Can Zackie Achmat change South Africa from inside Parliament? →

May 24, 2024 by Andrew Green in Foreign Policy

One of the most successful activists in South African history, Achmat crusaded against apartheid and, after the country’s democratic transition in 1994, to secure LGBTQ+ equality. He drew international attention in the late 1990s when he launched the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), a grassroots movement that helped win affordable access to HIV treatment globally. But he now believes he has reached the limits of outsider activism in South Africa.
Taking advantage of a 2023 change to the electoral law that allowed candidates to run for legislative seats without the backing of a party for the first time, Achmat has spent the past year assembling movements of young people, people with disabilities, people without secure housing, and members of the LGBTQ+ community and hopes to ride their support into office. He is not promising them legislative success if elected. In fact, he is not promising them anything except to use his parliamentary privileges to help compel the government to meet specific demands they believe will help secure their rights and improve their lives. Essentially, Achmat is positioning himself to be the outsider’s insider.

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If African governments won't act, the people will →

May 26, 2020 by Andrew Green in Foreign Policy

With frustration rising over haphazard responses to the coronavirus, community networks are filling the void across the continent. Read more.

A light unto some nations →

March 06, 2018 by Andrew Green in Foreign Policy

Israel is offering tens of thousands of asylum seekers from Africa only one alternative to deportation: detention with no known end date or guarantee of asylum. Read more.

Inside Israel's secret program to get rid of African refugees →

June 27, 2017 by Andrew Green in Foreign Policy

It begins with furtive promises by Israeli authorities of asylum and work opportunities in Rwanda and Uganda. Once the Sudanese and Eritrean asylum-seekers reach the East African countries, they describe a remarkably similar ordeal: They meet someone who presents himself as a government agent at the airport, bypass immigration, move to a house or hotel that quickly feels like a prison, and are eventually pressured to leave the country. For the Eritreans, it is from Rwanda to Uganda. For Sudanese, it is from Uganda to South Sudan or Sudan. The process appears designed not just to discard unwanted refugees, but to shield the Israeli, Rwandan, and Ugandan governments from any political or legal accountability.

My year-long investigation into Israel's secret scheme to discard Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers. Read more.

Update: I spoke to PRI's The World program on July 5. Listen here.

The Olympic team with no flag →

July 01, 2016 by Andrew Green in Foreign Policy

The first time Yiech Pur Biel boarded a plane, in 2005, it was to escape the war-torn corner of southern Sudan where he grew up. He has lived in a refugee camp in northwestern Kenya ever since. If all goes as planned, the second time he boards a plane, in just a few weeks, it will be to make history. Biel is slated to compete in the 800-meter track and field event at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro as a member of the first-ever Refugee Olympic Team.

Update: I spoke to WBEZ Chicago's Worldview program about this story on July 13. Listen here.

Obama dreams of an AIDS-free generation →

April 18, 2016 by Andrew Green in Foreign Policy

But if Washington doesn’t put more money behind its ambitious rhetoric, HIV could make a major comeback. An investigation on the front line of the disease. Read more.

A real debate before Uganda's fake election →

February 17, 2016 by Andrew Green in Foreign Policy

Museveni’s unexpected appearance at a presidential debate over the weekend, just days before Ugandans head to the polls on Feb. 18, came as a shock to the country’s political chattering class. Up until the moment he appeared on stage, journalists and pundits were predicting he’d skip the event — just as he had the inaugural debate in January, which he dismissed as an activity fit for “school children.” Though he has been in power for 30 years, Uganda’s cagy president rarely opens himself up to public interrogation — especially by his political rivals.

Yet there he was on stage, linking hands with his challengers in prayer and then, for more than three hours, withstanding polite questioning from the moderators and far less polite jabs from the men and women who wish to replace him.

Uganda discovered the Zika virus — and the solution for it →

February 10, 2016 by Andrew Green in Foreign Policy

It’s the Zika virus — which has infected tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people in the Americas in recent months and may be linked to a spate of children born with underdeveloped brains in Brazil — that’s now bringing Ugandan epidemiologists unexpected attention. Uganda Virus Research Institute scientists first discovered Zika in the blood of a rhesus monkey back in 1947. And while Uganda has never had an outbreak of the virus, the country’s unique approach to monitoring the spread of similar diseases could hold the key to stopping future epidemics in their tracks.

Burundi votes, and violence looms →

June 29, 2015 by Andrew Green in Foreign Policy

Residents are scrambling to leave Burundi as voting in parliamentary and local elections threatens to turn ugly fast. Read more.

To forgive a warlord →

February 06, 2015 by Andrew Green in Foreign Policy

The wheels of justice are turning for Joseph Kony's top deputies. But could rehashing the worst days of the Lord’s Resistance Army at The Hague tear Uganda apart? Read more.