On 27 March 2009, the Centre co-sponsored with RUSI a one-day international conference, in Whitehall, on “Prosecuting Presidents”. This discussed the role of the International Criminal Court in Sudan and, potentially, in Zimbabwe. For information please see the RUSI website and the conference summary below.

Conferences


Prosecuting Presidents: The Challenges of International Indictments of African Leaders
On 27 March 2009, the CFPA co-sponsored with the Royal United Services Institute an international conference in Whitehall, London. The conference, which played to a full house, discussed the implications of the International Criminal Court’s prosecution of the Sudanese president, and the possible indictment of Robert Mugabe. The issues in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda were also discussed. International experts from Africa, US and Europe attended as well as 120 delegates and media. The various sides in the Sudanese internal conflicts, both on the panel and in the audience, made sure the debate was very lively. Video highlights may be viewed here.




The Horn of Africa
The Centre co-sponsored with RUSI in Whitehall, London, a one-day international conference on 23 October 2008, entitled Crisis in the Horn of Africa. The event, with maximum attendance, concentrated on the threat of piracy in the region.




“Post-Conflict Security, Justice and Reconciliation in Africa”
The Centre co-sponsored and co-chaired this conference in conjunction with the Royal United Services Institute, in Whitehall, on 26 November 2007. Speakers included Geofrey Mugumya (AU Commission), Professor Akua Kuenyehia (Vice President, ICC) Rakiya Omaar (Director African Rights, Kigali), Dr Caroline Ziemke (IDA, Washington) and Dr Knox Chitiyo, Head of Africa Programme, RUSI.

The key question was whether the International Criminal Court had been effective in Africa. It was suggested that indigenous systems, for example, the South African Truth and Reconciliation process, could complement what was often seen in Africa as Eurocentric approaches.



Beijing conference
On 26 July 2007, the Centre co-sponsored with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences an international conference, “Symposium on China-Sudan Relations”, in Beijing. The symposium brought together eminent Chinese, European and Sudanese scholars to discuss, inter alia, Darfur, oil politics and Chinese policy on Africa. A lively debate was spearheaded by an opponent of Khartoum, Professor Mohamed Salih, the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, Professor Stephen Chan (LSE, SOAS) and Richard Dowden, director of the Royal African Society. Private meetings with senior Chinese experts on Africa also helped to produce a constructive dialogue which seemed to have a practical, and positive, impact on Chinese Darfur policy at the UN, and in Beijing’s distancing itself from the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe.


Darfur conference with RUSI
The Centre co-hosted with the Royal United Services Institute, the UK's most distinguished security think tank, a conference on the peace process in Darfur. It was held on 6 July 2006 at RUSI in Whitehall. About 200 people attended the successful event, including major players from all factions in the Darfur conflict.

Media events
The Centre is asked on a daily basis to contribute expert opinion to a wide range of print, TV and radio outlets. Recent examples:

Newspapers

Business Day (Johannesburg) Op eds
“UN at sixes and sevens over two African crises”, 16 July 2008
“Joining the dots of blood in Pakistan’s badlands”, 29 November 2008
“Political solution is needed to Horn of Africa piracy”, 19 December 2008
“Predictions 2009: dark clouds and several surprising silver linings” 7 January 2009.
“Chad is the first step to achieving peace in Darfur”, 16 February 2009
“Africa suspicious of court’s motives in taking on Bashir,” 7 March 2009

Washington Times
“Zimbabwe’s suicide: will Mugabe cling to power?” 9 June 2008
“Peaceful liberation: how a dictatorship fell in the Maldives”, 27 November 2008

The Scotsman
“Intervention in Zimbabwe” 15 July 2008

Magazines

RUSI Journal
Book review: “Dining with Mugabe: The untold story of freedom fighter who became a tyrant” Heidi Holland, August 2008

“The Al Jazeera Effect: How the new global media are reshaping world politics”, Philip Seib, August 2008.

“Nights in the Pink Motel,” Robert Earle, February 2009

Defence Focus (in-house magazine UK Ministry of Defence)
“Zimbabwe’s suicide”, July 2008

“Afghanistan – the forgotten war”, March 2009

Magazine blog

Prospect magazine
“ICC’s awful timing,” 5 March 2009

Radio
BBC Radio, World Service, 16 March 2009, Sudan: impact of arrest warrants
LBC radio, 4 March 2009, terror attack on Sri Lankan cricketers
BBC Radio Wales 30 January 2009 Zimbabwe
BBC Radio (Wales) 21 January 2009, Obama’s new foreign policy
Radio 702, Johannesburg, 14 January, Piracy in the Horn (50 minutes)
Radio 702, 8 January 2009, economic predictions for 2009
BBC Radio (Leeds) 8 January 2009 predictions for 2009
London Broadcasting Corporation, 14 October 2008, Counter-terrorism in the UK
BBC Radio (Wales) 16 September 2008 Afghanistan
BBC Radio (Wales) 21 August 2008, Terrorism
BBC Radio (Wales) 12 July 2008, security
BBC Radio 2, Jeremy Vine show, 1 July 2008, international security
BBC Radio Wales, 25 June 2008, British defence policy
BBC Radio Wales, 18 June 2008, terrorism

TV
Al Jazeera 15 April 2009, Somali piracy
Press TV (Iran) 28 January 2009 Obama’s new policy in the Middle East
Iranian TV, 8 January, anniversary of the 1979 revolution.
Iranian TV, 2 December 2008, debate on US foreign policy
Iranian TV 2 November 2008 US elections
Al Jazeera, 2 November 2008, China’s positive role in Africa
BBC News 24 TV Iraq 18 September 2008
BBC 2 TV Newsnight 16 September Sudan/role of ICC
Al Jazeera, 1 August 2008, Zimbabwe
Press TV 10 July 2008, Zimbabwe
Iranian TV 2 July International security
Al Jazeera, 1 July 2008, Zimbabwe
Press TV 24 June 2008, Darfur

Interviewed by
Western Mail, 4 March 09, Terrorism in Pakistan,
Reuters (Johannesburg), 2 March 2009, Zimbabwe.
Eton International Forum, 2 March, War on Terror
Reuters, 23 February, 2009 Zimbabwe