The term "new generation" or "new breed" of African leaders was a buzzword that was widely used in the mid-to-late 1990s to express optimism in a new generation of African leadership. It has since fallen out of favour, along with several of the leaders for which the term was used.
In the 1980s and 1990s, increasingly-many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa were holding multiparty elections. The Cold War, the proxy wars of the United States and Soviet Union, as well as apartheid in South Africa, had come to an end. A new generation of African leaders had been anointed who promised to transform their continent. The dream was dubbed the African Renaissance. The concept is often defined in contrast to the big man syndrome, the autocratic rule by the so-called "big men" of African politics during the first two decades after independence.
When US President Bill Clinton made his African journey in March 1998, he helped popularize this notion when he said he placed hope in a "new generation of African leaders" devoted to democracy and economic reforms. Although Clinton did not identify the African leaders by name, it is generally assumed that he was referring to, among others, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia and Isaias Afewerki of Eritrea. [1] Other leaders were later added that list, including Ghana's Jerry Rawlings, Mozambique's Joaquim Chissano and South Africa's Thabo Mbeki.
In contrast, the champions of African independence in the 1960s, such as Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, Patrice Lumumba, Jomo Kenyatta, Kenneth Kaunda, Robert Mugabe, and occasionally the diasporan Pan-Africanists W. E. B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey are sometimes called "the old generation of African leaders" (in the 1960s they were also called "new generation of nationalist leaders", "new generation of Pan-Africanists" and ironically "new generation of African leaders").
With the outbreak of the Second Congo War and the Eritrean-Ethiopian War, many of the "new generation of African leaders" warred against one another, and optimism was lost. Furthermore, many of the leaders failed to deliver adequate democracy, peace, and development and had an inclination to cling to power.
In 2010, the Ghanaian economist George Ayittey characterized the "new and angry generation of young African graduates and professionals" as the "Cheetah Generation", which could look at Africa's problems from a fresh perspective, apart from the failed governmental policies of the "Hippo Generation" of leaders, which was still in a "1960s-era mentality". Ayittey saw in that little difference between the currently-ruling "new generation of African leaders" and their predecessors dating from the 1960s. [2]
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The notion of a "new generation of African leaders" has also come to mean not only the above named presidents, but also a vision of a new breed of African politicians, civil servants, business leaders etc.
The similar term "new generation of black leaders" is also used, albeit mostly in the context of diasporan Africa.
Uganda is a presidential republic in which the President of Uganda is the head of state and the prime minister is the head of government business. There is a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is given to both the government and the National Assembly. The system is based on a democratic parliamentary system with equal rights for all citizens over 18 years of age, though a bill before the national government would make homosexuality a crime punishable by death.
The history of Uganda comprises the history of the people who inhabited the territory of present-day Uganda before the establishment of the Republic of Uganda, and the history of that country once it was established. Evidence from the Paleolithic era shows humans have inhabited Uganda for at least 50,000 years. The forests of Uganda were gradually cleared for agriculture by people who probably spoke Central Sudanic languages.
The African Renaissance is the concept that the African people shall overcome the current challenges confronting the continent and achieve cultural, scientific, and economic renewal. This concept was first articulated by Cheikh Anta Diop in a series of essays between 1946 and 1960, later collected in a book titled Towards the African Renaissance. Diop's ideas were further popularized by former President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki during his tenure as Deputy President, where the African Renaissance continues to play a key role in the post-apartheid intellectual agenda.
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa is a Ugandan politician and retired senior military officer who has been the 9th and current President of Uganda since 26 January 1986. Museveni spearheaded rebellions with aid of then current military general Tito Okello and general Bale Travor that toppled Ugandan presidents Milton Obote and Idi Amin before he captured power in 1986.
The History of Uganda from 1979 to 1986 comprises the history of Uganda since the end of the dictatorship of Idi Amin. This period has seen the second rule of Milton Obote and the presidency of Yoweri Museveni since 1986, in which Ugandan politics have been dominated by the National Resistance Movement.
The National Resistance Movement has been the ruling party in Uganda since 1986.
The First Congo War (1996–1997), also nicknamed Africa's First World War, was a civil war and international military conflict which took place mostly in Zaire, with major spillovers into Sudan and Uganda. The conflict culminated in a foreign invasion that replaced Zairean president Mobutu Sese Seko with the rebel leader Laurent-Désiré Kabila. Kabila's unstable government subsequently came into conflict with his allies, setting the stage for the Second Congo War in 1998–2003.
The Uganda Electoral Commission (EC) provides national elections for a president and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term. The Parliament is composed of members directly elected to represent constituencies, and one woman representative for every district; as well representatives of special interest groups, including the army, youth, workers and persons with disabilities.
The Forum for Democratic Change, founded on 16 December 2004, is the main opposition party in Uganda. The FDC was founded as an umbrella body called Reform Agenda, mostly for disenchanted former members and followers of President Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Movement (NRM). Party president Kizza Besigye, formerly a close ally of Museveni, was a presidential candidate in 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 presidential elections. In November 2012, Mugisha Muntu was elected as President of the FDC until November 2017 when he was defeated by Patrick Oboi Amuriat the current party President until 2022.
The Uganda People's Congress is a political party in Uganda.
Janet Kainembabazi Museveni is a Ugandan politician who has been the First Lady of Uganda since 1986. She is married to President Yoweri Museveni, with whom she has four children. She has been Cabinet Minister of Education and Sports in the Ugandan Cabinet, since 6 June 2016, although her own education record is questioned. She previously served as Minister for Karamoja Affairs in the Cabinet of Uganda from 27 May 2011 until 6 June 2016. She also served as the elected Member of Parliament representing Ruhaama County in Ntungamo District, between 2011 and 2016. She published her autobiography, My Life's Journey, in 2011.
Salim Saleh is a retired Ugandan military officer who served in the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF), the armed forces of Uganda. He is a brother to the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, and an adviser to the President on military matters. He served as Minister of State for microfinance from 2006 to 2008. Saleh has featured in controversies regarding corruption, including being implicated by the UN Security Council for plundering natural resources in Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Fred Gisa Rwigyema was a Rwandan politician and military officer. He was the founder of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a political and military force formed by Rwandan Tutsi exile descendants of those forced to leave the country after the 1959 Hutu Revolution.
Letlapa Mphahlele is a member of the National Assembly of South Africa who represents the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania.
Presidential elections were held in Uganda on 12 March 2001. The incumbent Yoweri Museveni won 69% of the vote and was elected to a second term. All candidates were independents, as political parties were banned at the time. Voter turnout was 70.3%.
Ali Kirunda Kivejinja, more commonly known as Kirunda Kivejinja, was a veteran Ugandan politician and senior presidential advisor to the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni. He at the time of his demise was the Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister without portfolio in the Ugandan Cabinet.
General elections were held in Uganda on 18 February 2016 to elect the President and Parliament. Polling day was declared a national holiday.
Operation Thunderbolt was the codename for a military offensive by the South Sudanese SPLA rebel group and its allies during the Second Sudanese Civil War. The operation aimed at conquering several towns in Western and Central Equatoria, most importantly Yei, which served as strongholds for the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and helped the Sudanese government to supply its allies, the Ugandan insurgents of the WNBF and UNRF (II) based in Zaire. These pro-Sudanese forces were defeated and driven from Zaire by the SPLA and its allies, namely Uganda and the AFDL, in course of the First Congo War, thus allowing the SPLA launch Operation Thunderbolt from the Zairian side of the border. Covertly supported by expeditionary forces from Uganda, Ethiopia, and Eritrea, the SPLA's offensive was a major success, with several SAF garrison towns falling to the South Sudanese rebels in a matter of days. Yei was encircled and put under siege on 11 March 1997. At the same time, a large group of WNBF fighters as well as SAF, FAZ, and ex-Rwandan Armed Forces soldiers was trying to escape from Zaire to Yei. The column was ambushed and destroyed by the SPLA, allowing it to capture Yei shortly afterward. Following this victory, the South Sudanese rebels continued their offensive until late April, capturing several other towns in Equatoria and preparing further anti-government campaigns.
The following lists events that happened during 2021 in East Africa. The countries listed are those described in the United Nations geoscheme for East Africa: Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique, Réunion, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
