Blogs on Sub-Saharan Africa

I just found this Africa blog by Derek Catsam, that is hosted by FPA. In general, coverage of Africa seems lacking in mainstream US media and even in the blogosphere. When US media outlets do cover Africa, they seem to tell the same narrative of despotism and poverty. There's certainly plenty of despotism and poverty in the continent--but it's nice to find nuanced careful analyses that tackle different topics. It's great to find bloggers, like Catsam that offer their own analysis of events and highlight issues they find important. Ones that cover issues continuously and don't just offer the same synopsized recaps and over-played narratives. Clearly, an even better source would be blogs written by Africans, but I haven't done enough investigating to find them. In time.

Here's a quote I found interesting.

Expect COSATU and the South African Communist Party (SACP) to grow disenchanted with Zuma’s leadership of their tripartite alliance partner African National Congress just as it grew disenchanted with Mbeki’s leadership, and just as it grew disenchanted (but would never publicly admit it) with Nelson Mandela’s leadership, at least in the economic realm. And thus I believe that my ongoing prediction will come to pass: The ANC will someday face its most serious challenge from the left, in the form of a breakaway COSATU-SACP alliance, and not the right. recent transformations in the country’s politics could well lead to a re-merging of the ANC and the Congress of the People (COPE) if the leftist elements do eventually pursue their own course.