its centre of gravity, African Arguments adds.

Generative adversarial networks: how fake news fuels authoritarians

The erosion of democratic norms in the advanced liberal democracies has given autocratic leaders the green light to do the same, reports suggest.

“Fake news is being used as a weapon, a blunt instrument to silence dissent in places like Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia. And then on top of that, China is increasingly supporting authoritarian regimes,” says Griffith University’s Lee Morgenbesser.

“The region has never had a lot of democracy, but this is all happening at the same time and that’s why the picture looks bad,” he tells the Sydney Morning Herald.

The recent revelations that Cambridge Analytica used the Facebook data of 50 million Americans, taken without their permission, to help them micro-target voters during the 2016 presidential election, has set off a firestorm, Luke Barnes writes for ThinkProgress. But the roots of the problem extend far deeper than one country and one election. Cambridge Analytica honed its techniques in a host of countries – like Kenya – with political institutions that are younger, more fragile, and far more vulnerable to interference.

“The problem that you have in Kenya, as in a lot of these countries, is that there are these very deep underlying socio-economic tensions and ethnic divisions,” says Patrick Merloe, (right), director of electoral programs at the National Democratic Institute [a core institute of the National Endowment for Democracy].

The fight against disinformation is part of a global battle to sway minds and gives dictators to restrict freedom of expression, notes Andrés Ortega, senior research fellow at the Elcano Royal Institute, a major Spanish foreign affairs think tank:

One need not go as far as China to confirm this. As Yarik Turianskyi of the South African Institute of International Affairs points out, at least 10 African countries – Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Mali, Uganda and Zimbabwe – closed social media websites and/or messaging applications during or after elections in the wake of protests in 2016.

The Malaysian government’s proposed legislation to curb disinformation would define as fake news “any news, information, data and reports which are wholly or partly false, whether in the form of features, visuals or audio recordings or in any other form capable of suggesting words or ideas,” the Washington Post adds:

It would cover those who create, offer, circulate, print or publish fake news or publications containing fake news, and impose a 10-year jail term, a fine of up to $128,000, or both, at the whim of the government. The law would apply to those overseas as well as inside Malaysia. A fact sheet outlining hypothetical examples includes anyone who knowingly offers false information to a blogger, as well as cases that seem to encompass acts of slander or false advertising.

But, the Post notes, the proposal looks more like a tool of arbitrary government control and intimidation. Singapore is holding hearings on a similar scheme. Other closed systems, such as China, long ago perfected the art. It is called censorship,” the Post concludes.

Generative adversarial networks

Fake news is bad enough already, but something much nastier is just around the corner, argues Jesse Lempel, an editor of the Harvard Law Review:

As Evelyn Douek explained, the “next frontier” of fake news will feature machine-learning software that can cheaply produce convincing audio or video of almost anyone saying or doing just about anything. These may be “digital avatars” built from generative adversarial networks (GANs), or they may rely on simpler face-swapping technology to create “deep fakes.” The effect is the same: fake videos that look frighteningly real.

Victims of deep fakes may successfully bring “right of publicity” claims against online platforms, thereby forcing the platforms to systematically police such content, but such a response is no panacea, he writes for Lawfare.

$500m fraud case roils Angola’s ‘oil-soaked kleptocracy’

One of the world’s most notorious kleptocracies is in the news again.

The son of José Eduardo dos Santos, the former Angolan president, has been named as a suspect in an alleged $500m fraud involving the oil-rich southern African country’s central bank, the Financial Times reports:

José Filomeno dos Santos, who was removed as head of Angola’s $5bn sovereign wealth fund in January by his father’s successor, João Lourenço, was formally accused on Monday, the prosecutor-general’s office said. Prosecutors have also barred Mr dos Santos from leaving the country. The investigation involves claims that the $500m was improperly transferred abroad from an account at the central bank…..Maka Angola, a site run by Rafael Marques de Morais (left), an Angolan investigative journalist, reported in January that the alleged transfer took place last year. It was part of a scheme involving a fictitious offer by international investors to lend to the Angolan government.

Mineral-rich Angola has been described as an oil-soaked kleptocracy built on inequality, and the Lourenco government is ostensibly committed to fighting corruption.

Journalist and activist Rafael Marques de Morais has spent nearly two decades uncovering sleazy dealings and official malfeasance. Now he finds himself on trial. His crime? An exposé about a shady land deal published in November 2016, the Washington Post reports:

In a recent blog post on his anti-corruption website, Maka Angola, Mr. de Morais recalled his offending language: “The loyalty and support of the President’s appointees is secured by allowing them swill at the same trough.” …Mr. de Morais has been taking risks to expose corruption for a long time. In 1999, he wrote an article in a small newspaper in which he described Mr. dos Santos as a corrupt dictator. He spent 43 days in prison and has been repeatedly threatened since. He investigated the diamond industry for a book, “Blood Diamonds: Corruption and Torture in Angola.” Last year he was one of five people awarded the Democracy Award from the National Endowment for Democracy.

The new government has begun to investigate the dos Santos kleptocracy, sending the clear message that impunity would no longer be tolerated, reports suggest.

If the new president really wants to battle fraud, he should let Mr. de Morais go free, perhaps to teach a new generation of journalists how to hold the powerful to account, the Post adds. RTWT

Democracy under pressure: polarization and repression increasing worldwide

The quality of worldwide democracy and governance has fallen to its lowest level in 12 years, with much of the decline occurring in free societies where some governments rule with an increasingly arbitrary hand, according to a new study from the Bertelsmann Stiftung, a Germany-based think-tank, the FT’s Tony Barber writes:

Some 3.3bn people are estimated to live under autocratic political systems, the largest number since the research group started its survey in 2006, while 4.2bn people are estimated to live in democracies. Of 129 countries analysed, the Bertelsmann report classifies 71 as democracies and 58 as autocracies. The last survey classified 74 countries as democracies and 55 as autocracies. ….

“It is not so much the slight increase in the number of autocracies that is worrying. More problematic is the fact that civil rights are being curtailed and the rule of law undermined in an increasing number of democracies as well,” says the report, released on Thursday. “Former beacons of democratisation such as Brazil, Poland and Turkey are among the countries that have fallen the most.”

“The quality of democracy, market economy and governance has fallen to its lowest level in twelve years on a worldwide average,” the latest Bertelsmann Transformation Index states. Some 40 governments, including some advanced democracies, have curtailed the rule of law over the past two years, and 50 countries have seen restrictions on political freedoms, says BTI, which has regularly measured political and economic trends in 129 developing and transformation countries.

“Many governments are unable to respond adequately to the growing social, ethnic and religious conflicts – or oftentimes even foment these tensions,” the report adds. “From our point of view, a major reason for the poor results is that many governments are not capable or inclined to react to social conflicts by engaging in dialog and seeking a consensus.”

Democracies govern better than autocracies

Only Burkina Faso and Sri Lanka were making significant progress towards democracy during the period under review, the report observes:

By contrast, there are a total of 13 countries, including Mozambique, Turkey and Yemen, where the political situation has become significantly worse. Five of these 13 countries no longer meet minimum standards for democracy: Bangladesh, Lebanon, Mozambique, Nicaragua and Uganda, where democracy has been gradually undermined for years, are under autocratic rule. It was often shortcomings in the quality of elections that tipped the balance.

These developments are worrying for citizens because corruption, social exclusion and barriers to fair economic competition continue to be more prevalent in autocracies, the report contends:

According to the BTI, while 12 democracies have combated corruption successfully, only one autocracy did so. Only two autocracies, but eleven democracies have achieved sufficient equal opportunity. 27 democracies, but only two autocracies exhibit well-functioning market and competitive systems.

“The BTI clearly shows that anti-democratic systems are by no means more stable and efficient than democratic ones,” says Aart De Geus, BTI’s CEO.

It is true that China, whose share of the global economy has increased the most in the last ten years, is considered by many to be a prime example of prosperity in a state of absence of freedom, the report adds:

However, those who attribute China’s economic success solely to its political system fail to recognize the predominantly poor economic results of autocracies as a whole – and the dangers of a cult of personality. This can be seen clearly by looking at other autocratic systems such as Russia, Thailand and Venezuela. Here, according to the BTI experts, both economic as well as democratic development have been stagnating for years.

The report, conducted between February 2015 and January 2017, identifies five countries — Bangladesh, Lebanon, Mozambique, Nicaragua and Uganda — as no longer meeting minimum standards of democracy, the FT adds.

“These five new autocracies have crossed a threshold that the defective democracies of Honduras, Hungary, Moldova, Niger, the Philippines and Turkey are nearing, though to varying degrees,” the study says. It judges that Poland, “though much further away, is inching its way downward”.

In east-central Europe, the notion of “illiberal democracy” — a regime in which one party claiming a monopoly on national identity and tradition maintains itself permanently in power — has become part of the political landscape, notes George Weigel, a board member of the National Endowment for Democracy, the Washington-based democracy assistance group. There, too, one finds open talk of the “Salazar model” — a relatively benign authoritarianism that uses state power to manage politics, the economy, and the culture in order to insulate the people from the riptides of post-modernity, he writes for National Affairs.

BTI says the world is experiencing “increasing political instability and a rapid decline in the acceptance of democratic institutions”.

“In more and more countries, government leaders are deliberately undermining the checks and balances designed to hold the executive accountable, thereby securing not only their own power, but a system of patronage and the capacity to divert state resources for their own personal gain,” the report says.

“The long-term trend of increasing restrictions on political freedom and the rule of law continues unabated. While in recent years this was primarily due to greater repression in hardening autocracies, in this study there are above all some relatively advanced transformation countries whose governments are showing a more authoritarian leaning.”

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