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This week's African Union summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh was dominated by the problems of Zimbabwe. Coming just three days after the country's highly controversial second-round vote, this was Robert Mugabe's first international appearance since being re-elected president. In the old days of the Organisation of African Unity, the continental body could quite reasonably have been described as a dictators' club. There were always one or two honourable exceptions - Senegal for instance, and Botswana. Yet otherwise, between the military coup plotters and the presidents-for-life, the majority of those attending summits would have been in no position to criticise any of their colleagues for lack of democracy. But things are changing. New democracies The old democracies - those honourable exceptions of the past -... [read full story]
