AFP: Observers urge respect for Ghana election results – Incumbent John Dramani Mahama has been declared the winner of the Ghanaian presidential election, after the opposition party alleged fraud in a nation attempting to “uphold its image as a model of African democracy.” Observers from the Commonwealth and ECOWAS report that voting appeared peaceful and transparent. Mahama won with 50.7 percent of the vote, to Akufo-Addo’s 47.74 percent. (Ben Simon)
NYTimes: Opinion: Susan Rice and Africa’s Despots – As we await President Obama’s nomination for the next U.S. Secretary of State, some are concerned about Susan Rice’s “surprising and unsettling sympathy for Africa’s despots.” While Rice has lauded the growing interest in individual freedom and a movement away from repressive, one-party systems in Africa, critics call her optimism misplaced. (Salem Solomon)
Devex: In Africa’s malaria fight, a $3.6B funding gap – The Roll Back Malaria Partnership has announced a $3.6 billion funding gap on malaria in Africa, a funding shortfall that could reverse the gains in the fight against malaria in Africa. In particular, Nigeria, the Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Mauritania, Niger and Sierra Leone are in desperate need of attention. (Jenny Lei Ravelo)
AllAfrica: Post 2015 – What Women Want – As world leaders begin to draft the Post-2015 Development Framework, many argue that “gender should not be treated in isolation, but be mainstreamed in the framework.” Many African women are mobilizing to ensure that issues of importance to them are integrated into the next round of MDGS, and that the new MDGs must address social and political dynamics that create both vertical and horizontal structural inequalities. (Saeanna Chingamuka)
